Terri from Second Wind Leisure Perspective is the host for The #Flower Hour. I am posting my last 2025 Floral images (December 31,2025) as my first Flower Hour post for 2026.
Location: By Dinopark; Broadway at the Beach; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. Wishing y’all the best life filled with love, peace, and joy in 2026. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
The Wild Potato Vine is a perennial, deciduous, tenacious flowering vine similar to Morning Glory and Sweet potato vine. It is native to North America and grows primarily in South East Canada to Central and Eastern United States of America. It is showy with large heart-shaped leaves, purple stems, and white flowers with pink to purple centers.
An interesting fact is that the Wild Potato Vine roots are used by Native Americans for poultices, infusions, read for treatment of a variety of medical problems. The roots can be eaten cooked, but raw, are a purgative. (A purgative has a strong laxative effect.)
Terri from Second Wind Leisure Perspective is the host for The #Flower Hour #11. This week she is giving us a Last Chance to share our Holiday Florals. Having already posted several Holiday Florals I dug deep into my archives to reshare some Christmas Florals with all of you.
Poinsettias are a popular Christmas floral, however, you probably don’t see this one around your everyday Christmas displays.
Euphorbia pulcherrima (Stelle di Natale) Christmas Star, Poinsettia
Let’s now take a look at a different Christmas floral known as the Christmas Berry. The Christmas Berry is a compact shrub with dark green elliptic leaves, but are crimson red when young in early spring. The shrub tolerates moderate shade and grows in well drained soil.
Photinia ‘Red Robin’ P x fraseri
Next, we are admiring a succulent known as the Christmas Kalanchoe, a popular house plant known for its vibrant, long-lasting flowers in colors like red, white, pink, and orange. It is a succulent that thrives in bright, indirect light and well-drained soil, making it a great festive gift for the holidays.
And finally, we are changing colours from red to green for our Christmas florals. This plant was seen at Anne Springs Close Greenway’s garden at the Stables Entrance. It is a Helleborusorientalis, often referred to as Christmas Rose, or Lenten Rose. It is a winter-blooming, broadleaf evergreen, clumping perennial in the Ranunculaceae or buttercup family.
Helleborus orientalis Aka Christmas Rose, Hellebore, Lenten Rose
God Bless. Have a very Merry Christmas Holiday Season. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
American Beautyberry is a woody deciduous, perennial shrub native to the southeastern United States including the Carolinas.
Clusters of small flowers bloom on the late spring and early summer. However, what you are seeing here are clusters of vibrant purple berries in the Carolinas that peak in late summer through autumn (August to November). The vibrant berries often persist into early winter providing significant food for birds and wildlife, making it a quintessential fall shrub for the region. The colors vary; most common is the vivid purple, though white and pink varieties exist.
American Beautyberry
The American Beautyberry offers many ecological services. How might you ask does it work? Its seeds and berries provide an important food source for a tremendous amount of songbirds of America. Some of those include American robin, brown thrasher, northern bobwhite, purple finch and eastern towhee. It is also a nectar source for butterflies and has fragrant foliage.
What I found interesting is that the American Beautyberry has been used by farmers successfully since at least the early 20th century to repel biting bugs from mules and horses by rubbing it on their coats and under harnesses. Why did I found this information so fascinating? The location of this particular American Beautyberry shrub is located near the horse stables at Anne Springs Close Greenway.
Yesterday, on December 12th, people celebrated National Poinsettia Day. It is an annual celebration commemorating the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American diplomat that introduced the Poinsettia plant to the United States. It honours its deep ties to Christmas traditions, especially the Mexican legend of a poor girl whose humble gift of weeds bloomed into the beautiful “Flower of the Holy Night.”
Red Poinsettias
National Poinsettia Day is a day for spreading holiday cheer with the Red-leafed plants. Churches line them up in front of pulpits & many are donated by members in honor of loved ones no longer with us. Poinsettias are often given as gifts during the. Christmas holiday season.
God Bless. Have a very Merry Christmas Holiday Season. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Photo Credit: 2024 Deb L. Waters … All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Location: Goat Island Park and Greenway; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time to admire Nature’s beautiful bounty. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
I know I’m a day late, but still wanted to share these trios with y’all.
Autumn Leaves
Hydrangea paniculata
These Hydrangeas change colors from seasonally, They change from white to limelight to brown tones in late autumn through winter. They are beautiful regardless of the colours they are displaying.
Location: Old Town; Riverside Community; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Admire Nature’s Beautiful Flowers. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Interesting fact: Pansy flowers are edible and have a mild, slightly sweet flavor. They can be used as a garnish, in salads, or to decorate cakes and desserts. Care for a taste?
God Bless. Admire Nature’s Beautiful Flowers. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Judy from Life Lessons blog hosts a weekly photo challenge called The Numbers Game. This week’s number is 218. Her instructions for playing along are listed below …
To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in Judy’s Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Here are my entries …
Gastonia Bus Terminal Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra)Rooftop Garden Schiele Museum Adventure Center Anne Springs Close Greenway Railroad Trestle ASCGRailroad Trestle ASCGGarden Thyme Schiele Museum North Carolina Transportation Museum Schiele Museum of Natural History Schiele Museum of Natural HistoryColeman Trisha & AlonaAlonaAlona & Coleman Watson Family Reunion 2016John & Jeramiah Watson (My Great Uncle & Great Grandfather)
God Bless. Admire Nature’s Beautiful Flowers. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Clematis terniflora, also known as Japanese clematis is a weedy, twining perennial vine in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae that is native to Japan, Korea and central and southern China.
Aka Japanese Clematis, Japanese virgin’s-bower
Japanese Clematis, even though it may look beautiful, it is a vigorous grower in full sun or partial shade and spreads by self-seeding, layering, and runners.
It has escaped cultivation to invade forest edges, right-of-ways, and areas along streams and roads. It climbs other vegetation, forming dense blankets that block sunlight to the plants underneath. The showy white flowers appear in late summer. It is considered an invasive species in some states in the eastern US.
Seen on our walk through Goat Island Park and Greenway after church on Sunday. Beautiful yellow flowers popping out calling attention to their lovely blossoms.
Aka Small Yellow Crownbeard, Southern Crownbeard, Stick Weed Yellow Crownbeard
Camera: Canon EOS 2000D with Canon EF-S55-250mm lens
Settings: f/5.6 • 1/250s • 152mm • ISO250
Location: Goat Island Park and Greenway; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Admire Nature’s Beautiful Flowers. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Conoclinium coelestinum also known as Blue Mistflower is a native perennial wildflower. It has fuzzy blue or violet flowers that bloom from late summer to frost. [These just recently popped up in the last week after lots of rain and thunderstorms.]
It is a member of the Asteraceae family. It was formerly classified in the genus Eupatorium, but phylogeneticanalyses in the late 20th century research indicated that that genus should be split, and the species was reclassified in Conoclinium.
The Blue Mistflower is native to the eastern part of the United States of America from New York down to Florida and west to Nebraska and Texas. It can grow up to three (3) feet tall and spreads quickly to form dense groundcover.
This species prefers moist soils and can be found in wood edges, sandy woodlands and clearings, wet meadows and stream banks. It can thrive in a variety of light conditions ranging from shade to full sun. [With the tropical storms and thunderstorms we’ve been experiencing the ground is extremely wet making the conditions viable for the growth of the Blue Mistflower.]
Location: Centennial Center; Downtown Cramerton; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. May you have a Gardenof Love, Friendship, and Joy. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
God Bless. Admire Nature’s Beautiful Flowers. Have a great weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Location: Greenway Stables Entrance; Anne Springs Close Greenway; Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA
God Bless. May you have a Gardenof Love, Friendship, and Joy. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Sedums are large flowering plants in the Crassulaceae family, known as Stonecrops. They a leaf succulents found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, but also extend into the Southern Hemisphere in Africa and South America.
Aka Stonecrops, Succulents
These Sedum Stonecrops are grown in a rectangular container planter outside of Confluence in downtown Cramerton, North Carolina.
Location: Goat Island Entrance; Downtown Cramerton; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Enjoy the rest of your week and have a marvelous weekend. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Sweet Autumn Clematis is a fast growing deciduous perennial vine which is adored for its masses of small, fragrant white flowers in late summer and fall. The Sweet Autumn Clematis plants are in abundance everywhere around here.
While being appreciated for their beautiful flowers which grow vigorously and abundantly, they are considered an invasive plant species in many parts of the Eastern and Midwestern United States. The plants aggressive self-seeding and rapid growth can lead to it escaping cultivation and outcompeting native vegetation.
Sweet autumn clematis Clematis terniflora with Eremnophila aureonotatawasp
The Clematis terniflora (Sweet autumn clematis) flowers are excellent magnets for attracting pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. As you can see from the images it also attracts wasps like the Eremnophila aureonotata, aka the gold-marked thread-waisted wasp. The Eremnophila aureonotata are in the family Sphecidae (“thread-waisted wasps”) which belong to the order of Hymenoptera (“ants, bees, wasps and sawflies”).
Location: Old Town; Riverside Community; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Stop and smell the flowers. Capture their beauty. Enjoy Nature. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Location: Old Town; Riverside Community; Cramerton, North Carolina, USA
God Bless. Take time to admire Nature’s Beauty. Smell the flowers. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.
Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography 