Today's Joy: Stuff You Can't Get Enough Of.
All right, Reader. Perhaps you're getting a bit bored with all my passion flower photos. If so, I do apologize and promise that I will move on to something else shortly. I'm just so darn pleased with them and lately, they've been appearing at the rate of one new flower each day. As there are only two left to open and a blossom lasts just 24 hours, I've been relishing each new debut. I think I find passion flowers fascinating in part because of their brief lifespan. All that creativity and drama and glamour goes into something so fleeting. Certainly keeps me mindful of the beauty in the moment.

Besides, I'm sure there's something in your life, Reader, that fascinates you no end while simultaneously boring the crud out of everyone who loves you. I think that's one of the bedrock principles of any good relationship: I'll put up with your weird obsession if you put up with mine... (within reason, of course.)



It's also important at times to indulge our innate curiosity impulse. Helps us understand the world around us, and perhaps even ourselves, a little better. Have you noticed, Reader, how much better it feels to focus on the healthy things in your life that you can't get enough of, rather than on all the things that bother you? You might say that a little healthy fascination makes us happier. I'm all for that. And if you somehow haven't had your fill of passion flowers yet, here's a link to my flickr set. Okay, I promise I'm moving on now.......

Today's Joy: Passion Flowers Opening.
I am ecstatic, Reader! Came home from work today to see my new purple passion flower in bloom. I fell in love with these wonderously weird tropical plants several years ago, when I first saw photos of them in magazines and on screen savers. But I figured I'd never actually see one in person. Finally got my chance while visiting the Oklahoma City Zoo over Labor Day weekend in 2008. I was smitten!

A few weeks later, I stopped by the Heinz Bros. Greenhouse in St. Charles, IL, where they were having a huge end-of-season sale. For $5 each, I took home my first hibiscus tree (a topiary with a braided stem of both red and pink varieties) and--couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it--a 5 foot tall blue passion flower. Though it was remarkably finicky (shed its leaves almost constantly) from the moment I brought it home, I did enjoy a few months of sporatic, gorgeous flowers before it mysteriously gave up the ghost the following January.



The passion flower is one of the most fascinating plants I've ever seen. I've often wished to have another. This spring, while visiting our favorite high-end garden center, on a lark, I asked if they had any. Turns out they had just one left and it was about to bloom. It was also pretty darn cheap as exotic, tempermental tropicals go (I doubt I will ever find such a deal for $5 again). So we brought it home. I fussed over where to put it so it would get the right amount of sunlight without drying out. I fussed over how to fertilize it and if I watered it too much and whether or not to re-pot it before it blooms.



Then, the minute I go to work, the little blossoms begin to open. They don't stay open very long--a day or perhaps less--but there is nothing like seeing that distinctive, zany flower unfurl on your back porch, offering a breathtaking private show. Amazing! Now I'm busy reading up on everything I can find about the care of these magnificent plants.