A Birthday and Some Blooms

This is my son enjoying not one, but two pieces of ice cream cake. I didn't give him two pieces of cake, someone didn't finish theirs, so he took it over. I don't think he actually ate both pieces. But he looks awfully smug, doesn't he?

The weekend before Labor Day was Lincoln Highway Days in Nevada. It was also the weekend we celebrated my stepson's 14th birthday. We didn't have a huge party this time, but we did take some time for cake and presents. Everyone scrambled to get a piece before it was gone.

For a small town, they have a fantastic parade. Today, I went to the Fall Festival parade in Beaverdale. It was very similar to this parade, except Beaverdale had better candy and more schools and churches walking in it. Nevada had more fire, police, and rescue vehicles. Both parades are almost 2 hours long. Both had lots of cool dogs in cute costumes.

I also like the horses. This was the first year the big kids got to see the parade. I've taken my littlest one the last 3 years.

Like I mentioned before...with the cool weather, many things have just been taking off in my garden. Here, the nasturium gives the sweet autumn clematis a run for its money. I've never seen nasturium take off and vine across the flower beds like this.

Here is my brugmansia, I call trumpet flower. I am not sure what variety it is. The flowers are pale pale pink with faint yellowish streaks inside. The blooms are 8 to 10 inches long and always point downward. It is my understanding that people often confuse brugmansia and datura. They look extremely similar. Brugmansia blooms point downward though, and datura blooms point upwards.

One of my hibiscus varieties has really taken off with blooming. When I can keep the stupid little green beetles out of it, the flowers look great. They like to hide inside and eat big cheese holes in the petals.

Another surprise...my dwarf iris, banbury ruffles, decided to bloom again. I got so few iris this year that I am just thrilled to see him here.

A close-up of the hibiscus flowers...you can see it is a little moth-eaten around the edges from the beetles. I have been fighting a war against them all the 2nd half of the summer.



Finally, here is a video of the kids getting a little impromptu football game in after they finished their ice cream cake. Happy Late Bloom Day!