{Murraya Paniculata 'Orange Jasmine'}

• Today I want to introduce our 'Orange Jasmine' Murraya paniculata.
• Again, a plant with highly fragrant blossoms. We have them in planters, outside during the three seasons and inside during winter.
• This tropical plant is available from Logee's: Orange Jasmine Murraya Paniculata in  Connecticut and that's where ours came from. They do have all kind of exotic plants and lots of citrus plants too. Look for some photos at the very end of this blog, our citrus trees in a pot do even bear fruits!

• This is such a heavenly scented plant; like the: {White Indian Jasmine the Queen of Flowers} in a previous blog, which I showed on August 17th.

• The planters are on the stone patio, in front of our greenhouse. My Dad helped building it, together with Pieter. That's where all our pots will spend their three months period, till the weather is mild enough to be put outside again. Of course it is always too small... 

• To the left of the greenhouse there are numerous pots that also need to be placed inside the greenhouse... 
• This is the wooden trail that Pieter build, going alongside the gazebo towards the house. 
• Our own private walking trail and there are also trails in the wood garden, when crossing the three bridges over the creek. Lots of work done, one day I will show photos how it looked 20 years ago and what we made out of it. 
• We are the very first people ever living and working on this lot. That's the name for the land where you build your home; used here in the South East of the USA. 
• We are blessed for having such a private paradise all to our own!
• Now as promised our citrus trees; in pots:

• This is a closeup of the pot you see to the right in front of the greenhouse.

• This gives a good idea of its size... a photo from last year. They ripen inside the greenhouse as our season is not long enough.

• Yet another variety, inside the greenhouse during winter.
• One year when Mom & Dad were visiting again in March 1996, from The Netherlands, I left them all on the tree and gave Mom a basket to pick the oranges from the tree behind the gazebo on the patio. 

• That moment from Monday, March 25 of 1996 is being videotaped...
• Mom enjoyed that very much and they were sweet and tasty too in our yogurt with granola for breakfast. 

• The orange blossom is something to enjoy. Often I did use them with jasmines and floating candles for a center piece when friends came to dinner...

{Giovanni Raspini 800/000 Silver Rectangle Frame with Two Angels from Italy}

The angel show is not yet over... Here is another cute one, with two angels from Giovanni Raspini in Italy. Their Giovanni Raspini Frames page shows a vast collection. This is item # 1822 and for more info please visit my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics.

As usual this unique piece of silver comes in a beautiful gift box with satin lining and certificate. For more silver gifts from Italy, please see my labels for Giovanni Raspini, at the right side of this blog. By clicking on it, you get all blogs with their silver gifts.

Sorry Sold out...

{3 Hibiscus Varieties 'KONA' - 'CONFEDERATE ROSE' and a RED variegated}

In-between my silver Giovanni Raspini gifts, I love to show you what's blooming in our garden. 

First let me introduce you to this exotic beauty: Hibiscus 'KONA' which is available from Logee's in Connecticut as Hibiscus 'Kona' (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis hybrid). We have lots of special plants from them, just check them out.

Bring a touch of the tropics into your life with this exotic cultivar from Logee's. Large, rich fully double blossoms, resembling puffy crepe paper, adorn this vigorous grower.

This one shows a visiting insect...

This is where the two planters with the Kona hibiscus are; behind our gazebo on the small stone patio.

To the left of the gazebo, facing the back of our house.

Here is another planter with a variegated leaf Hibiscus in a flamboyant Red.

We did bring a cutting home from the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and voilà:

Pieter's hand for comparison, though it is by far not as large as the Kona variety.

It was on Friday, September 5, of 1997 that we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We had checked in early at 2:00 PM and were inside in time for the heavy weather in relation to Hurricane Erica near Puerto Rico. On Saturday morning at 4:00 AM we sat in our beds with the pillows propped up and the special curtains (triple!) closed to keep the noise of the raging winds with heavy rain out of earshot. We watched the funeral of Princess Diana... (she died on August 31). A day we never will forget. Our vacation was not planned at the right moment and being high in the tower with a huge balcony on two sides, did not do us any good!

But their gardens were lush and the hibiscus cutting flourished at our home; that made up for the heavy weather...

In our adjacent wood garden we also have since one decade this Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena' also called: Confederate Rose. We obtained this from  Woodlanders in South Carolina. Another great nursery that has a huge variety and is in business for a very long period already.

This photo is from October 31, 2000. They are not yet blooming but I wanted to show it today.

Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena' is a wonderful big mulit-stem deciduous shrub with leaves like a cotton plant and large double peony-like showy flowers in the fall that open white and change to pink as the day goes on. Freezes back in winter but does re-sprout here in the south.

Hibiscus mutabilis 'Plena'