The Hibiscus (Rose of Sharon) story.

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(Edited)

Did you know that this flower, the Hibiscus, appears all over the world.
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I Googled the Hibiscus flower and it makes for some interesting reading.

Greetings and I will also show you one strange Hibiscus flower that appears in our garden. It is called a Double Hibiscus.

Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Source

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Here below is the special one in our garden, a Double Hibiscus.
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Now what would a garden be without some squirrels?
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Some more interesting hibiscus information;

The genus includes both annual and perennial herbaceous plants, as well as woody shrubs and small trees. The generic name is derived from the Greek name ἰβίσκος (ibískos) which Pedanius Dioscorides gave to Althaea officinalis (c. 40–90 AD).
Several species are widely cultivated as ornamental plants, notably Hibiscus syriacus and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
A tea made from hibiscus flowers is known by many names around the world and is served both hot and cold. The beverage is known for its red colour, tart flavour, and vitamin C content.
Source

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This is the normal yellow hibiscus and it is the state flower of Mexico.
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And finally this little squirrel lady said thank you for reading this post.
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So here you have it and just to show you some interesting facts about the hibiscus flowers that we love. We have not yet made tea yet from the flowers, but will endeavor to make some soon. I mean my wife would make the tea, as if I tried we would both end up in hospital :)
The flowers appear in all colors and I have a lot of the colors, but they are hiding away somewhere in my files. I hope that you also like the flowers.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

hivegarden flowers hibiscus archon proofofbrain vyb creativecoin neoxian amazingnature silverbloggers
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95 comments
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It wouldn't be a proper post without the appearance of squirrel! :O)

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Hahaha, yes you are right comrade as the idea of a squirrel popped into my head, especially now that we have moved away from our lot.

Have your favorite !BEER

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A magnificent flower every time you walk past one. I think we have two different ones in the garden, the double hibiscus and the pink/purple one, my memory left me for a moment now! But their flowers are always so beautiful and remind me of vacation for some reason. I am also a little skeptical about making the tea from scratch myself!

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Oh! Your memory only leaves you for moments? Wait until you get to my each as then you will go and search for your memory for days on end 🤣
Yes, I also like the hibiscus flowers even though they don't draw the sunbirds, but they certainly put up a great show.
I will not even try to make the tea, as with my luck I will end up at the emergency ward at the hospital.

!PIZZA

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Some days when I write my Ph.D. I feel like my mind has left me for sure, then I delete pages of written work because I have no idea what I was going on about!

The sunbird prefers the local fynbos flowers right? I always find them in the cape honeysuckle bushes.

I will stick with the shop bought hibiscus tea, less likely to end up in the ward!

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Ah yes structured studies also gets my goat and after my bachelors I decided that it was enough torture.
Ph,D is of course a horse of another color and no wonder that you drift off at times.

Yes, the honeysucle bushes and also the aloes with the bell shaped flowers. In fact we went to a nursery today to see if we could find some Red Poker flowers (non aloe) as the sunbirds also love them, but the nursery didn't have any.

A wise decision methinks :)

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Yes, the Ph.D. work is sometimes a struggle. One week you feel like you have it the next you seem to be so lost you cannot find your way out of the bed!

I have a couple of honey euryops bushes (Euryops virgineus) in my garden, and I have no idea if the sunbirds like the aphids and bugs or the small yellow flowers, but they spend hours in them in the springtime. Maybe you know the bush? They grow so easily here in the Cape.

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Oh yes, it must be hard for you, but you just hang in there and try to do the best that you can. The end result will be your award for all of the hard and difficult times that you had to endure.

Nope, I have not seen them, but thank you for the name and I will see if I can find one at the nurseries here. We have a little sunbird here that sits on an aerial on our roof and I want to draw him down into our garden.

!BEER and !hivebits

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That is so true. Sometimes you just have to slow down, enjoy the process and think about the eventual success when you finish it.

That is so sweet! Best of luck to get him/her closer to you! They are absolutely beautiful. When the kiepersol tree flowered, the white eyes and sunbirds had a feast. It is all about luring them in with nature's sweets.

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Yep! You got that right and simply practice what you preach.

Thanks and I will get him with the succulent flowers. In the flower season they are easy to get, but now it's a challenge that I look forward to.

!PIZZA

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I tried to make my garden so that it always has flowers. Some summer bloomers, some winter ones. Even though the sunbirds only arrive in the spring in my garden, it sure feeds the insects! Healthy garden all round surely attracts sunbirds as well, I would reckon!

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Such are the flower scenery also here in the suburbs and we get the sunbirds all year round.
We always try to keep our gardens organic and matching the surrounding nature.
I got this little Southern Double-collared sunbird in a neighbor's garden on the sidewalk.

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That is the best! Keeping things as indigenous as possible.

And that is a lovely shot. Those flowers surely do have a nice smell. Also the wild ones, wildemalva (Pelargonium cucullatum). They are prolific growers once established!

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(Edited)

Marian knows the names and the smells, as my thing is to only take occasional photos of flowers that I think are beautiful. But you seem to be pretty clued up on them and that's always a good thing.
Only Malva that I know and like is Malva pudding !LOL

!PIZZA

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Malva pudding is by far the best, to be honest! Now I am craving a big Sunday roast dinner with freshly made malva for dessert.

And yes, I am a hobbyist gardener! I have to keep my mind sane with all the studying. 😅

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Lovely stuff especially if it's made true farm style.

A hobbyist gardener? I thought you were a hobbyists baker, or a hobbyist philosopher 😉
Seems that you have many hobbies.

!PIZZA

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Jack of all trades! I love to dabble in various things. I need to keep my mind active and my hands as well. Very appropriate pizza! I baked some bread this morning, so pizza is close enough. 😁

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Oh yes and it will stand you well in later years as I was very similar in my young days.
Glad that you liked the !PIZZA

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And I think in our modern online internet era, being a jack of all trades is much more rewarding.

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Definitely the way to go as it is of a great help in our later years.

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Squirrel family following you around?

No new place would be the same without some changes, lovely flowers to greet you each day, visitors to the hibiscus here are the white-breasted sunbird and Cape white-eye, now to wait and watch who visits you here.

!LOLZ
!LUV

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Hahaha, no I wish, but that photo was taken at our old garden.

Cape White-eye? Waiting to see what we get here?
How is this then this morning outside our new study window?

We brought all of our succulents with and they seem to like the flowers.

!LUV and !LOLZ

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Out in the open for a lovely photography session, these little birds are here normally well hidden in the shrubbery.

Convenient having plants in pots when moving so often!

!BEER

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So here is something to copy Lady Joan. Get yourself a Pigs Ear Bell flower succulent or any other Bell Flower specie and place it outside a window. Guaranteed that will draw them out to come and pose.

Yep! The Zig Zag tree traveled with me from Naboomspruit at ever move and so did the Christ Thorn and many others. All still in pots and waiting for the next move.

!BEER

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Many bell flowers around the garden, sure they take the nectar when I am not looking, Strelitzia flowered right throughout two seasons this year as well, now the Snake Lily is opening in different spots of the garden. Hibiscus bushes here flower all year round I think the birds have such a selection to enjoy they can be evasive of humans when enjoying their meal.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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I don't know if you have Malachite Sunbirds there as I get them on the Strelitzias here.
Problem is that they don't even sit for a minute.

Birds are very wary of mankind and who can blame them, so they always try to stay out of sight. There's nothing more frustrating that see a beautiful bird covered by twigs or branches.

I crept around under this tree until I got a semi clear shot of the young Amethyst.

Evasion is the game.

!PIZZA
!LUV

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I have seen them in the Drakensberg region or inland, not very often on the coastal belt.

Amethyst sunbird I have had in the garden, so very shy, difficult to photograph managed a capture out my window last Spring.

!LUV life is about seeing what is around us, little neighbours.
!WINEX your region of the world with plenty to share in nature.

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As long as you have seen them then I am happy my friend.

Yep! The Amethyst is most difficult to get and so many times have I missed to get one in hiding.

I like how you describe the tokens. Real fitting.

!LUV
!WINEX
!LOLZ

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This simple flower is just found everywhere in my country, i didnt even know the name that it is "hibiscus" thanks to this information @papilloncharity. Delighted to learn all these healthy benefits can offer ;))
Good reads here!

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Looks good Steven , i got a white, pink and purple hibiscus here myself in the garden not as big as yours yet , sionce we planted those at the beginnign of this year :)

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We call it gumamela... Thanks for the info.

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!hivebits

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Oh yes, I do know this beautiful flower too, my friend, and if I'm not completely wrong then I have seen at least one in my mother's garden.
Is this squirrel from your old house or have they already found you in your new home? It's lovely anyway 😊

!WINE makes a delicious dinner with !PIZZA :)
!invest_vote

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(Edited)

I think that you might even have a photo of the flower in your mom's garden somewhere hiding in your files 😉

Nope, not a new one as that one was taken at our old garden. I really don't think that we will get them here. Glad that you liked it 😊

The pipe work at this new house seems to be a bit of a mess, as I am planning another gas geyser installation, so there are a few headaches to sort out first. I installed one at the old house to avoid using the electric geyser, because the electricity prices here are mooning.

Cheers and thanks.

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Maybe, because I have many photos from there, but I'm not sure 😀

Oh, I wish so much that you get surprised by a squirrel asking for nuts on your window 😊

I know that you're a good craftsman and you're a plumber too, my friend - I'm sure you'll easily sort it out and make a perfect installation 👍

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Well I think that the same thing will happen to you when you go into your files, that happens to me.
At times when I do a post I want to place a photo that I know I have, but I cannot find it.
That's why I don't like going into the files.
Then without an apology the photo that I was looking for will appear out of nowhere 😮

Shame Hannes, my wife opens all of the curtains every morning and she puts out nuts on all of the window sills. But nothing yet and I really feel so sorry for her 😥

Thank you for the trust in me and my mom was so wise to force me to do a trade, as she said that it would help me in later years. She was right of course ❤️

Cheers and thanks.

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True, my friend, and sometimes when I look through the folders I find images which I can't remember to have taken, and some of them are quite pleasing 😁 !LOLZ

She will be rewarded, I am very sure, one soon day a squirrel will sit outside and say "thank you for the nuts" 😊

Of course your mother was right, most mothers are most times right 😉

Maybe you like a !PIZZA fresh from the Oven 😋
!invest_vote

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Hahaha, exactly the same here my friend. But not many images turn out to be that surprise one and yet it is always so nice to find one unexpectedly 🤣 !LOLZ

That's what I am praying for and we will simply wait Hannes 🙏

Oh yes, and most of the time we don't think so, until a time later in life that we discover what mom said was really the truth 😉

Cheers and thanks.

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I really would love to see an image of a squirrel at your new home 😊

True, so many things she said and has done turned out to be good many years later when I had kids myself.

Maybe you like a !PIZZA fresh from the Oven 😋
!invest_vote

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Thank you and yes it will be a great relief 👍

Same here with my two daughters, as now that they have their own children they often phone to tell me about what I did for them at one stage or another in their younger lives and now they are doing the same with their own children. Great news is that some of their children like my music of the 60s and the 70s.

Wait and see as I am sure the same thing will happen with your kids when they become parents 😊

Cheers and thanks.

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My kids don't want to become parents they say, but I do hope they will change their mind and I hope to hear the same from them as your daughters say 😊

Not many kids like the old music nowadays - you're lucky Zac 😃

Maybe you like a !PIZZA fresh from the Oven 😋
!invest_vote

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So strange as both of my daughters wanted to have kids, but were told by the doctors that they could never have children. My eldest daughter had two wombs and my youngest daughter was allergic to the birth plasma.
So my oldest daughter had 2 children and my youngest daughter had one child. All just to spite the doctors 🤣 !LOLZ

Lucky indeed and one of my grand sons even play my old tunes on his saxophone.
A tall boy that is already higher than his father and his mother.

Reece is now 18 years old uncle Hannes and he has more hairs and brains than his grand father 🤣

Cheers and thanks.

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Well, what can I say but that I have my reasons to not trust doctors 😉 !LOLZ

This is a handsome young man, my friend and I think you can be proud of him. He also has got your genes, at least the ones that let him grow 😎 and he will grow up to the clouds, I believe 😊

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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I wonder how many people don't trust doctors my friend. I have seen quite a few in my time and yes, they definitely do not sing from the same hymn sheet 😜

Thank you and his mom keeps on to say that she hopes that he will not have my naughty genes. They all live in the UK now and my daughter phones me every Sunday night.
Hold on, the boy is already almost as tall as me and it's never a good thing if a grandson is taller than a granddad. Then he will feel sorry for me when age start to shrink me 😥

Cheers and thanks.

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But too many people do trust the doctors too much. I don't want to say that they are all wrong, but when someone says I have to take a pill I want to know more about it.

I don't think he will feel sorry because he can carry you around like you carried him around when he was a baby, but I don't think he would change your diapers 😂 sorry, no !LOLZ left

!invest_vote

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Yep, true as so many of them like to hand out pills. So I am very happy with our new doctor as he investigates the causes and tries to get me off the pills 😊

Hahaha, so he won't change my diapers. He won't have to because I plan to depart this planet before the diaper stage to save him the embarrassment 🤣 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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Well, he might not change your diapers, but maybe he'll hire a young blonde swedish nurse to do it, so that you decide to stay on our planet for a little bit longer 😉 !LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Ah, that will be sheer torture as at that age I will be able to do nothing with her so I might get her to help me to end my life 🤣 LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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This was not the answer I was expecting to read, but you knew that before 🤣 !LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Hahaha, and I knew that you had something totally different in mind my friend 🤣 LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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(Edited)

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