Scenes From A Porch

I thought it might be at least marginally interesting to some of you out there to see some of the plants I have on my porch. But I can't just take pictures of the plants themselves, I have to try and do something a little bit different, so here are some extreme close-ups of the things that somehow survive on my balcony. The armor-plated plant above is the newest addition to the garden. It's called a Medusa Head Hybrid (Euphorbia Flanaganii), I believe. I actually paid for this one. Each of the little plates you see is maybe a quarter inch across. I have high hopes for this one, since the specimen plant I saw was huge.

The little yellow specs above are the seeds on a small palm tree that I've had for longer than anything else on the porch. As far as I can remember, this is the first time it's put on seeds. Those little yellow dots are about a sixteenth of an inch in diameter.

These guys just happened to be out there today while I was shooting these pictures. I couldn't get mushrooms to grow if I tried, yet these guys show up on their own. Most of the plants on my porch are still alive only because they can go for long periods of time in direct sun without water. So how do I wind up with these guys who prefer it cool, dark and damp? I have no clue.

The only flowers out on the porch are these red blossoms all over a Crown of Thorns. This plant must really love the hot dry conditions out there, because it's been putting on blooms for several months now with no end in sight. At any given time, there must be hundreds of blossoms on this plant. Each little red flower is about half an inch across.

Last but not least is this close-up of the crown on one of my two Madagascar palms. I was afraid it was dying two months ago when all the leaves turned yellow and fell off, but since then it's gone through a growth spurt and put on dozens of new leaves. Just goes to show you never can tell, I suppose. There are several more plants out there on the porch that I'd like to share with you, so maybe someday when the light is right, I'll share some more pictures with you.