Flowers from a Foreign Land by Merrillee Whren

My husband and I recently took a month-long trip to Australia and New Zealand. I took loads of photos, as I always do on our trips. I have way too many to share all of them here. If you're interested in them you can find the photos on my Facebook page. Today I'm going to share the photos I took of flowers. I love the beauty and color of flowers, and we saw a lot. Even though I don't know what many of them are, I still enjoyed them. Many of them were wild, growing along paths we hiked.

This first photo is of the botanical gardens in Sydney. The flowers here were planted in formal beds.

This is a wild hibiscus. We ate some of the petals. They were delicious.

Flowers in the desert at Ayers Rock, Australia (Uluru)

Flowers at Port Arthur, a former penal colony in Tasmania

Flowers along the Great Ocean Road in Australia

I actually know what these are. Lilacs. I love the smell. These were in Queenstown, NZ.

These yellow flowers were everywhere in New Zealand.

Flowers along the seashore

Flowers planted along the boardwalk at the seashore in the Banks Peninsula, NZ.

Flower blooming along the Abel Tasman National Park Trail.

Calla Lilies growing along the seashore.

A rose growing in the yard of the cottage where we stayed on one of our last nights in NZ.

Even though I didn't know what most of the flowers were, I took photos because I enjoy flowers so much. In my upcoming book, the heroine loves roses.

What is your favorite kind of flower?

I will give away a copy of my book Montana Match to one person who leaves a comment. I will draw the winning name on November 16, 2017 at 9PM MST.

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.

 

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May Flowers by Raine English

After a long dreary winter and a rainy April, I could hardly wait for some nice weather. Since I live in New England, there aren’t many months that I consider ideal. However, May comes pretty close. Days are generally warm, not hot and humid like July and August, and nights are cool—perfect for sleeping.

I love going out on my deck in the morning with my laptop and a cup of coffee. I seem to get more writing done when I work outside. The leaves are back on the trees. Everywhere you look is lush and green, and the flowers are in bloom. Some of my favorites are the azaleas, flax, hyacinth, and tulips. The splashes of red, pink, and purple are gorgeous.

What are some of your favorite May flowers?

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author, Raine English writes sweet small-town romance, paranormal, and Gothic romantic suspense. She’s a Daphne du Maurier Award winner and a Golden Heart finalist. Her new lighthearted contemporary romance series, Love Always, will be available in June. It features three childhood friends who encounter a lot more than anticipated while searching for love. To learn more about Raine and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Spring In Texas by Shaleen Kapil

I went hiking in February along a bayou trail, and I saw the first one. That harbinger of spring, at least to a Texas gal, is blue and wild. You only rarely see it in a garden bed. The Bluebonnet.

A sad and perhaps sorry specimen of such a special flower, but the sight of this flower amongst the weeds that would erupt in bloom soon made me rush off the path, away from the students I was leading, to take this picture of the first of the season.

In Texas, every child gets dragged out into a field of bluebonnets for pictures, despite fire ants and bees and even possible snakes (although I haven't seen one there yet--you got to know to make a lot of noise tramping out into the field). Yes, I've done it too.

And while pictures and paintings may have you believe that every field is set next to a beautiful barn or railroad track, the truth is that most of these portraits are taken on the side of the highway. 

The bluebonnet gained an artistic following with Robert Julian Onderdonk at the turn of the 1900s. He painted grand landscapes of the fields in Texas. Many painters have tried to imitate him. (Head to the Fort Worth's Amon Carter Museum of American Art to see a few.) Now, it is a right of initiation for a painter in Texas to attempt to paint the state flower. (You can see my very amateur attempts here.)

So if you aren't a Texan, then if you really want to see this grand ole state in all its glory, head out to the highways towards the end of March. There is even a website telling you where the good blooms are every season: Texas Bluebonnet Sightings.

Shaleen Kapil was not born in Texas, but she has spent most of her life there. Find out more at www.shaleenkapil.com or Like her on Facebook.

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