As the Garden Grows

Wordless Wednesday

The Balloon flower is a pretty flower once it becomes established in your garden. I have three of this bluish purple kind, as well as two white balloon flower plants and one pink balloon flower plant. Yes, I love balloon flowers. Can you tell?

In the lower right corner I think that you can see a bud forming. The petals are folded in and as the bud grows it looks like a hollow ball or a balloon. When it finally opens the flower appears as above.

Unfortunately the flower, once it’s bloomed, doesn’t last long - perhaps a day at most. The flower dies quickly and droops like a wet rag.

I’d just finished picking off a bunch of dead flowers before I took this photo. That’s why there’s so many flowerless stalks. When a dead bloom is plucked off it’s stalk a milky white substance drips from the damaged stalk to heal the wound.