by getting my hopes up high.

This is what I found on our return from Hawaii:

I watched it grow to this:

And that's as far as that inflo ever grew.

In the meantime I tried to distract myself with other cool things in the garden, like this huge Green Lynx spider on CA Sally:

and this fatty double seed pod on CA Sally, too:

But mostly I obsessed over this, the developing inflo my humongous Orange Splendor seedling:

I nearly got that half-open bloom stuck up my nose in my eagerness to detect a scent. It does have a unique floral scent, not like my other plumies, familiar in a way but I can't put my finger on it.

Our days have been rainy and a bit cooler than usual, and she's still young so who knows how the flowers will look when it's mature.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Veracruz Rose and have never bought it because I'm afraid of how tall it will get? Then I learned that even Emerson has trouble keeping them alive for long in Texas and I decided it wasn't meant to be.

If this thing never gets any more interesting than this, I'll still be pretty darned happy with this doppelganger, which promises to be a very large tree:

Really, if I weren't so OCD about labeling all my seedlings from the day I got them, I'd think there was some mix-up with my VCR seedlings:

This first flower has thick petals and measures 3-1/2 inches with a dark maroon stripe on the back. I'm pretty delighted! What a great way to wrap up my season!

Jen