No purchase necessary...

... haven't we all heard that line a thousand times??

Well, it's true!! You do not need to spend money to have the luxury of cut flowers, just keep your eyes open (and keep a garden scissor with you at all times, we all do that, right? ;)  ), and these beauties could end up on your nightstand....

How fresh and pretty are these Hibiscus?
Love how the duster in the pink Hibiscus, picks up the orange in the other... We only need to look to nature for the perfect color combo!

I am not entirely sure what kind of flower this is (Please do let me know the name if you know), but Anna Sprio stopped at the road side in Australia and did a little cutting herself.....

Natasha

Image #1 via Beach Vintage, Image #2 via ABT

Not quite Hawaii

Last summer I was fortunate to visit China and Hong Kong. The visit was short, but an experience of a lifetime, and I hope to be able to return someday...

In Hong Kong, on a day of site seeing, we visited the Ngong Ping Plateau and the Po Lin Buddha (Asia's largest seated outdoor Buddha) on Lantau Island. The cable car ride up to the site is unbelievable, with views of the South China Sea, not to be missed!!

While it was incredibly hot in HK, the weather was cool in the mountains. Half way up the stairs to the Buddha, in the drizzling rain, I spotted this beautiful Hibiscus.

.... and this image leads me on to why this post is called "Not quite Hawaii".... Well, a few posts back, I shared with you a little ray of sunshine (here), and a quick walk around my neighborhood revealed all these different varieties of Hibiscus. Living in South Florida, these are "nothing special", but coming from the North, these are the one flower that represents the tropics and the Islands of Hawaii (we call them Hawaii Flowers), so here goes:

Hope you enjoyed my little walk as much as I did ;)

Natasha

All images Natasha for Northern Light Blog