Magic In The Garden

We all have our favorite summer flowers. One that I cannot live without in  July,August and into September is the Cleome , also known as "Spiderflower".

They come in a deep purple-pink, baby pink, hot pink and white .

The plant and its foilage starts out looking almost like a weed. But when you begin to notice the upright tightly bound bundles, be ready for a show like no other.The bundles open up to delicate petals  that form a large magical sphere. 

When my neice Rachel was a child, we would pick the petals and lay them over the tips of her fingers  and  suddenly she had painted pink fingernails fit for a queen. I remember the way she would look up at me with a big smile as she admired her hands.

I took this close-up  that shows the center of the bloom in all its glory.It reminds me of fireworks bursting in the sky on the 4th of July.