A long time ago I bought a Botanica Encyclopedia and spent many hours one winter browsing its pages, taking notes on plants and flowers I loved and drawing elaborate plans for gardens I never planted. I planned a white garden with night-blooming nicotania, a Mary garden with white and blue flowers, cutting gardens and more rose gardens than you can imagine. One flower that struck me immediately was the African Daisy cultivar, Osteospermum Whirlygig. With its pinched petals, it looked like a flower from outer space. At the time, the only place that sold this particular cultivar was a garden shop outside London. I had an upcoming trip to London for my daughter’s high school graduation present and tried to scheme a way to get the seeds (bringing back a live plant through customs was not going to happen) while we were there, but there were other sights to see and things to do and it didn’t happen.
A couple of weeks ago, I found it at Home Depot. You’d better believe, I’ll be saving these seeds.
Oh, it’s beautiful! Thanks for telling us what it is…my immediate response to that first picture was that I wanted one. I love planting imaginary gardens. (Actually, I like planting real ones even better, but imaginary ones are more practical at the moment…)
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LOL. It’s an interesting flower, to be sure!
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Those photos are fantastic! Congrats on finding your plant so close to home!
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It’s so unusual! I love it. And I’m glad you found it! I wanted to mention to you that I used your strawberry lemon basil thyme jam this week in some crumb bars. Incredible! The lemon really zings in that jam!
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Beautiful photos!
Sounds like those plants were meant to be.
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Yeah, I don’t know my own email. /sigh
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Funny how things like that stick with us… I can see why!! Gorgeous flower and lovely photos, too.
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All things come to those who wait. Glad you finally got your flower!
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Love it!
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oh, i love those flowers and your photos! gorgeous.
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It’s gorgeous!
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Pretty! Are they perennials, annuals, what?
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So delicate, so pretty!
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Such vibrant colors – I love green and purple!
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gorgeous photos…and what an unusual plant…beautiful but unique!
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gorgeous!
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The seeds found you! Definitely worth saving.
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