crimson medinilla red flower
Terri Webster Schrandt

The Flower Hour #10: Festive Holiday Florals and Decor

For the Flower Hour, share your images of flowers, gardens, fields of flowers, seasonal leaves, blossoms, berries, and wildflowers. Even bouquets and silk/faux flowers are welcome.

Rubywine holly in snow
Snowy Holly bush from 2021

Now that the holidays are here, feel free to share close-ups of Christmas tree pine boughs, wreaths, holly berries, etc.

This week, I’m linking with Lens-Artists’: Holidays, in which I will share some festive plant-based holiday decor. Feel free to interpret the Flower Hour any way you would like with your own subtheme!

Local Holiday Fun

“It’s supposed to be jolly, with mistletoe and holly… and other things ending in olly.” – Terry Pratchett

Christmas Tree Lighting 2021
Christmas Tree Lighting 2021
Christmas tree
Tree and Warmth inside the Wine Bar!

No Snow Needed to be Festive

Even in tropical locations, people find ways to be festive. When I visited Hawaii’s Big Island in 2019, I met up with Graham, and we visited the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden in Hilo.

crimson medinilla red flower
Crimson Medinilla flowers hang like a Christmas ornament

We often visit our families in San Diego during the Christmas holidays. A neighbor near my daughter’s home made the most of their native decor to show its festive spirit.

tiki statue
Tiki statue with a flowering bonus Bird of Paradise

Another neighbor wrapped lights around a flowering rosemary bush…double delight!

holiday lights

New to The Flower Hour photo challenge? Please check out my page for more information! I encourage “double-dipping” with other blog challenges if you do not want to create a separate post.

graphic

© 2025 Copyright — Terri Webster Schrandt and secondwindleisure.com — All Rights Reserved

Discover more from Second Wind Leisure Perspectives

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

93 comments

  33. Very festive-looking Terri, especially the red flower from Hawaii. My mother liked Anthurium, so I always got her some for her birthday (Valentine’s Day as they look like hearts) and sometimes for Christmas if they’d order them as they were busy with arrangements, grave blankets and would forget sometimes. I am sending my post you read the other day for “Peace” where I’m double-dipping to use it for Flower Hour.

    When there’s wicked wind, wildflowers and …

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • You’re welcome Terri – glad I could double-dip! I hope your weather is okay … I am hearing news stories of the atmospheric river in your state and statewide evacuations. I hope you are not in the line of any of these flooding issues.

        Liked by 1 person

      • Whew for that! I had heard state-wide, so I wondered. It sounds crazy from the flooding already. That is warm for you. The weather extremes are amazing to me … we will be very bitter cold this weekend, Saturday in negative territory, but Sunday a “real feel” of -20 (not a typo, yes minus 20). I’ll dash out and run the car and dash back in both days … my poor Park pals will suffer once again as I’ve only made it there twice the last two weeks due to snow/ice and we had three back-to-back Polar Vortex events hit us. This will be the worst.

        Liked by 1 person

      • This flooding is so bad for our whole state. There are road blocks in the mountain passes. Our 9 Mile Falls was running today to accommodate the snow melt in our mountains. There is snow in the forecast next week. I hope you stay warm, Linda!

        Liked by 1 person

      • I hope it gets better soon Terri. A fellow blogger in San Jose experienced the same type of atmospheric river flooding a few years ago. Her husband’s car hydroplaned and crashed on the expressway coming home from work. He was fine, the car was totaled. Well enjoy that snow as you said you were looking forward to it – we will be in the 40s on Thursday with rain – just crazy after this brutally cold weekend we will be having. Thankfully I made it to the Park today, a treacherous path there, so I walked on the snowy grass.

        Liked by 1 person

  48. Your Flower Hour post is such a warm, festive delight. You weave together nature, seasonality, and personal moments with an inviting gentleness that makes readers feel like they’re walking beside you—through snowy hollies, glowing tree lightings, and even tropical blooms in Hawaii.

    The way you open the door for all kinds of “flowers,” from winter berries to faux arrangements, gives the theme a wonderfully inclusive spirit. And your mix of photos, memories, and quotes adds both charm and personality.

    It’s a joyful celebration of the season, nature, and community—beautifully shared.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I have to agree, Ritva! When I lived in Portland, Oregon for 2 yrs as a kid, I loved our snowy Christmases. 6 years ago we decided to move to Spokane, Washington, home to white Christmases, northern lights and moose! I love that you live in Santas homeland. I love winter!

      Like

      Reply

What is YOUR perspective? Please include your name if WP identifies you as "anonymous.