Come Closer

The weather has turned dull dark and wet, and I had to venture out to a routine medical appointment that I wasn't looking forward to. I spotted this stunning display at the entrance to the building and despite the gloom, my day turned sunny. 

I just had to stop for a closer look. My curiosity was piqued. No, my eyes were not deceiving me. Those clusters of bright pink and red were all part of the same plant. The vivid colours of the pink bracts behind the red flowers put on a stunning show. 

I rather like the rich green leaves and the almost black stems of the flowers too. 

With the help of Google Lens, I found that it's a Clerodendrum x speciosum, also known as a Bleeding Heart Vine. A couple of our plants in the garden are looking straggly and need to be replaced so I'm going to look out for this Bleeding Heart Vine on my next visit to the garden shop. It's a beautiful plant and apparently it's easy to grow. Perfect for our garden. Meanwhile, I hope that we avoid the extremely heavy rain that is causing flooding all around us again. 

'Till next time happy stitching!