The blanket flower is an easy-care plant.
It’s almost winter, and the blanket flowers in my front yard are still flowering.
I must confess that I did not know about this plant until spring this year when I first saw the flowers at a nursery. Their lively colors drew me each time I saw them, till I decided to get two plants for my garden.
The blanket flower, also known by its scientific name Gaillardia, is native to North America. It is said that the plant got its common name because some of the people who first encountered the flowers thought that the colors were similar to that of Native American blankets.
Somehow when I think about the blanket flower’s staying power, my thoughts also land on Facebook. On Facebook, where individuals can become friends instantly, I have also heard of stories where people you’ve met in real life can “unfriend” you or remove you as a friend, just like that, without giving any explanation. Hmm….that seems rather cold.
In contrast, given some sun and some water, the blanket flower doesn’t let up and continues to bloom, surprising and delighting the gardener. Now, that’s what I call a star performer.
Building Bridges 
Sharifah, Re facebook, true I have deleted some friends that I know and some relatives. The reason is that I set a rule that those who want to be ‘friend’ must put on their personal profile image [no cartoon or avatar or flag or tree or flower etc] and that they should not use SMS on the wall of FB. To me it is wrong to use SMS language in FB because there are enough space on the wall. It is OK to use SMS in cell phone and Twitter. I too do not accept as friend who put title before their name i.e Dato, Datin, Tan Sri or whatever even the professional title like Dr.Ir. In Fb one should use only true name or User name only. I am glad that many Tan Sri, Dato did not put their title but there are Datin who insist to put their title and I have decided not to accept this person as ‘friend’.
Thanks for visiting, Pak Idrus. I can see the validity of your reasons.
I’ve also seen people using SMS language when they are commenting on blogs, etc. I agree that this is a bad habit and should be discouraged.
I like this flower.
You have very nice snapshots.
Thank you!