Don't count melons before they are grown!

It is said "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched!" - I guess it applies to my winter melons too! The first potential winter melon to land on my dining table looks like it is dying! The tail-end of the fruit looks shriveled and it has stopped growing! Maybe it was not fertilized or it is not good enough for the next generation of seeds.



Anyway, I got another to bank on - one relocated from the back lane into the garden and it looks like it is still growing.


Other female flowers are blooming and this one's looking forlorn on the fence while waiting patiently for the matchmaker bee!



The bee is busy on this male flower but I noticed that it avoided the female flowers!
Why ?_?



The perfect pentagonal petal star!



The stigma centre of the female winter melon flower looks like a well-filled samosa!



The hardy Bell Lily in bloom - I have always enjoy its short-lived beauty all these years. My lilies have been with me more than ten years.