Back to buds

C'mon, why not, when you've got little beauties like these? They're buds of the Mandevillia plant here, and don't they put on a great show? Like little rockets lined up ready for synchronised blast off. Or perhaps little soldiers on parade, standing proud and straight, ready to launch themselves in to battle.
Mind you, the flowers that they transition towards are no shrinking violets themselves, so to speak - see Extra photo. Beautiful blooms, they are - in this case with lush petals in a magnificent crimson colour. Flowers might well get better than this, but good luck with tracking them down.
The buds, on the other hand, have all the crimson richness of the blooms, but are nicely complemented by a sumptuous pale-green base.
Once again, the flowers inevitably attract the eye, and dominate centre stage; but look a little more closely and you can see in the buds the embryonic form of every one of the different elements that eventually make up the bloom.
So really, we're looking at the difference between the full-blown flower in  all its here-and-now, in-your-face glory, and all of that, and more, but in a dormant, unrealised form. A bit like kids, their beauty is embedded more in their future potential than their current phase of growth.
Buds rule, OK?