As promised, I have more bearded irises to show this week. These past few weeks have been a real treat to discover new flowers in the garden!
The garden is bursting with all kinds of wonderful things that I haven’t seen since last spring. There were also things that I thought were long dead because they didn’t come up last year but came back this year. I’m so glad I didn’t dig them up. Moral of the story is that: don’t dig or throw out dead looking plants until after two seasons!!!
“Montmartre” Bearded Irises
“Wine Festival” Bearded Irises
NO ID Bearded Irises
This container had two kinds of bearded irises growing and both of which I have no idea what they are called because I inherited it from my mother-in-law after she passed away.
” Loveliness” Lavatera Trimestris
This is the plant I mentioned earlier about it coming back this year after looking dead for a whole season. It came back and grew three times bigger and more prolific than ever! The bush is about 3 feet tall with hundreds of flowers and buds.
Lord Waggles is taking a break from eating figs. My dogs kept stealing figs off of our tree and they have done it for years. I read that figs promote digestive and heart health.
Anyway, those are all the new irises this week. There are more to come. See you soon! Have a nice weekend!
My bearded irises are blooming! My bearded irises are blooming!
They are spectacular and vibrant! I love bearded irises so much that I think I have about 12 different kinds but mostly are in the purple color palette. A few were inherited from my mother-in-law and that’s what inspired me to grow more bearded irises! They are one of the easiest plants to grow and naturalize.
I also have other favorites that are blooming too!
Come see my latest bloomers!!!
BEARDED IRISES
These purple bearded irises here are called “Lady Friend”. What a ridiculous name for a beautiful flower! Who came up with these names?
The following bearded irises came from a collection of my mother-in-law and I have no idea what they are called. This year is the best bloom so far. They are so prolific and happy looking in the ground instead of a pot where they came from before.
These blue and cream colored irises below are adorable to me in a way I can’t even describe to you! I think of the word “angelic” when I see these flowers. Blue and cream is a favorite color combo for me. It’s too precious!
Brace yourself for the next purple iris down below though. They are wildly different irises!
Would you look at that crazy dark and dangerous purple! WOW! Incredible coloring! I am really in love with this color and this bearded iris! I am ecstatic to see them flower so much this year. They liked that I divided them out of the pot that I got from my mother-in-law. They were not flowering when they were crowded in the pot. I took some other bulbs out and they are super duper happy! Sorry but I don’t know the name of these irises.
PEONY “CORAL SUNSET”
I have heard that it is really hard to grow peonies out here in southern California where it is usually too warm for herbaceous peonies like this one. I defied everyone’s warnings and bought a few peonies. I’m kind of a rogue gardener. I never go with convention. This is the second peony I have that flowered. Last year was this “Kopper Kettle” peony and so far I haven’t seen it with a bulb yet so I’m crossing my fingers that it will flower again for me. We had a bitterly cold winter so maybe it likes it and comes back soon. I hear peonies do better in cooler weather which helps them to flower.
This flower starts out a deep dark coral color and each day it changes colors. See the progress below. It changed to a lighter salmon color, then into a peach color. As of yesterday afternoon it is a bright yellow, the prettiest yellow I’ve ever seen.
Look at the adorable pink center, I don’t know what it’s called.
CHRYSANTHEMUMS
These are one of my favorite mums. They are HUGE in size, about 4 inches wide and the colors are so bright and cheerful. These always makes me smile and think happy thoughts.
Garden bed full of daisies, blue borage, purple dondo blue in the background, and a whole lot of colorful nasturtiums.
COLUMBINE “ROCKY MOUNTAIN”
CALIFORNIA POPPIES
That’s all of the flowers for now. I will show you more bearded irises next week. I saw some buds in a few new bearded irises already. Have a nice weekend everyone! Thanks for stopping by and reading all the way to the end if you did!
This is a true story of how a slug can drop from a 15 inches high table and still survive.
A few days ago I noticed a brown blob on my dog’s cream-colored coat. I looked at it closely to make sure it wasn’t poop because my dog likes to roll around in the grass, usually in the same places his brother Hunter pooped. I saw that it was this tiny baby slug on Lord Waggles back. I picked it off gently and placed him on a piece of paper to take it outside later. I left it on the coffee table that is about 15 inches tall.
Lord Waggles and Hunter
After about 10 minutes or so, I looked down, expecting the slug to be somewhere near the spot where I left him, saw that he had disappeared. Then I saw him dangling off the coffee table about 3 inches from the ground. He was held up by a very thin line of his own slime. See pictures below.
If you noticed, his antennas were pointing down, and that was what he landed gracefully down on. It was a slow, flawless landing. I was in awe of this creature. I didn’t know they could do that!
Rest assured, I took him outside after that landing.
This goes to show you how great and innovative God is when He made these creatures, giving them and us the ability to survive…in many conditions we thought not possible!
Verdant Garden 