Garden Pic Wednesday: My German Iris

-
Today, I mowed the front yard and put down some top soil in a couple places that needed it. I also planted the two Million Bell plants (latin name: calibrachoa) that I purchased about 10 days ago. I'm trying a different location then in past years. They seem prone to mildew if overly wet from rain or watering, but I have a one pink one that keeps coming back year after year and even survived the 16 degree freeze. So they can be a very good investment for the perennial garden. 
I also noted my Queens Tears Bromeliads that lost all their greenery to this winters deep freeze are showing signs of new growth along their root bases. (Mine live outside in a dry, shady location. The girl who gave them to me kept them in pots outside as well.)
Shows just how tough a "tropical" plant can be!

Today's garden pic is a rare & lovely picture of one of my German Iris that decided it wanted to bloom this year:



Gorgeous!
This one has been a no show for at least the past 6 years, since it bloomed once after initial planting.
I have yet to find just the right location where all my German Iris will thrive and this isn't the first spot. It's the 3rd. 
I think maybe it's been too wet for them here, especially this year, so I plan on moving all 3 German Iris out of this particular row to the front yard, to a spot that is higher, dryer and will get a decent amount of sun without it being too much sun.Direct all-day Florida sun can be too much for many kinds of flowers and, if the sun isn't a problem, it's the wet.
******
Sunny, generally dry days are predicted for our area for the next two weeks--maybe my back yard will dry out enough, so I can finally plant my rain garden area!
My giant red-leaf tropical spider lily that I want to plant there should ship soon and I plan on buying a Cinnamon Fern to add to the area from a local nursery, plus plant my rain lily bulbs.
(A giant tropical spider lily gets 4 feet high by 4 or 5 feet wide. 
No kidding on the word "giant" here and considering the quantity of water that area pools when it rains, it's gonna get really big, really fast.)

Ultimately, by next year, my rain garden will look fabulous! 
Right now, it looks like an large mud hole edged with some flagstones on one side with a few very happy native orange day lilies, that, luckily, thrive in either wet or dry conditions equally well!
*******
I was intending to do a Mama Kat, but preparations for a retreat where I'll be speaking on how to  How to Claim Promises from God's Word this weekend has superseded my time. 
So next post will be Good Eating on Monday!  See you then!

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment!

Popular posts from this blog

Good Eating Monday: Old Fashioned Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding!

-
Image
Welcome to the first week of February! It's supposed to be 31 degrees tonight, so after cleaning up the front walk beds, I went around covering various things that either are blooming, about to bloom or that have sensitive leaf buds, like my hydrangea's.  I picked all the yellow daffodils and brought them inside for a cheerful vase on my counter. For Garden Pic Wednesday this week I have an excellent photo of a pine tree flower! You didn't know pine trees flower?  Well, you'll have to stop back for a look! Today's Good Eating Recipe is a family favorite my Mother used to make often for us as kids: Old Fashioned Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding! What Old Fashioned Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding Looks Like This is just your basic wholesome old fashioned bread pudding made with just eggs, bread, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar & raisins! No sauces to make. Just simple bread pudding. We'd eat it hot with a little evaporated milk poured over the top.
Read more

Garden Pic Wednesday: Thriving Rose Bush!

-
Image
  Thanks to a garden club, I've learned how to better care for my rose bush and this year it's thriving! It's thick, bushy and covered in blooms! This is a Julia Child Floribunda Rose. I selected it because I wanted a smaller size rose for my front flower bed and this one grows a max of 3 feet tall and wide. I learned from the garden club the proper time to trim a rose and that's what has made it so bushy. Roses here in Northwest Florida need to be trimmed and shaped the week of Valentine's Day, Feb 14.  The right time will vary from growing zone to growing zone in different places where it's colder, but the correct time in any zone is evident when leaf buds are showing along the stems with even a few small leaves beginning to pop out. The other important thing is buying some Rose Food and fertilizing according to directions.  Tons are dark blue Bachelor Buttons are blooming adjacent to this yellow rose, so the show of blue and yellow is quite striking!  
Read more

Mama Kat Thursday: Two Before & After Projects

-
Image
The Mama Kat Prompt topic for today is: "Show Us a Before & After." Last fall and this spring I had two major  drainage issue locations: one in the back yard and one on the side of the garage. After hours of TLC they're greatly improved. Here's the before & after on both: First: The Back Yard Pond : This happened every time we had a heavy rain: After: Same spot as it looks now. Paradise. I took advantage of the naturally concave area by edging it with flagstones and filling the center with gravel & water loving plants. The Chocolate Elephant Ears here are gorgeous! Second, The Other Pond: This bed edges on the garage near the front of the house. After:  I edged the bed with paving blocks, raised the dirt level on the grass side, then planted grass plugs. Now that it's late summer,  it's nicely filled in! I consider rate these two projects among my most successful---though not all gardening  exp
Read more

Mama Kat Prompt Day: Childhood Memories

-
Image
It's been raining intermittently today as the tail of Isaac's outer-most eastern band passed over us today. Luckily, no thunder this a.m. so I could get to water aerobics at the Y. Thundered later a bit, but sun is out now. It's one of those liquid sunshine kind of days. I'm also pleased to report, since last night, someone has purchased one of the ties I just posted in my Zazzle store! Cool beans!   Today's Mama Kat Prompt is: What do you remember most about your childhood bedroom? That's a good question and it has a pretty funny answer. First you have to picture that my 2 younger sisters and I shared one large. That by itself is memorable. It must have been at least 20' x 20' in size and the 3 of us each had a corner of it to call our own. I slept in a double bed, while my 2 sisters slept in the bunk-bed our Dad had built. He had carpentry skills and it was a huge, sturdy thing, larger then any store-bought bunk. Here's the funny pa
Read more

The Imaginary Party Outfit for the Imaginary Party

-
Image
Mama Kat's Writing Prompt for this week is a fun one:  " Put together a holiday outfit you'd love to wear at a holiday party should a holiday party ever be on your list of things to do." This concept requires 2 things: #1)  First, imagining I have an unlimited budget and can buy whatever I want. #2) Second, also imagining I might  actually have someplace fancy to go that requires such an outfit, like, for example, an upscale Christmas party at a plush Destin hotel. Now that we have the ground rules settled, we can look at the clothing catalog photos I selected for my "ideal party outfit." Now I love a lot of things I see on those oh-too-skinny models in on-line catalog photos, but I'm not a long-waisted, hipless, bustless, skinny-minny like they are. I have more of what I prefer to call a "voluptuous hour-glass" shape. I simply look ridiculous in short-short skirts, straight shift dresses, the clingy knits, the fluffy-around the hip j
Read more