Choice Morsels

Three Garden Pics Today: First: Siberian Iris & Shasta Daisies These are in a bed along the front side walk. I can grow any kind of Iris except the German Iris, which has a rhizome root. Siberian Iris just has regular roots. So it grows.  I like it because it's on the dark blue side, though Siberian Iris does come in a rainbow of colors. I collect blue flowers in particular, though. Also it spreads. Over the years, it has turned into a whole row!   Next: my Louisiana Iris in my backyard rain garden. I have 2 colors: First this pretty purple with touches of yellow. And then this more solid purple one, called Black Peacock. Backlit by late afternoon sun like this, it looks more purple. But in the shade, it's a deeper purple one could almost call "black."

Garden Pics today: Shasta Daisies hanging out by my mailbox: Raised these from some free seed a neighbor gave me that came in charity junk-mail. They're perennial, but I've read they'll stop coming back after abut 5 years. I actually have about a dozen clumps scattered in various beds. I'll try to collect seed from a dry bloom or two to create a new generation. This is their 2nd year. Here's a closer view captured in end-of-day sun . The blossoms attract a variety of insects. I saw a Lady Bug nymph on one the other day. (a nymph is the stage prior to transforming into what you normally expect a Lady Bug to look like. They are spiny and bi-colored. Odd looking. But your friends as they are carnivorous at all stagesof life, dining on other insects that normally cause harm to plants and flowers. Who knew? Also, today a nice end of day sun-glow shot of my container of Red Salvia & Purple Petunia's on the walkway just outside my front door. It's what greets y...

  I joined a local ladies book club I saw mentioned in Next Door because it was an opportunity to hang out and have lunch with ladies in my age range. We meet on the 2nd Wednesday every month and today was my 3rd meeting. We together choose a new read and the goal is actually to find reasonably clean books to read. It's something fun to look forward to and the restaurant we meet at is a local place that let's us in at 10 am, then we order lunch. Today's Garden Pic is my Clematis. Blooms are just now popping open. Clematis are climbers, so it has an metal trellis. This particular one is on the bluer side and has a shorter growth habit; something I chose deliberately.  When you buy plants & shrubs you want to pay attention to their height and width dimensions! Clematis Has New Growth! I planted it and it put up 2 vines and for the past 3 years, it's been blooming just off those. This Clematis blooms off the "old wood" meaning, new greenery sprouts off the or...

Good news is the tree cutter I hired to remove those 2 pines, came today! They removed a few trees a house over, then started on mine about lunchtime. It's a company comprised of military Veterans. One tree down, run to go. Two things of note: I haven't really heard any swearing by the work crew of guys. That's impressive, since I recall the climber of a different tree service a several years ago clearing shouting obscenity at his phone. Neither did they take a lunch break, pulling out lawn chairs and popping beers like another tree company I had experience with. So this company, called Brothers-At-Arms, has been more impressive then most.  Today's Garden Pic is one of my Amaryllis:  The have two in containers; this red one and an orange and white one. The picture came out pretty good this time. I waited till later in day when sunlight was less intense. Surprisingly, red is a hard color to photograph. Seems easy for it to appear too orange or too black--but this time, l...