Iris and Rainy Day Pictures

My first Dutch Iris blooms!

This purple one was a new one I brought in last summer.  I'm pleased that it doubled up in size already!

These will be orange.  I moved the columbine plant to the corner of the deck and steps.  It was nice to have it as a surprise in the garden but the location wasn't where I'd have planted it.

I saw these at Lowe's and couldn't leave without a couple of them.  All the other lilies in this garden are some form of pink and I think these will look pretty with them.  It will take until next year for them to be in sink with the pink ones and hopefully bloom at the same time.

I added some Yellow Dutch Iris that are just in front of the little girl statue. I hope next year all three of the Iris will bloom at the same time.  Some Alyssum has made it's way down to the edge from last year which is fine with me! It should be blooming before long.

I relocated this Autumn Joy Sedum to make room for one of those new Dutch Iris.

I love this Dwarf Nikko Deutzia.  It's taken it a lot longer than I expected to fill out but it's finally looking nice and I love the pretty white flowers.  

Looking up the steps you can see my hydrangeas are coming along nicely.  My garden mascot the flying pig is posted on the corner.  I have a thing for flying pigs- it's all about optimism!

The purple supertunias are starting to branch out- I hope it turns into something great before long!  Our weather has been moderate- we need warmer temps to boost things along more.

The plants are all encroaching on the pathway, but that's okay I like it.  I'll trim up the Goldflame Spiraea's (Spirea) after they bloom.  The topiary lilac is blooming but the flowers are mostly hidden by the tree's new growth.  I'm debating on whether I'm going to keep it here.  It needs more sun.

They smell heavenly!

I moved the dove statue over here a few weeks back.  In the past it has sat on the pedestal where the flying pig is right now.  

Everything is looking healthy.  These have gotten much larger - I should consider splitting them because before long it will look like one large plant instead of two.  These are called Blazing Saddles and they're working their way into my Captain Kirk that you can barely see between them and the little tree.

So far this is growing great.  I gave all the annuals a shot of liquid fertilizer yesterday.

 Turning around from that planter- a view to the fountain.

A view a couple of days ago in the early morning...  

Dan got a chance to clean up the patio last weekend.  We had an overgrowth of weeds and grass coming up.  The stuff we put in for grout is brushed in and wasn't supposed to grow anything, but moss came all by itself and eventually little bits of grass and weeds.

I love how the Creeping Jenny grows around things.   I got the garden bench last year from a local place that has their own molds and produces lots of cement objects like these.  The little pedestal and planters next to it came from there some years ago.

Dan got the fountain running this past weekend too.  The pump needed some TLC to get it to work this year so we're on the hunt for a new one.

The planters are filling out nicely.

The hostas the frame the outer ring are called Bright Lights.  The year we put in the fountain I started when they were barely out of the ground, dug them and split them and spread them around the outer ring.  I was so happy how well they grew even that year and they've been getting bigger each year.  They don't seem to be bothered by slugs either, so that's a good thing.  

The Hosta hill has come alive!

Another view of the same area with the morning sun a couple of days back…

The Siberian Iris are just starting to bloom here too.  

I dug out these plant stands and potted up some remaining impatiens into these rusty buckets.  They're really crusty inside so I put a plastic bag in there with a few holes  in the bottom in hopes that it will slow down the process of their demise.

A quick shot of my first fairy garden.  I haven't done a thing with it since last year except to pull out some little tree starters that were growing.  I put in some Dwarf Solomon's Seal last year and they've come up nicely.  Cute plant- I'm glad I discovered them- you can spot them next to the wood stump and in a few more spots.  I'm going to straighten up the stones and I may steal the little copper fence and put it over with my new fairy garden and the little bridge.

I've been working on the other garden but I'll show you that another time.

I'm joining
Fishtail Cottage for
2014 Cottage Garden Party