The vegetable garden was plowed and disked for the first time in 3 years
because the weeds had gotten out of hand, but I didn't get the seeds in
before the last few days of rain (was still raining today).

About half the summer garden will be an experiment to see what lavender best
likes my soil and what I like best (I have 6 or 7 named varieties), and
various flowers for cutting, and some melons for my BF. Since I discovered
that solanaceae do indeed worsen my arthritis, I will probably only get one
or two plants from Craig Lehoullier of the stuff I absolutely can't resist
(a dead ripe Sun Gold tomato IS candy isn't it?), but mostly, I hate going
to all that expense just to feed the bugs, so a few beans and cukes will do
it for me. My veggie garden normally only operates in fall and winter.

The so-called "winter blooming" sweet peas I planted in fall have suddenly
begun to grow and bloom. Not so good for winter after all, unless you have
a greenhouse, but they are now delighting my eyes and nose. Hot pink,
purple, and a burgundy and purple bicolor.

The iris are gorgeous and plentiful (thanks to this list) and an even
greater delight to the nose, and the rose bushes are doing great now that
several are two years old. Secret is a wonderfully fragrant HT, white with
a blush tip to the petals. I have a big one on each side of the front
steps. The others are purples and pinks. I have Icelandic poppies to plant
in the beds in front of the chicken house, since they won't tempt Mr Bun.
He is still living in the house having an eye infection treated though, and
is not a happy bun.

What would be colorful and tall (perennial would be nice) to grow out front
when the poppies succumb to the heat? The mice and bunny didn't bother the
salvia I had there last summer.

This year I am experimenting with peonies and some hollyhocks, and am
replacing the common orange roadside daylilies with pink and purple ones as
I find varieties that look good.

What are you guys up to?

This weekend is the second Plant Delights open house weekend.......

laurie (Mother Mastiff)

In article . net,
"laurie \(Mother Mastiff\)" wrote:


The iris are gorgeous and plentiful

Back in 1992, I planted a row of giant bearded irises from Schreiner's
in Salem Oregon at the base of a row of Bradford pears. I thought that
the shade would help. After a couple of years of blooming, they all
stopped blooming. I always planned to build a new iris plot in the sun,
but never got around to it. Now came the ice storm of December 2002 and
the Bradford was delimbed and eventually cut down. This spring the
irises are in bloom and are just beautiful. Pictures at
http://sine.tmug.org/~dfilpus/Pictures/Iris1.jpg
http://sine.tmug.org/~dfilpus/Pictures/Iris2.jpg

Now I looking at the Schreiner's catalog and seeing what I want add to
the plot this year.

"Dave Filpus" wrote in message
...
| In article
. net,
| "laurie \(Mother Mastiff\)"
wrote:
|
|
| The iris are gorgeous and plentiful
|
| Back in 1992, I planted a row of giant bearded irises from
Schreiner's
| in Salem Oregon at the base of a row of Bradford pears. I
thought that
| the shade would help. After a couple of years of blooming, they
all
| stopped blooming. I always planned to build a new iris plot in
the sun,
| but never got around to it. Now came the ice storm of December
2002 and
| the Bradford was delimbed and eventually cut down. This spring
the
| irises are in bloom and are just beautiful. Pictures at
| http://sine.tmug.org/~dfilpus/Pictures/Iris1.jpg
| http://sine.tmug.org/~dfilpus/Pictures/Iris2.jpg
|
| Now I looking at the Schreiner's catalog and seeing what I want
add to
| the plot this year.

Great pics! Those are two of my favorite varieties, too. This
must be a good year for irises as several that are in my "dead
bed" are blooming for the first time in the 4 years we've been
here. One we've called Big Blue. Damned biggest iris I've ever
seen! A lovely creamy yellow one, too. Anyone that wants some
irises, come and get them. I can't tell you what colors they
are, only that they are hardy as all get out. In the last two
years, I've tried to pull them all out at least 3 times but yet
they keep coming back. Unfortunately, they're just not in a
place that gets enough sun for them to bloom.
Jenny

When is the best time to transplant irises? I have several different colors
but they would look better if htey were spread apart.



"laurie (Mother Mastiff)" wrote in
message ink.net...
The vegetable garden was plowed and disked for the first time in 3 years
because the weeds had gotten out of hand, but I didn't get the seeds in
before the last few days of rain (was still raining today).

About half the summer garden will be an experiment to see what lavender
best
likes my soil and what I like best (I have 6 or 7 named varieties), and
various flowers for cutting, and some melons for my BF. Since I
discovered
that solanaceae do indeed worsen my arthritis, I will probably only get
one
or two plants from Craig Lehoullier of the stuff I absolutely can't resist
(a dead ripe Sun Gold tomato IS candy isn't it?), but mostly, I hate going
to all that expense just to feed the bugs, so a few beans and cukes will
do
it for me. My veggie garden normally only operates in fall and winter.

The so-called "winter blooming" sweet peas I planted in fall have suddenly
begun to grow and bloom. Not so good for winter after all, unless you
have
a greenhouse, but they are now delighting my eyes and nose. Hot pink,
purple, and a burgundy and purple bicolor.

The iris are gorgeous and plentiful (thanks to this list) and an even
greater delight to the nose, and the rose bushes are doing great now that
several are two years old. Secret is a wonderfully fragrant HT, white
with
a blush tip to the petals. I have a big one on each side of the front
steps. The others are purples and pinks. I have Icelandic poppies to
plant
in the beds in front of the chicken house, since they won't tempt Mr Bun.
He is still living in the house having an eye infection treated though,
and
is not a happy bun.

What would be colorful and tall (perennial would be nice) to grow out
front
when the poppies succumb to the heat? The mice and bunny didn't bother
the
salvia I had there last summer.

This year I am experimenting with peonies and some hollyhocks, and am
replacing the common orange roadside daylilies with pink and purple ones
as
I find varieties that look good.

What are you guys up to?

This weekend is the second Plant Delights open house weekend.......

laurie (Mother Mastiff)