Most of my irises are tall bearded, or German iris.   

  I do have to confess to a fondness for the Siberian iris, as well, though. 

                    

These are some in the yard. They are overgrown at this point, and need to be separated or they will not bloom again for me. Siberian iris are a good plant to share, and seem to multiply even faster than bearded 
iris! 

I've got some blue and yellow Siberian iris in my yard, as well.

Siberian iris have smaller, more delicate blooms than the bearded iris, and are native to northern Asia and central and eastern Europe. They are very hardy and tough plants! 

Iris week - the oldies but goodies

These are early bloomers in my yard. 

They are a little more old-fashioned looking than the larger blooms that will come later.

 These golden brown iris are a little wind blown.

classic two toned 

these are an older variety, blue in color, but grape scented. 

Iris week begins with the minis!

Iris week is here again! Today I'd like to show a few of the mini's, or dwarf iris:

This is a nice two toned purple and blue number. 

Purple mini

the blues are one of my favorites! 

Musings at Wal-mart

The stars aligned for me today. I was at Wal-mart. I had my camera in my purse (thanks again, Em!). And, I had to use the bathroom. I appreciate a clean bathroom, and one that smells clean, as well. Some time ago my local W-mart 'redecorated' their bathrooms. I don't know why. So- here is one of those 'new' plastic de-cals on the wall. Looks good. NBD* (no big deal, right?) 

Not content with this simple style statement, they added inspirational messages:

 I'd have been ok with something that said, " throw your towels in the garbage can" or "don't be a slob" 

but the person that was hired to decorate THIS Wal-mart bathroom had other ideas: "Life is about making memories." Admittedly, the sign is stylin'. Love the font. but... hmm. odd message for the bathroom, I'd say.

 This is the one that really cracks me up, though: "Love is the beauty of the soul"???? whaaa?

That doesn't really make any sense. I am imagining the manufacturer just decided to use the words: 'love,' 'beauty,' and 'soul' to make a nice looking sign. We could mix it up and it would make just as much sense. Try it with me, now:

"Beauty is the soul of love"... "Love is the soul of beauty?" .. you get the idea. Give me a few of your less meaningful sayings. Maybe we can sell them to Wal-mart!!! 

"Mystery Squash" - are you ready for your mystery squash?

Maybe the heat is doing funny things to my brain, but I've been watching a volunteer squash plant grow and develop for a month or so,  now. What will it be? Will it be worth the time and effort? 

The tune that advertised a popular game when I was young (I know!) came to my mind: "Mystery squash, am I ready for my mystery squash?" 

Maybe  I should have ripped it out and thrown it in the compost pile when I first saw it sprout? I'm hoping it's not a dud!  It's growing very fast, and has almost covered my Cherokee Purple Tomato plant. 

Hmm.......... time will tell.

.Maybe it's a pumpkin? Let me know if you have a guess. 

Top o' the morning!

I don't know that quilting will ever be a great hobby of mine.

Yesterday I shared my 'oops' moment. I realized I should've used a quilting frame or embroidery frame to hold the quilt and border tight.

But who wants to tear everything apart and start over? Not me!

I did tear out the 'stitch in the ditch' basting stitches, and then opened up the bottom of the piece and stuffed in some batting.

I also used embroidery thread to 'tie' my quilt.

It is still not perfect, but much less lumpy looking. I'll take it for a first effort!

Still have to fix the stick and hanging tabs. They are too red neck even for me.

And next time I'll put my mini quilt in a frame of some sort. Next time?

Yes, I think I'll try again. :)

Crocus in March -hurrah!

I thought about the fact that this is the 15th, and thus, Garden Blogger's bloom day.

I had little hope that I had anything blooming yet.

I have been out, raking up the pine needles (there seem to be SO MANY this year!)

We stack the needles on one of our walking paths. And, then I noticed (look on the left, up the path) that we really DID have flowers already! Every year spring is such a wonderful surprise.

Although it shouldn't be a surprise. I see last year in March, my crocuses were blooming.

Saint Patrick's day decorations, or will the luck o' the Irish hold?

I bought some small remnants with shamrocks on them several years ago and then didn't know what to do with them. It didn't seem right to make a bag out of them. Finally I decided to try to make a wall hanging. This seemed like a small enough project that I just might be able to finish it.

Step one, find some fabrics in my stash that would look good with the two shamrock fabrics.

A shamrock template off of the internet was easy enough, and then..........

cutting out the squares and sewing them together went along very quickly.

I appliquéd the shamrock and added tabs............

Things started going wonky when I put the border on and then the backing, though.

You can see from this picture that the squares are not flat and tight. bah.

I hung it up for a few days to think about what to do next. I didn't want to take the whole thing apart again. (I'd already tried to make it look smooth by sewing basting stitches across the quilted pieces. I'll show you what I did to fix it tomorrow.

Snow day in March

We got about 5 inches of snow last night

not much fun to drive in, but beautiful to look at!

I love how lacey these snow covered branches look.

Another Flicker sighting

I saw the flicker again!

This time it looks like he/she is wondering where the tree went -

we lost the tree in a bad windstorm in December.

Here's a great shot of its wings. I wish I remembered if the bird was taking off or landing.

Fall Flicker ?

From my kitchen window, I've been enjoying the color of the Virginia creeper.

Then I heard some rustling, and saw a bird eating the berries....

I'm guessing it's a flicker of some type. But I don't know a lot about birds!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday -check it out!

Iris Week wrap up - 'Dear Dorothy' blooms

"Dear Dorothy" was a bonus iris from Blue J Iris.

I've ordered irises from them more than once, and always been pleased.

It's one of those 'too many colors' for my taste, but not bad, for a freebie.

Anytime an iris has brown, tan or copper listed as colors, I am a bit wary.

I have some yellow/brown irises that I love some days and hate on others (don't tell them).

Blue J describes Dear Dorothy as a bi-color with yellow-orange selfs (upper petals) and light powder purple (or almost brown!) falls with yellow orange edges and hafts

This closeup shows the light purple falls and yellow beard. Nice. Almost rainbow-colored in the range of colors. And, of course, 'free' is always nice.

Iris Week - Mystery Theatre, featuring 'Copper Lustre'

One of my new irises is "Copper Lustre."

It is a Dykes medal winner (1938),

with delicate coppery-pink standards and darker falls with veining and a yellow-orange beard.

Here is what Copper Lustre is supposed to look like.

Then we come to what I have in my garden, bought with the understanding that this is supposed to be a copper /pink combo:

You can see we are talking about something that is definitely NOT copper-y. Wine? yes. Purple-red? yes. but copper? no. So now I wonder what this lovely iris is called? Maybe I should just save some time and rename it myself.

Any suggestions?

Iris Week- lovin' the blues

Irises make me happy, so lovin' the blues is more accurate than singing the blues today.

This is a closeup of Chico Maid, a tall bearded iris.

You can see the beautiful blue beard with a bit of bronze.

Chico maid again. It is such a beautiful color and the blue beard just adds to the thrill for me.

unnamed pale blue

This iris is a lovely deep, periwinkle blue that's blooming in several spots in the yard today.

Iris Week - Yellow beauty, big and small

Looks like Mama iris and babies, doesn't it?

The tall yellow ones are named "New Moon," and are a rich lemony color.

The 'babies' are a smaller variety, and I don't have the name for them. My yellow bed is getting crowded, I'll have to do some thinning when my iris get done blooming.

GBB Day for June 2011

One of the highlights of spring is the dogwood blooming. Here in hot , dry Utah, I don't remember when the dogwood has bloomed this late before. We've had a very cool and wet spring.

The yellow splotches on the leaves are the pine pollen from our Austrian pines.

Also blooming: mullein, IRIS!!!!!, allium, the last of the tulips, perennial geranium, thyme, vinca, IRIS!!!, and

did I mention, IRIS?

This is a 'space ager,' which I featured a few years ago.

Be sure to head over to May Dreams Gardens to see everyone's blooms today!

Iris Week - too many to count

Too many to count -

This bed is from some beauties I got from a wonderful friend. She had to clear them out of her yard, and so now I have them.

Lucky me.

Would love to see your irises??? give me a link in comments!

Yep, It's time for Iris Week! - one more reason to love irises

DH brought these irises home in a plastic shopping bag,

and they sat there for about a month. Then I noticed they were budding, then blooming.

Gotta love a tough plant that won't give up.

More irises tomorrow!

GBB day for March 2011 !

Back! I saw these little croci out the kitchen window today, and thought I'd add my part for Garden Blogger's Bloom day.

Happy Spring to all!