Seedlings!

I confess that I cannot pass up a chance to try growing plants from seed.  Knowing the logistics--the wasted time, money and effort when something doesn't sprout--just doesn't seem to phase me.  Not all my attempts have been failures.  I have a couple of rose bushes I grew from seeds--they are the Romer's Hip Happy, a rose that makes big rose hips with easy to sprout seeds.  But still!

So when I came down with the Iris Virus this year, of course it would not do but I had to grow iris from seed.  In trying to identify so many of my No I.D. ("noids") iris, I learned that there are a seemingly infinite variety of them!  My favorite is and always will be the tall bearded, but I have a few of the different kinds now.  And most of these are in part to my little trays of seedlings.

Here are few photos of the "lab" where I have tended the trays and fussed over the little green sprouts.  They will need potting up and careful nursing through a blistering summer.  But by fall, they should be strong enough to plant in the beds out front. 

The nursery!  (a.k.a. the labORatory.  hwaahahaha...)

Red flag iris, blue flag, and some Siberians. 

A tiny rose, black sage shrubs, senna corymbosa, and a squirrel planted palm tree I dug up.

Tropical milkweed, for the monarchs.

Aren't they sweet?

I think this has been a lesson in patience.  It's usually two to three years from seed to bloom with these babies!  Here's hoping I will see blooms in a couple of years.

Ten cool things about Joyce Elaine Graham Brown

I posted this on Facebook, so my apologies to those friends who have seen it already.

Ten cool things about Joyce Elaine Graham Brown.

1. She knew to bang on the battery cable connection with a wrench when the car wouldn't start. 

2. She once made a doll house television--that worked.

3. She could not tell a joke to save her life, but she loved to hear them.

4. She was a great fisherman and camper, and taught me how to build a fire. 

5. When she was five, her dad let her drive the car. She hit the garage.

6. She loved the song Silver Bells at Christmas.

7. She unknowingly named one of the French Poodle puppies Renee, at the same time I was naming my daughter Renee.

8. In general she couldn't cook, but she did make great snickerdoodles.

9. She was a sweet Gran to my kids, but took no crap from them.

10. She was the best mom ever.


Happy Mother's Day to you all, whether your mother is with you or has gone on.  Let's remember good stuff all day, and make good memories for our own kids to remember.