Hello August.

Like lots of folks who live where summers are really hot and last a goodly time, August has me longing for fall (okay, actually this can start in July, but...).

Sunflowers make me think of fall, not summer.  Maybe that's because they're at their peak along the ditches and out in the country at this time of year.  Could just be the colors, I don't know. 

My own sunflower bloomed in early July.  Yes, I only had the one, though I planted many.  The rabbits ate well this year.  But the one that bloomed did get HUGE--as big as a dinner plate--though it only grew about 4.5 feet tall.  Here it is once I cut it to dry the seeds.  I'll try again next year, of course. 

Our iris group gave us seeds to plant for wild sunflowers that Monarch butterflies like, so I'll put them out now (it's monsoon season here in the high desert) and hope for the best.  Maybe the rabbits are full.  They look sort of weedy, but maybe the neighbors won't mind since they get the iris show in the spring. 

And while I was out shopping, I came across this bright bunch of red sunflowers!  Made me think of my husband, since red's his favorite color.  So I brought them home for him.  Who says the guy has to always buy the flowers for the girl?  Yes, they really are that red in person.  Amazing, aren't they?  They seem to be lasting a long time, too. 

Well, we're enjoying cloudy days and afternoon rains, so I'm not suffering the heat like my in-laws down in Phoenix are, so I really shouldn't complain.  But I love Autumn, and am ready for a little crisp coolness in the air. 

Y'all have a wonderful week, and a wonderful August! 

October irises and roses...

Just thought I'd share some flowers we have going right now.  I didn't get photos of the red salvia, the heirloom & landscape roses (Old Blush and Martha Gonzolez), nor the desert plants that are blooming--rock rose, desert mallow, or cinquefoil.   But some of my iris are "rebloomers" which means they bloom twice a year instead of once.

So today there were blooms of this purple and white (I've never met it before and don't know its name) and this pink one--"Pink Attraction"--which has a VERY sweet iris fragrance.  Maybe it's the color, but it almost smells like bubble gum in iris form.  The rose bushes are small right now--one because it was a 4" pot when I put it in the ground this summer, and other because I dug it up from out back and moved it--treating it quite ruthlessly in the process.  Doesn't seem to have fazed them. 

The before and after pictures are gratifying--the first is a listing photo w/ the giant house-eating junipers in place when we bought the house.  The second was this morning.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

The roses are awake.

Well of course I'm still naming irises.  FINALLY found the name of the lilac blue one I've been researching for weeks.  It's "Alien Mist".  Took a long time, but this name sure fits.  The older the flowers get, the more they sprout the "space age" horns and spoons at the ends of the beards, so it's been interesting.

Kinda looks like an alien from this view.

A new one bloomed yesterday, too.  She's called "Conjuration".  I guess the hybridizer just couldn't think of a better name.  Oh well, what' in a name, right?  This beauty is tall, incredible to see in person, and smells very sweet.  She's a space-age iris too.

The husband said "The real roses are blooming now!"  Which means the roses that are NOT the miniatures.  He loves big flowers.  I have lots of minis--who can resist a perfect miniature rose?  But the large ones are beautiful too, and I am happy to see them awake and ready to join the garden's celebration of spring.   This is Ambiance and Granada.  The Granada gets showier the more it opens...a wildly vibrant set of colors--yellow, orange and flame red. 

Poor Schultz wasn't allowed out in the front yard, so he sat patiently by the door, waiting for me to come back in with my camera. 

Hope you have a fabulous weekend and there is some Springtime in your life!

More irises!

Been a little crazy, weather-wise here.  One day we're up in the 80's, the next it's 42 for the high.  Some of the irises sent up bloom stalks too early, and lost them in a later freeze.  Sad but true.  But we're Texans, here...and big swings are the norm.

I think we really are done with the freezes--I check the mesquite trees to be sure, but they have yet to confirm my belief.  Mesquites are the final arbiters of the Official End of Winter here...they absolutely do not leaf bud or bloom until it's safe to come out.  They just don't.

At any rate, I have had a wonderful time with the irises that have come out since that last freeze, and I've worked hard to identify them as they bloom.  Here is a PicMonkey photo of the irises I have identified ('cept for that peachy one), not that they've all bloomed yet, but these I know we have.  Plus a few that have blooms now...have I mentioned I love irises?  :~)

Names from L to R, top to bottom:  Immortality, Grandma's Blue Flag, ???, Dauntless, Before the Storm, Celebration Song, Magical Encounter, Carriage Trade, Drama Queen.

This one hasn't bloomed yet, but it's begun to put on a lot of new leaf growth, so it might bloom this year!  Secret Service.

Just identified this one yesterday...had to bring the bloom in to photograph because the wind was crazy!  After some searching, I found out that this one is Sable.

These are irises I grew at our place up in North Texas, when we lived out by the lake.  I had no idea what I was growing, nor did I care.  I put them all around, they bloomed, and I was happy.

Same place...and now that I'm so taken up with I.D.ing them, I hope I brought some of each of these fascinating types...I know I did bring lots of them with me.  I've dragged these poor things around for TEN YEARS, but we never lived in one place long enough or in a place with good planting conditions in all that time.  All that is changed, now that we're here.  Woohoo!

Spring! Irises!

This is for those of you still buried under the snows of winter...if you are tempted toward jealousy over our early spring and warm winter, come visit this July.  That's all I've got to say about that.  But if you need a reminder that spring IS coming, here you go.  Irises!  They're the first to bloom in our garden...some later than others, so the show goes on for a couple of months.

I love irises!

Phil does too--thank goodness--and we have two long beds of them down both sides of the front walk, and two more beds winging out to the sides, in front of the house. Lots of them have big fat flower buds forming, and several have already bloomed.

Most of the iris in these beds are what iris growers call NOIDs...which just means no I.D. irises.  My goal this year is to tag and identify as many as possible, through the various websites and gardening friends.  One great thing about iris (aside from gorgeous color, heavenly scent, and structural foliage?) is that they multiply rather handily.  As mine need dividing to thin out the beds, I'll sell the excess on Ebay to pay for other gardening expenditures. I am a thrifty gardener, after all.

Tall German Bearded Iris: Dauntles (not a NOID!!!)

In the meantime, I have devised a way to tag them with numbers, saving the "real" (read: expensive) garden tags for when I know their real names.

Here's how:

Take an 8" x 4" piece of aluminum foil, fold it in halves until it ends up a smallish square.  Poke a hole in the "most folded" corner, insert a twist tie or pieces of floral wire, and BOOM!  Instant garden tag.  Use a not-too-sharp pencil to write on it. The goal is to indent, not mark, because the indention won't wash off or fade in the sun.  My tags are temporary, but if you use two or three times the amount of foil, folded down, you can make some really durable markers that cost almost nothing.

Hope you are either enjoying your spring, or at least genuinely believing it will arrive!

Be well,

Jan the iris obsessed. 

A studio doll, bees and flowers.

A friend of mine, Judi of Olde Time Dolls, posted something today about a favorite apron that she's retiring.  I know how that goes, having retired a couple pairs of favorite paint jeans that could no longer cover my aspect.  The last pair of these, I made into this silly giant rag doll, who hangs out with me as inspiration and reminds me not to take myself too seriously.  I bring her to doll shows, and have had to put a NFS tag on her.  It temps me sometimes to make dolls like her FOR sale, but deep down, I know the love of silliness, the creation of art for art's sake is what people respond to.  Any attempt to fake it would just not succeed.

I might make some silly rag dolls, for the fun of it, but this girl is mine, and makes me smile.  (Click on the photos for closeup view.)

The girl has attitude.

But a big heart, and a love of art.  Seems like we should make another rhyme there, doesn't it?

This weekend we spent two whole days just being lazy.  Reading, lounging about, with a minimum of laundry and dishes done, putzing around with a few minor chores, but essentially recharging the ol' copper-tops.  I did find the motivation to take a few photos of the Instant Fence and some other bits of landscaping that are thriving, so I figured to share those.  The bees, butterflies and hummingbirds are seriously happy with me right now. Once the sunflower seed heads dry, the doves and squirrels will be too! 

The Instant Fence, from the inside.  The tall grass looking stuff is lemongrass.

Instant Fence, fromthe outside.

These are my favorites--I love that deep rusty red.  So do the bees.

These seed heads weigh a lb apiece, and before they started drooping, the plants stood seven feet tall!

Sunflowers and palm trees.  My happy place.

This bed started out so sadly bare, but has almost filled in within the last three months.

I'm covering the mailbox with morning glories.  Because I can.  The pink flowers on the far trellis are Queen's Wreath, or Coral Vine...a native of Mexico.  That whole trellis will be covered by the end of the summer.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer, whether that means playing outdoors, or hiding under the AC. 

Bless This Mess!

It is a mess, and that won't likely change soon.  My tidy neighbors with their manicured hedges and green lawn are lovely people, and cheerfully tolerant of the new messy gardener who has moved in next to them.  Good thing, too, because it's a long process.

Here are some "Before" photos for comparison.  But when you get to the "Afters", bear in mind that the plantings are small--mostly made up of starts from our last place and cast-offs from the clearance shelf at Lowe's--and the dirt removed from the walk way and the various beds has been strewn over the grass.  The grass will grow through, but right now it's a mud fight waiting to happen.


So here goes.  :~)
These first six are Before--the very first one being the Listing Photo from MLS.  Tidy enough, but you can't see the house for all those overgrown shrubs, and there's nothing but drought-damaged lawn anywhere else. 

If you click on the photos, they enlarge for better viewing.

I killed the grass in places where I wanted to start.  Also started taking down shrubs.

We live at a 4-way stop...people feel compelled to roll down their windows and shout encouragement!  And three or four men have actually stopped to ask me what I used to kill the grass.  Must be a guy thing.

I'd started an iris bed, but it got...bigger.  Wee Schultzie out there, guarding.

Our back yard is very exposed, so we decided to grow a "green" privacy fence.  Some was fast, in the form of morning glory vines and sunflowers.  The rest will be slow--climbing roses, pyracanthas, and other perennials.

Our messy back porch.  Plants in pots, mulch, pavers, and general chaos.  The chaos is a permanent feature.

And now, the afters.  I didn't get quite the same angles, but I tried to capture the main idea of what all has been done.

I spent a week hauling 3 cubic yards of dirt. and spreading it around the low spots on the lawn.  Also used a lot of it from flower beds to terrace the yard, using large rock as a retaining curb.  That's Phil out there, helping me with the edging and weedblock fabric before we put down the walkway rock.

And the rock is in. I colored outside the lines a little, and will have to tidy up, but we're glad to have THAT done.  Serious work for 100 degree days.

You can see the house!  The large shrubs on the end of the house will come down this fall...can't even tell there's a window behind them, can you?  Cardinals nesting there right now though, and they don't like me trimming.

It's hard to be patient, waiting for those tiny plants to do their thing.

Double swirlies on the rock curb...a Texas Mountain Laurel on the far end (small tree, will get 15 to 20 feet), and a Texas Sage on this one (6 ft shrub with lovely purple blooms).

You can see my neighbors fine green lawn past our yard...glad they're so patient.

A baby Texas Redbud, and a rose, there on the right.  I'm trying to use as much drought tolerant material as I can, given that the climate here seems to be trending toward dryer...and this is not likely to change.

This corner bed was the first to get planted.  So many people have stopped to ask me about it.

The back (side?) fence.  Got the first morning glory yesterday, and the sunflowers have fat flower buds.  The tiny pyracantha bushes will get 8 ft tall, but they've clearly got a long way to go!

The iris beds, view from our front door.  Who left that hose there???

The porch, with cannas in bloom.  They are thirsty, but we must have cannas...it's our wedding flower, and I've dragged these plants around for 16 moves in almost 20 years! 

The giant pile of mulch to the left is the third we've put there.  And we'll likely need another couple this fall.

Roses!  This one is called "Double Take" because the inside of the petals are white.  It seems happy to be here.

I hope everybody enjoyed the garden tour.
I've really enjoyed the work, but now it's time to come inside and make dolls.  :~)