Bits and Pieces...2009 Edition

....for lack of a better category for miscellaneous things...

So, I'm doing my complete looking around (after discovering I missed the first two blooms on FIRESTARTER...tragedy for sure...)...you know, the morning and evening browsing...and I realized how much I let go by me this year...already....

Not wanting that to continue, I noticed the Japanese Iris seedlings blooming....


What's especially neat about these...is that I did absolutely nothing. Now, I like that. Garden on auto pilot or something. I'm happy enough with their (self) placement and I especially like that they are different from their parents.

Here's a close up of one of the seedling(s) blooms...


Here's a parental unit (a choice of three...two dark purples, different shades,
and a white that hasn't made an appearance yet..)


Because I just like it, a sort of glamor shot...


These are , of course, the Japanese Iris that do not grow anywhere near water...and, as I say every year, we are not telling them differently.

I always enjoy the surprises that gardens bring every year. There are the losses...and the gains...Last year, I didn't get around to mulching some of my more tender things and then there was the erosion caused by clogged gutters (which did get fixed last summer)....given all that, I'm not surprised the dwarf canna (or any non potted cannas) hasn't made an appearance....however, go figure, a couple of tuberose braved these elements and are up (yea)....because I just couldn't do without tuberose (although there are many things I am finding out I can do without...lol), I do have a pot full of them...but, anyway, the butterfly ginger is returning...and look here, what is blooming...


Somebody forgot to tell the dahlia(s) it wasn't supposed to make it...This one is actually standing proud and tall, while it's partner is lying on the ground (stakes, anyone?)....those pesky four o'clocks are trying to fool me and come up in hard to get to places...I'm determined to eradicate them....right now, they are ahead.

The roses are pretty much done with their big flush of blooms...some will bloom intermittently, though...this one is still going strong...Gardenia...the fragrance is more rosey to me rather than gardenia-like as its name would imply...and, I must rag about this...I am supposed to have the shrub form but am entirely convinced I have the climber as it throws up these great arching canes...not a good thing where it is planted (with those Japanese Iris)...but, it is pretty...


Such easy lilies...these Lollipop ones...in full bloom now...Asiatics for those that care...


An astilbe that I meant to plant last year with the others...blooming away in its pot...again...poor thing...perhaps I will get you in the ground this year...perhaps..


And finally, I've noticed some daylily scapes curving...nothing to impede them, so who knows...but interesting...


Tomorrow, perhaps, I will show you my newest 'pets', working pets, that is...