Wednesday, May 30, 2007

buds yesterday, blooms today

This has been the most fragrant year. The lilacs earlier were wonderful. And now the roses and bearded iris are fabulous. When the wind is right, the house is filled with a wonderful scent, and the yard and gardens even more so. It's great!
This is Carefree Beauty - yesterday I showed you a closed bud. This was one of the first roses I purchased - many years ago. It's been moved a few times, and just keeps on keepin' on. It has a slight fragrance - some days very fragrant, other days not. I love it.

This is the Japanese or anemone peony that I showed just opening yesterday. I don't think I ever really knew the name of it. It's one of my favorites - I love the single bloom - so loose and blowsy. It reminds me of a girl at a summer dance.

This isn't a great photo - I really do have to learn to use this camera more effectively!! But wanted to show you how much prettier the fountain is with blooming things at its base. Here you see Marie Bugnet rose and the Japanese peony. It would have been good if I'd cleaned the fountain and turned it on too, no doubt!

This is Marie Boisselot again - these blooms are the size of my hand - just huge. (Well, my hands aren't THAT big, but you get the idea - big blooms.)

One of the pretty little spiderwort plants I have scattered throughout my gardens. Such a sweet little bloom - and they have a really long bloom time. Some people don't like how wild or messy the leaves are, but they fit into my gardens perfectly.

This is Kansas again - this is really much redder in the garden - not a true red, but darker than it shows here, I think. I have it planted beside a false indigo, which is in bloom now too. The combo is very pretty. (of course every photo I've tried to get of the two together has not turned out)

This is what I did yesterday - the garden originally ended at the fairy's feet. I'm not real big on borders usually, but this shady area does have a border of variegated hosta. So I continued the border - making it deeper - and (maybe by next year!) fuller. I think I'll stick a few caladium corms (or whatever they are) in here this year just to fill it in a bit later this year.


This is Kobie's favorite chair in the yard - it's in a nice shady spot just for him. Sometimes he shares with me, but he always seems to hog most of the chair. However, if I have the super expensive cushions out on the other chairs, and he has dirty feet, those are his favorites. He's really a joy to have around.



I just finished this book - "The Divide" by Nicholas Evans. I enjoyed his previous three books, and this one was really good too. He tells a good story and really develops his characters well, I think.






10 comments:

Laurie and Chris said...

You have been very busy!! Your roses are so pretty!!!I can't wait for mine to bloom. I see a couple little buds. Your new addition looks very nice.

Karen said...

Kris, I love visiting your place. It such a nice, quiet little oasis in my usually hectic day! The pictures are so delightful, I swear I can smell the flowers.

I will have to give the book a try -- I enjoyed his other books as well.

Have a great day!

Karen

kris said...

Hi Laurie & Chris - I can't wait to see your roses in bloom. How exciting that you have all those new kitchen cupboards - your kitchen project is going much faster than ours!!

Hi Karen - thanks! I love when you visit. I think half the fun of having gardens is sharing them with others - and this blog has been a very rewarding place to do that!

I have so many books on my reading list now, I'll never get through them all! I really enjoy seeing what others are reading - and the reviews people do are very helpful. (I need to work on my reviews a little - "I liked it" probably isn't all that helpful) :)

Trailhead said...

Yay doggie pic!

(The flowers are lovely, too!)

kris said...

Thanks trailhead - This blog would be full of doggie pix except getting good pix of black dogs is really beyond my skill level!! And most of the ones I do get are of Kobie because he poses - Tess is way too busy to stand still to have her picture taken, thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

I love your garden. I never did get the begonias planted - I haven't even bought them yet! Oh well, maybe next week.

I do have ONE gardenia flower. Usually by this time, our bushes are full of buds, but we had a frost a little while ago that did a number on all of our plants and trees. I'm hoping for more gardenias - I just love walking by them and smelling them.

kris said...

Thanks Lynn! sorry about your gardenia - I think most of the country had that late damaging frost. Here in Minnesota it only hurt early tulips and other bulbs, so guess we were lucky. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you get some blooms - gardenias smell sooooo good!!

Kitt said...

Dogs like things to look lived in. A muddy pawprint does the trick.

(Remember new sneakers in grade school? Had to get 'em scuffed and smudged as soon as possible.)

Diana LaMarre said...

Hi Kris,
Your gardens are looking great. I really like the fairy statue garden. I think the hostas will make a great border. The varigation seems to brinhg a bit of light to that area. It looks like it might be very shady.

Your fountain does look lovely with the blooming peony & roses around it. I see your deck has white railings which I also love.

I am still waiting for a spiderwort bloom. The thing I don't like about them is that by the time I get home from work, the flower has usually closed. My gardens are very informal, so they don't look too weedy to me.

Hope you enjoy the last evening of May.

kris said...

Kitt - that must be it! Last year I bought 2 pairs of Reeboks - and let Mark waterproof them. Huge mistake - they are still white. It is embarrassing!!

Thanks Zoey! You're right - the fairy is under the river birch clump and the variegated hosta does add some much needed light there. Good eye! :)
I think we did good on the the deck (which is actually a porch!) - our house is OLD and the porch really looks like it belongs. The white railings are definitely part of the reason why.
It's nice to have you stop by!