The Irises are Here

June 19, 2014

my little collection of bearded irises

I've been enjoying the irises here!   They are lovely this year and now all the colours that I have are in bloom.  My small collection has four solid coloured irises (white, blackish purple, light mauve, and light blue).   I also have three different bi-colour irises (variations of purple and white).   

I have no idea of the varieties, as they were all gifts from my dear friend, Rita.  The purple and white one, that is shown second from the top, was given to Rita by the woman who got her iris collection started over forty-five years ago.  

Above is my very favourite iris, because it is from my mother-in-law's garden.  These are the very first ones to come into bloom each June.  

Until next time, happy gardening.  

(Almost Wordless) Wednesday

June 18, 2014


It's pink.
It's pretty.
It's about six inches tall.
I have no idea what it's called.

Anyone?

Splashes of Colour in the Green

June 8, 2014

It's a nice, but overcast day today, so great for taking photographs.   The Cottage Garden is in that in-between state of being mostly 'green' right now.   It reminds me of a great gardening quote, 'if you're going to grow perennials, you'd better learn to like green' - lucky for me, I do!

I do have a few colourful things blooming now and the irises are just about ready to burst open into beautiful colour all over the garden.

A few pictures from this morning:

lamium along the limestone walkway
hostas coming up behind it

dicentra bleeding heart in the shade garden out back

closer shot of these beauties

ajuga - bugle flower
a ground cover that works really well in my acidic soil out front 

gentian, a gift from my friend Rita's garden

beautiful crane's bill geranium, a gift from my friend Paula's garden

A Touch of Whimsy

June 2, 2014

I really admire gardens that have little whimsical features, but I'm never sure if my garden has the type of personality that can pull whimsy off.

Do you know what I mean by that?    Don't feel bad if you don't, because I really don't either.  I saw some great Gargoyles at a garden centre yesterday though, and it was love at first sight.  I thought one of them would be just the perfect blend of whimsy and charm for me.   At second sight, I looked at the price tag of $90 and I decided it could wait till the end-of-season-everything-must-go-sale.

However, I did find this adorable tabby cat plant hanger at the local hardware store last year, forgot about it, remembered it, and my husband put it up yesterday.  It looks wonderful on the post by our front door!   (Look one inch to your right and you'll see why tabbies are special to me.)

tabby cats and flowers, these are a few of my favourite things

I had fun looking around at the different annuals, and choose four little things for a basket to hang on the new hanger.   I don't know a lot about annuals, as my garden is 99.99 percent perennials, so I hope I made good choices.  I do like the pastel shades and I bought one of each, so I hope that will be the right amount for a 14" hanging pot.

Calibrachoa hybrid Million  Bells 'Cherry Pink ' (dark pink), Diascia hybrid Flying Colours 'Trailing Antique Rose (light pink), Streptocarpella 'Concord Blue', and German Ivy 'Variegata' 

  The complete new, and I hope 'whimsical' look:

Happy Gardening Everyone.