Some Garden Pictures - Finally!

The last several days have been almost summer-like, with temperatures in the high sixties to the low eighties. On Saturday, we joined the neighborhood vegetable garden group and went over to weed at the large donated plot for an hour. About 12-15 families have joined together to plant just about every type of vegetable you can imagine. Since we have cut back our own garden this year (mulching, changing things around and Bruce’s limited arm use), we will only have a few varieties of tomatoes and peppers. The neighborhood garden is a great opportunity for us to get corn, beans, peas, onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. for just a little labor. I’m sure I will have pictures of this neighborhood garden later in the summer.

When we finished at the neighborhood garden, Bruce and I spent most of the rest of the day in our yard weeding, tilling, mulching, trimming, planting, transplanting, etc. What a great feeling it was to get it done, and our yard is already looking WAY better than it has for a couple years.

So, let me share some pictures with you of our yard from last weekend.

Irises in bloom in front window raised bed 

 

These purple irises are huge!

Looking west; front irises and porch

Another iris in front raised bed

In the ground-level bed under the irises, we have a rose tree, clematis, bleeding hearts, salvia, daylilies, hosta, and Asiatic lilies, plus a couple petunias to give more color since only this clematis and bleeding heart are blooming.  Everything here is about 2-3 weeks behind our usual schedule due to our cool, wet spring.  

I love having so many colorful Mexican Talavera pots in which to plant colorful flowers. We pick up one or two every time we visit our family in southern Arizona, and I line our porch and walkway with them. They are really eye-catching!

As always, you can click to “embiggen” these pictures...

Looking west

Yes, we finally had to turn on our sprinklers (and only once so far!)

Wait ’til you see this rose bush in bloom!

Mr. Frog (or is he a toad?) contemplates as he waits for the lilies to bloom.

On the east side yard our snowball bush is blooming. You can also see another iris and the poppies that are starting to bloom.  (and you can also see my Prius in the carport, oops).

That’s lavender beneath the snowballs...

This was Saturday June 4. As of today (June 6), almost two thirds of these are open.

The front perennial bed to the west of the porch. WE STILL HAVE TULIPS!!

Above: more irises about to open, plus this lovely plant. I can’t remember what it is, but it will be full of heavy, blowsy purple blossoms that will need to be staked and tied discreetly.  :-)  

 More irises at the corner, and wrapping around to the west side yard.  

This side yard needs work and will be a project for me this year. We want to keep that one large (laurel?) bush; it is always a beautiful green and easy to keep shaped once I get to it. But everything beyond it - the forsythia, scraggly butterfly bush and the rest are outta here! I will probably transplant more irises there; they are proliferating beyond belief. I’ve got too many of the white and beige ones (called Champagne) and would rather divide and plant some of my more colorful ones. We’ll probably attend the local Iris Society sale in July and pick up some more unusual rhizomes.

Above: our back garden, tilled and ready for more mulch. Only a few tomatoes and peppers are planted.  Along the back wall we have climbing roses and a lilac bush, plus more.... what else? Irises. Hey! If you live in the area and want some irises, just let me know!!

The apricot tree outside our back bedroom window. We’ll have this tree seriously pruned in the fall. As it is, I can take the screen off the bedroom window and reach a couple dozen apricots that should be ready in about a month...

The grape arbor is filling in quickly. The birds nest has been abandoned (the one egg is still in it). I think I’ll take it down and keep it. In another couple weeks this will be one big leafy green mass that will totally shade the patio on the other side. We have already had a couple meals out there ... heavenly!