May Flowers

Wow! All of my Iris's are in bloom at the same time.
They are my favorite flower and I've only come across two varieties of Iris that behave badly.

The photo -at top- is one of my faves
with variegated broad sword leaves and a beautiful blue-purple bloom.


 
This ruffled bearded Iris appeared one spring and seems to like my yard.

 Lots of Purple Bearded Iris hang out under the fir trees. The top soil is drier which the iris love.

 Way down my yard towards the runway is the remains of the Leopard's Bane and some free-wheeling California Poppies.

 I just love Iris's.

 Then I see the sweet Columbine starting to bloom and I quickly ditch the iris for these cutie pies.

May and June is when my acre really shines. I used to have a garden goal of being able to pick flowers any day of the year. I've moved on towards less effort in maintaining the yard. Even though  I have all-season color, these next two months are stunning.

Someone was re-doing their yard and tossed these beauties.
They quickly found a home in Canbyland.

I don't know their name and I'm much too lazy to look it up so I call them my Free Rhodies.

 The light was a little crazy this morning on this peony. It almost looks like frost tipping the blooms. It's just closed up against the cooler night air. Peonies are in their element in the late afternoon showing off their Scarlet O'hara hoop skirts at teatime.

 Hanging baskets on the patio - I hung them up today. I potted them up a few weeks ago and I usually set them on the protected side of the patio so the wind and weird spring weather doesn't mess with them while they get going.

I pot my own. Most of the baskets that are sold right now are already root-bound - which means more blooms to entice you to buy. -- Which also means that by July 4th, unless you water them three times a day, they will start looking very sad.

I like mine to look good in the late summer and I'm also quite lazy. I don't want to water more than once every day or so. Who's got time?

My pots are old Rubbermaid brand water reservoir pots. They hold a couple of inches of water for the roots to suck up on the hot days. These pots are more than twenty years old. Most plastic pots only last a few years before the UV (aka sunlight) rots the plastic.

 I bought this Stearman weather vane many years ago for hubbies birthday. It's made from salvaged kitchen aluminum tart dishes among other things.

 And look at those strawberries. Blooming crazy right now - berries 2nd week of June. Not the (CA) ones with white middles. Our Oregon Strawberries are red throughout and much sweeter.

 More Iris's near the patio.

Rusty trying to "STAY" so I can get a photo.

Off to my sewing room to do something - not sure what yet. Then to watch The Avengers this eveing at the movie theater.

May Day Flowers

Long post today 'cuz it's MAY DAY!

Here, we celebrate by placing a bouquet of flowers on our neighbor's doorstep, ringing the bell, and running away as fast as we can.




I forget what this little white flower is. It's mxed in with some dianthus Pinks and the spittlebugs are already busy spitting.

Tri-color Japanese Dogwood. This is my second one in over twenty years of gardening this acre.
The first one succumbed to a very hot August Day with dry winds.

Lovely Hostas - not too much slug damage yet and the bed just got weeded.

Kousa Dogwood

Peonies budding - about to burst open in our very warm weather this week.

I've gardened on this acre for over twenty years. At one time, this bed was a perennial bed under giant fir trees. This bed is now being groomed for less-labor intensive gardening. That means taking out the perennials and leaving more space between neighboring plants with more bark dust to keep weeds down. These rhodies were tossed out of a friends' garden and promptly thrown into the back of my car and here they are blooming their heads off.

My favorite dwarf Iris - only about a foot tall.

Growing next to the Pulmanaria - which is awesome but really needs to be moved.

Golden Marjoram - less 'creepy' than it's greener cousin.

These are my fovorite columbine - Nora Barlow. They were supposed to be ruthlessly weeded out of this bed but someone keeps letting a few grow.

This Columbine is a mutation of Nora Barlow.

Valerian - Jupiter's Beard - full on bloom this weekend with our warm weather.

Bleeding Heart

Coral Bells

Lily of the Valley - May's Birthday Flower.
This is my birthday flower - which one needs to grow, but man, its a creeper with underground rhizomes. Anyone need some?


Clematis (Montana) climbing our Pergola with our Stearman Weathervane.
Someone needs to grab the ladder and tuck the tendrils which are growing a foot a day back in and away from the spinning prop.

Leopard's Bane.
This is planted in every corner of my yard.
Which means there are no leopards in my yard.




Pretty Bearded Iris's are not going to last long in our very warm weather this week.

Bed at side of house.

My favorite Iris. Actually, I've only met one Iris I did not like.

White Lilacs

Weigelia

This was an accidental bed that never ceases to amaze me. It is a succession of purples and magentas that go together perfectly. I did not plan this.

Rusty - giving me the eye.


He's old now - past 11 years. Even he knows he cant fetch now with his bum arthritic legs.
He helped prune this bed many times. There used to be Everest - Snow white - Azaleas at the end but he kept leaping tall buildings and eventually the azaleas kicked up their toes at the abuse.

I could replant now because Rusty cannot leap  anymore but somehow, it seems wrong to replant while he's alive.

Our other lab, Rocket, and Rusty used to wallow under the Japanese Maple, scratching their backs with the branches. Dogs are such great pruners.





Walkway with my favorite bed on left, looking towards our back patio underneath the Pergola.


Happy May Day!

Dont forget the Master Gardener Plant Show this weekend at the Canby Fairgrounds.

Where Did May Go?

My thoughts lately have not been lining up with my photos. 

My thoughts have been getting dragged down by the "it's all about Kathy" world.

 Meanwhile, I am still creating things.   Sometimes it goes quite slowly.
 

I needed to take a few weeks off from journaling and reaffirm what I am journaling about.

What are my goals for this journal? You know - deep, profound thoughts.

I made thank you postcards for my fat quarter swappies utilizing some of the fabric I received.
I took the paisley and sandwiched card stock in between this fabric and a second fabric. Then I free-sewed around the paisley pattern to hold things together and zigzagged loosely around the edges. I simply wrote on the back with a sharpie and labeled them on the front. 

While doing eight of these -  four per card stock sheet, I remembered one of my neighbors has been dealing with a newish diagnosis of colon cancer. So- I took more of the fabrics and sewed a patchwork card to let her know - she's a sewer, so she gets it, that I was thinking of her that day.

I thought to wait to post the finished photos - and the process to create these fun projects.
 May has always been a busy month, and for now, here's a sampling of what I have been working on.