Saturday's Meanderings........

I thought I should just pull you in to visit my blog with this wonderful iris.  The bud of it I have been watching for some time but I had no idea as to what color it would be.  My neighbor gave it to me a couple of summers ago. In Iowa it takes two years of patience to wait for an iris to actually bud and this one waited to bloom on the third year.  I sometime lose my ability to wait and wonder if it really worth it, but this one was really worth the wait.

This is the next iris that I will be sharing as it is in bloom today but I don't have the shot taken yet.  It is called a black iris but it actually is a deep dark violet that turns lighter after it opens.   I see I have a view of one of my styrofoam cups in the background that I had a tomato plant in it.  When I planted the tomato, I tore out the bottom of the cup and put it over it.  For some reasons certain birds robins like to peck at and destroy young seedlings. So I cover them for a while.  I told you I did get 12 tomatoes planted a few days back.  It took me all day but the trips out each time got the job done.

My orchard area is really just a meadow.  It bothers some of my neighbors but it is only in the far back fourth of my two lots.  The wild violets have taken over as the neighbors pine tree row and my two apple trees shade out the ground.  I am really happy with it.  The grass that does grow, I do go in and mow down but not every week.  Right now since I have been under the weather it hasn't been touched for 3 or more weeks.

The area reminds me of our orchard on the farm, north of the house, when I was young.  Orchard grass would fill in every year and my brother and I and would go out and crawl around in it to make tunnels and paths.  The  grass usually made me a cut up mess but when you are young you don't care as the blades could cut at the skin.

 
The majority of my wild rose froze out over the winter.  I didn't think the severe cold would ever bother it but it did.  I have an afternoon of clipping out all the dead canes.  It is a very invasive rose so I just mow around it to keep it from taking over my complete yard. Again, I was so surprised that 90% of it was destroyed.  It will be a good time to clean it out and get it restored for next spring's blooming time.  I will try to get a focused photo of it today as more of it is in bloom today.

Speaking of roses, my William Baffin rose looks great this year.  Three years ago it almost died from receiving too much rain from the shed roof.  The past two years we had very little rain.  I had to cut out so much dead stuff from the plant.  This year I was very pleased that it has revived.   I tried to move some of it and that failed.  I will try again. 




I am feeling better each day.  I still have the curse hanging on somewhat as my stamina is taking its time to return.  I mowed this morning the boys, dog's, back yard as it was too tall.  I mentioned maybe loosing Button in the tall grass.  When it was tall you could see by Button's expression that he really didn't like it to be so tall.  I will mow one section each day next week of my main yard until I get the yard mowed.  I had a guy mow it on his rider last weekend and it may get done on Sunday again by him.  I will mow my own as my yard is too over planted for a rider to drive through the stuff. 

Sunday is coming and I hope all are having a better weekend.  We are very hot, humid, and rain is promised frequently.  I guess it will hit Saturday night, tonight,  this time around.  We are still considered in a drought zone but it is looking better.  We are seeing water puddles this year which has been a rare sight for us for a few years.  Thank you for stopping in today and everyone take care.