Friday Flowers and Stuff….

I still have some of these dark iris. The bloom early and have a long bloom time.

This is a good peony but Iowa is getting to be late in the season for them.

The blue of the Japanese iris is so great. They have been great bloomers this season,

When it rains the peonies take a dive. I wasn’t around much to see them this season.

 Not the shot that I wanted but you can see a rose bush and a geranium in the photo. I was intending to capture the three rose bushes in a row. I must have dipped when I took the picture.

I mowed my front yard this morning. I will return tomorrow for an appointment with the internet people. I will mow before or after the meeting doing the backyard. 

We had a walk through yesterday with the therapists of the health center to see how well Della can maneuver our main floor. She passed all of the major parts of the test and they are discharging her Tuesday of next week allowing her to return home Wednesday morning. I have to remove all of our throw rugs so she can run the walker with ease. She can do the two different stairs to get into our house, three steps either way but we will need to take caution as we do that task. A walk in shower will be installed in a month and we do have a set up so she can bathe in our one bathroom with a shower chair and hose nozzle. Getting her home for quiet rest and building back muscles more. She has weight to reclaim before she faces gallbladder surgery. It will be good for her to be home after being gone since March 25th.

Colors….

 I was early before seeing the sun but I did get this view of special effects. I mistakenly posted my Creative Zone on my other blog name Larry’s Photo a Day. Check it out!!!!!

Wednesday…..

The Des Moines River is full to the top of its banks.

 My newest rose is blooming so well.

Tuesday…..

My yucca took a year off from blooming. There will be four stalks this year.

My “knock out “ roses are doing well with a normal rainfall. For a few years of drought I forgot how great they look.

Bumblebee is the name of the variety of iris.

It really isn’t a black iris but the different companies like to market it that way.

 The sun isn’t behind the the pine tree. I really don’t remember how far the alignment goes but I will keep an eye on it.

Sunday’s Stuff…

This is an iris that grows on the top of a hill  of the Murray. Iowa Cemetery. I took one rhizome from a large clump of these. It took many years but it is so hardy that it still grows at the old place and now many places at the new place. We went to a funeral a year ago up on that hill where Max was buried.

This iris is a hardy variety that is easy to transplant. I’ve  planted it in three places around our new place.

The trees always grow along waterways. This is the line along the Des Moines River. The river is full after three years of drought. People could cross the river by walking on sand and wade through four inches of water.

 I did see the moon again this morning but I couldn’t get it captured. It is a nice subtle sky though with power lines and trees.

I have lots of things to do this week. I need to get the house cleaned for a home visit of therapists and Della.

I have a stair railing to build on our steps in the garage to help Della. Things to help her as she finishes rehabbing at home need to get done. She has improved so much that she can be independent in our house even though I will be helping. I have an appointment with a company to install a walk-in shower in our main bathroom. We both need it as I still have some balance problems from my stoke five years ago. I am blaming stroke even though old age could be the actual factor. Della comes home on the 31st! It’s a good feeling to see some finality to her coming home.

Saturday’s Stuff…..

A cemetery iris that isn’t so impressive yet I collect it to honor its survival all these years.

I had thought that I had lost this iris. It’s an old traditional iris collected from an old cemetery. It’s contrasting of dark and light is so exciting with each color being so pure.

The iris called”superstition “ is unfolding for its morning display. I have three different plantings of this as I kept moving parts of it thinking the source plant was going to rot from a drainage pipe.

 The morning was hazy in the Des Moines river valley. You can see the trees that follow the river going south towards downtown Des Moines. When the river flows through the downtown area there are large historic bridges that span it.  The farmer shreds all that wood into mulch to be sold commercially.

Backyard Stuff….

Sally gave me this years ago. I had a lot of her grab bag box but most of them died from an iris borer invasion. The color of this one is so great.

I was so glad to see this rose in bloom. I haven’t been around to even see this budding. “William Baffin” is the name of the rose.

I was surprised to see this beauty in bloom last evening. The company named this “superstition”.

My Japanese iris are from the old place. I have two different plantings of this.

 The drought is over and I am seeing things blooming in grand abundance. This is from “Kelly from across the street” at the old place. She harvested peonies from my yard. I recently saw the commercial nursery calling this a Dutch iris.

For those who been concerned about my wife, I say things are so better. The have her walking long distances with a walker. We have an at home inspection next week to walk her through the house. They will make recommendations of changes needed to make things safer for her. She is scheduled to come home on the 31st.  It will be nice to be done with that chapter in our lives.

The burning bush had to be cut down as the drought destroyed it. Finally after a couple of years it has grown  back and looks like a new bush.

Construction continues on three separate buildings on the block. One looks like a fast food, another is a Quick Star, and the third may be a gas station.

 It may have been posted before but it is such a great photo.

A Brave New Journey….

 My wife had cards made from one of my paintings.

May…

I haven’t planted anything. I can always count on my neighbors to the north to get theirs started early. I may just watch theirs grow this season.

This variety is called bumblebee. I bought it thinking it was like my old cemetery iris but it is not. The markings are all the same but the original is less intense in color.

This a good variety that puts out so many blooms.

 We had a lot of rain again. Some areas got up to five inches. I will wait for the weather people’s report to see what we received. I looked out early morning and saw peonies were on the ground. This iris, a hybrid, seems to get top heavy most seasons. I usually have to stake this one.

Monday…..

It’s not the best time to dig iris but when you have brokered an iris rhizome trade with a nursing home worker friend then you just do it. So at 9:00 at night I am digging in the garden right before a rainstorm.

This is the one iris that the trader wanted from me. I can not find its name but I called it carnival.

Champagne is the name of this iris variety. I found it on the company site hoping to find the name of the company that I bought it from.

This large lab came to visit the grandma of the family. He is very friendly and appears to be easy going. When the owner said the words “bye, bye “ he tore out at the direction of the door like a bulldozer. Tables and chairs were cleared out of his way instantly. He looks like he gets plenty to eat.

More Buds and Blooms…

This was a real surprise for me this morning. I had seen photos on Facebook posts of my friends but I didn’t think mine was that far along.

My iris from Uncle Leo is well established in the good soil I provided. It has so many buds and this is the first time blooming for me.

The hybrid iris is a beauty. It seems to be a strong plant and is multiplying.

I moved iris away from the peony bushes but I missed this one. It was a surprise to see it out there with many blooms. It has such a pure blue color. The soil is so clay filled and is always wet from the neighbors eave spout draining down the hill towards the area.

 The old fashioned iris from the cemetery has subtle colors and it is a hardy plant.

Saturday Sharing….

The rains have been great for the rivers and lakes that are now full but they were good for my iris.

I don’t have time to clear the spent blooms. I don’t like taking the photo that way but I was in a hurry to get to the health care center this morning.

A hybrid blue that I have had a couple of years. I moved it out from peony bushes that were crowding it.

A cemetery iris that grows in older cemeteries. My parents are buried in a cemetery where thy are clearing a lot of the iris and peonies. If they grow between the stones they leave them alone. I have a fernleafed peony growing between my parent’s stone and brother’s stone.

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This is a cemetery iris that grows in abundance in the Murray Cemetery. They are a small iris compared to the medium or large hybrids.

 It is a happy and sad day to see this iris finally bloom. My Uncle Leo has been gone many years now. This iris was one of his favorites. He and my Aunt Doris, my dad’s sister, lived in Oregon their later years when he developed MD. When his became so bad, he and Aunt Doris moved to Chicago to live with their daughter. He brought rhizomes of this iris with him to Chicago. I’m glad that I was able to get a rhizome of it from his and my Aunt Doris’s grave as his daughter planted it there. It grows in abundance covering a large part of the cemetery which is near my parents’ graves.