Big Blog

 The iris season is falling into full speed. I have in one day three different iris opening up their ritst bloom. This one is a newer one that I bought that has a very deep purple color.

 I worked in the frontyard this morning mowing and didn't see what was happening in the back. I looked out this morning and saw this light colored iris had burst into blooms over night. 

 I would have called it pink in the old days but this is more of a salmon, maybe peach in color. 

 Another surprise yesterday was this white iris in bloom in the front yard. I remember moving someof this to the front yard ait was planted among hosta and the hosta was crowding it out. 

 The cottage garden starts to look better, less plain. This old fashion iris is now in bloom, I have moved this from southern Iowa as it was planted all along my dad's garage in Osceola. I think of this being the most traditional variety that many townspeople had and shared with one another..

 My wife and I were out taking photos this afternoon and we ended up in the corner of the property. We took pictures of the new crab apple tree. In the corner the big old tree was removed and now the shade is gone. The angel was in a cozy place but now sits in bright light. The hostas like the new zone that became with that tree gone. 

 While we were out there we were visited by three different rabbits. The one may have a nest over in the neighbors yard under one of his many sheds. I ended up with more photos that I want to share in one day so I will spread them out.

 I have a new wood project started. I picked up lumber for it yesterday and this morning cut it all up into 30 pieces.  I had to carry my saw up to the garage as I have an angry robin nesting down on my deck area. No way could I run a saw down there. I am going to give you visual clues through the next few days until you see it done. I saw the plan on the internet and took photos of it to get the dimensions and instructions. It is going to be neat but you have to wait and see what develops. Thanks for stopping by today. 

Friday

 The morning was beautiful for a while. Then it clouded over for a while. The sun was back out by nine in the morning,

 The house was laying on its side for a while for repairs. While it lay there a sparrow was cheking out things, Now it is repaired and we wil see if a bird comes back. I did have to tremove an old nest from last year. 

 My peonies are looking storng and I am ready to see some blooms. It will be good to see how well they will do with all the rainfall of the season. 

Went on some errands this afternoon and bought some wood for a new project.  It will be fun to get the saw and get things done making a new bench for the deck. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Middle of the Week

 We started off in the clouds and it has stayed cloudy for most of the day. Our high for the day is 56 degree D. The winds keep it feeling colder and a jacket is needed when working outside.

 When I took this shot the sun was shinning on my new Japanese maple tree. I really am glad I bought this and the colors are so great. 

 While I was out weeding I discovered that this rose has buds on it already. It lost only a couple of canes during winter. In a whole the bush looks fantastic. I had trimmed it back a little last fall  but in the most part it is still the same size.Those buds really do look like they could open up soon when we get warmer weather. 

 This rose has the new fence to protect it in the winter now. Also it makes it a little warmer being in the corner of it all. 

 

I was trying to take a photo of a robin in the locust tree. They have a nest in the tree but I really can't locate it. I did get a photo of the robin but it is hiding behind a brnach so all one can see is the tail and its orange breast feathers. 

It is the middle of the week and I did get some yard work done today. I have done too much physical work so have to slow down and heal up a bit. I  planted some pussy willow sprouts out by the new tree and also dug some phlox and moved them back into that new garden corner area. I need to mow my backyard but I am going to wait on it. The rains made the grass grow so well that it should be mowed more that just once a week.  It seems too cold so I just won't mow it. 

Thanks for checking in today. 
 

Tuesday's Things

 They have been slow in blooming but they are there. I really have to search to find them as the foliage is so full. 

 A mallard duck and a hen came it for a quick visit. The water looks less green as the neighbor must be treating it to clear it. Usually when people are home the kids are sent out to chase them away but no one is home. You know when the have come in as they look like a large blob, a bird, flying into out backyard area. 

 I worked again in the front yard area trying to take out the spreading evergreen that has spread way out of bounds. It has crowded out the rose bushes and is spreading down over the wall. The yucca plant actually is invading the evergreen shrub and I have to let the yucca be dominate, so I cut back the evergreen. After writing this I found the name to be "blue creeping juniper" I didn't plant any of this and I seem to be maintaining Arlen's choice of shrubs and roses. 

 The more work that I did the more stuffing of material had to go into the sacks. I am glad to say I am done for now and will tweak everything as things grow back. The roses are all budded for blooms inspit of all the dead wood that I had to remove. 

 

The end results look like this. It isn't too impressive to me but when the roses start blooming things look better. 

 In the backyard I have a great splash of color from this old fashion iris. The other modern variety of iris is starting to bud and soon I will have pinks and blues back there. 

 This is my very last bloom of this peony for the season. The rains really messed with the blooms as well as the cold. 

We were cold for most of the day. I worked outside with layers to keep warm. The winds seem to keep it cold also. Maybe tomorrow we can warm up again. Thanks for checking in today.  

Spring Work

 I worked in the garden this morning until I just got to hot. The sun was hot and the temps were  high. The last of the tulips are still making a great show in the front yard. 

 I have to move some of the tulips carefully after they finish blooming. I make gardening mistakes and I planted hosta in the area after the tulips were way gone. I didn't know that I had crowded up everything. I have decided that I will get my best towel, sit down, and dig on both sides to get them out of there. I can find places to move the tulips. 

 This is difficult work but I did get it done. The winter was different this year and some time in the middle of the season we warmed up to very warm temperatures. Then we went back down to very low temps. That whole disturbance of temps caused winter kill on six of my rose bushes. This looks sad but I am gong to wait and watch and see how things go. I can buy new ones but I will just wait for now to see which ones are too bad to save. I worked on one already and today I worked on this one plust three knock out roses. I have one more to do and that should happen tomorrow. 

 I happy to see how well these regal lilies are doing. The place next to the southeast part of the house seems to a great place to grow them. 

 This cemetery find is my earliest bloomer when it comes to iris. They are considered medium un size but they do look small compared to the hybrid ones that bloom later in the season. 

 The house finches are back. The males get so red during the mating season and the red does fade later on. The finch likes the new tray feeder.

 We are blessed this year to have a regular red visitor. The cardinal is at the feeder six or seven times a day. He is friendly with the sparrows. I took this shot of him and didn't know the sparrow was in the shot. It makes a good visual of cooperation among birds. I have so many shots of the big red. 

I like to share plants with others. This morning I dug the small bulbs of grape hyacynth and put them in a recycle can. I gave them to neighbor gardener who loves to grow many plants. She has a greenhouse light going on all year in her sun room. I shared chives with her earlier. I have shared with my brothers in warm states and I share with my blogger friends. I was going though my desk and found some cleome seeds from a blogger friend, Mildred. She has passed a few years ago now  but I though I will plant them this year.  It was a happy/sad find with those seeds. I looked up on the net to see how to plant them. I have a friend in Wisconsin I know that grows them. It will be a challenge to pull it off.

Thanks for stopping by today.  

Sunday

The month of rain has been great for our blue spruce tree. It is growing out more abundantly than usual. Our totals of rain figured out to be over 7 inches of rain. We are not in a drought anymore for sure.

 The globe allium is looking good this year also responding to the good moisture. 

 

  A later photo of the wet cardinal with a sparrow. The tray had to be refilled today as all that was left was sunflower seed shells. 

We warmed up to 74 degree F. and I had to turn the air on in the house. The humidity is something we have to get use to again. I am hoping the weather stays good so I can get some more gardening done tomorrow..  Thanks for checking in today. 

Stuff for the Day

 My fern leafed peony likes the warmer weather. It finally opened up its blooms glad that cold temperatures are gone.

 I went to pick up a new battery for my truck. I then stopped at a nursery and picked up two new trees. The one will replace the tree that I had removed last fall. I also bought the Japanese maple to replace my stick of a tree that I bought last fall. 

 This is a good tree compared to the 18 inch one that I had growing there. The sun is making the top of the leaves more red that the rest of the leaves. 

 The crabapple tree will be a part of our secret garden area. The big blue spruce shields us from seeing that corner of the yard. We will instead create a garden there where we can visit it with special flowers, the tree and rosebushes to see. 

It will take a few years for this tree to get really showy but next spring we can enjoy what blooms that it has.  We warmed up a bit again today. One needed a couple of layers in the morning and a spring jacket by evening. We are suppose to get warmer. Thanks for stopping this Saturday.