Siberian Iris 'Pink Haze'

I planted this iris in either 2004 or 2005... I never knew the name of it until this year. SO glad I know now so I can look for more for customers.

Irises are blooming very nicely this year, but the rain and wind can really do some damage to the bloom in a hurry.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Mornings

I LOVE Saturday mornings!!!

My favorite place on Saturday mornings is sitting on my front porch with a cup of coffee... Listening to the birds, catching scents from my flowers, watching bumble bees visit all the blooms, seeing which new flowers have revealed themselves to the world today.

Yes... Saturday's... 7-11 a.m.

It's also a time of reflection from my week... Revisiting briefly my ups, my downs, my victories, my failures, my challenges, my frustrations, my interactions... It's kind of like a time of cleansing for me.

Everyone needs time each week like this... And I can definitely tell a difference when I don't have my "porch time" ~ And what's really awesome is that I can have a "bonus porch time" on Monday since it's a 3-day weekend :-)

To wrap up my "porch time" this morning... Here's a picture of one of my poppies that bloomed this morning... Raised from seed last year in the greenhouse and happily blooming this year...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Paeonia 'Hoki'

This is a tree peony from our backyard... I purchased it early in the gardening season last year and then forgot about it amongst all of the other plants I keep at our house during the summer. I about cried when I saw it sitting there in the middle of some dead & dying annuals in September, especially since I paid about $40 for it, when it was all the size of a 6-inch stick with maybe three leaves. I quickly found a place for it and prayed over it for 7-days straight (ok, not really).

I was pleasantly surprised to see it produce a beautiful flower this spring and LOTS of leaf growth. 

But, most importantly... my wife loved it :-)

Papaver Orientale ~ Oriental Poppy

I've always loved to see oriental red poppies (papaver orientale) but have never had them in my gardens. Last year I seeded several in the greenhouse and planted most of them at a customer's house, but kept a few of the plants for myself. I've been thrilled to see them develop into a few nice plants this year and can't wait to see them bloom. Here's a shot of one of the buds reaching out from between what appears to be thistly leaves...

Recent iPhoneography Captures

I know the camera on the iPhone is far from perfect and has limited ability to be used for "professional photography" ... but ... I'm totally amazed sometimes by what I can capture and edit just by using my iPhone. Here are a few recent examples of what is now being called iPhoneography...

Iris With Some Texture

This was actually a two year old image I ran into tonight while working at Harvest Bookstore at Eastview... But had some quick fun with it and turned it into something more interesting than it was originally. 

Lilacs Backlit by Sun