My ITOH Grows

While the country burns, my garden still grows. And the bumblebees are very busy.

Hattie is scheduled for dental work in two weeks. She was going out for her ball, not watching where she headed, and ran smack into a rocking chair with enough force to knock it over. She hit hard on her face and was stunned for a moment, then seemed to recover. But several days later I heard some crunching that sounded like chewing a rock or bone. No such luck. It was the large premolar tooth cracking on the side of her face she hit. So now we are in store for a big bill over a thousand dollars for cleaning and extraction. It's hard being a dog, but even harder being a dog mom.

 Meet my ITOH peony, Cora Louise. I was hoping it was Bartzella, but she is pretty spectacular too. This was one of several peonies purchased from a catalog nursery that doesn't specialize in peonies. They were the saddest roots, shriveled and dry, and half of them never grew, but at the sale price I got them for it wasn't unexpected. The surprise is this one turning out so nice. I'm so impressed that I will now pay the ridiculous full price to get Bartzella from a peony specialist.

 

And a beautiful pink poppy to close.

 

I remember when it was sunny

A few pictures from the the nicer days. It is back to rain today.

Bumblebees on the peonies. Sugars that usually attract ants are excreted by the buds, but here we have bumblebees instead. I guess we don't have many ants.

Evening sheep dilemma. To get a scratch or continue eating.

It is she who plucks and scratches. I am going.

Oh. The dog. Maybe not.

A pretty lilac to close.

Diamond and Ferdinand

The mini Herefords! Ms. Diamond wanted money to pose for pictures. Fat chance!

She threatened me with the big guns. I laughed.

And Ferdinand came to the rescue (although he seemed like a pretty nice boy, all in all).

Here is a picture that shows the weird beard extensions from the previous post. I think there is a name for them but if it isn't something I think about daily I'm not likely to remember it. And thinking about it, if you aren't familiar with irises you might not even recognize what I'm calling the weird thing, so just never mind.

My Bionic Knee
Two year check up yesterday. All is good.

My Backyard Jungle

Morning safari through my garden jungle. Cistus blooming happily

And there are two new irises opening. This one has the funny tongue-like beards that you can see if you know where to focus.

The big poppies are showing off.

And here you get a feel for how jungle-y the garden is becoming.

Peony sequence from bud...

 

to cup shape...

and a fully opened bomb.

 I moved this rhodie a couple times before finding its happy spot.

More of the jungle. Sends shivers of delight down my spine.

Sheep Notes
Yesterday a small flock of starlings was sitting on Gimpy's back and head during his afternoon cud chewing siesta. He appears to enjoy their attentions. No camera with me of course, so I will have to lug one around for a while in hopes of catching another scene like that.

Bird Notes
My crow is back, nesting in nearby trees and watching my every move. I set out a little sweet mix or soft shell duck egg and she immediately swoops in to claim it. And if I forget to put something out for her when I feed the other animals she doesn't hesitate to tell me. I will work at getting a picture because her puffy legs are adorable and unique among the local crows.

Garden Notes

It's a big day for my early bearded irises. Somehow they survived the massive amount of rain fall yesterday to fully open this morning. They are multiplying like crazy and threatening to take over the garden beds. Many more to come.

 

Big display of heart shaped leaves from one epimedium.

The first bomb peony of the season. These are always impressive, huge, and not even fully open yet.

This is left over from last year, whatever it is. Survived the winter, just barely. Pretty. But the name eludes me. If I was organized and disciplined I would have notes of everything I've planted and where, but that's all just another layer of work I don't have the energy to do. *sigh*

I've tried to eradicate these Columbines ever since we moved here. They pop up in the worst spots. But they are persistent and go where they please. I no longer fight it since the bees are very attracted to them and so are doing some good. As for the bumblebees, I am happy to report the raspberries are swarming with them, too. After the poor showing last year I was afraid they were gone for good. I hope they find their way into the greenhouse later to pollinate the tomatoes - and the squash that just put out it's amazingly early first flower!

What I do in my spare time

It's been roller coaster weather, hot and dry or cool and wet, but the garden is coming to life. The mini irises went above and beyond to put on a show for us, and might even need to be divided this year.

The peonies and iris stalks are growing a lot taller than I remember them in past years. What did I do?

 

It was a disappointment after realizing this newly planted rhododendron was deciduous, but it's awfully pretty once it gets growing.

 

Some pretty roses beginning to bloom.

 

This cistus is one of the few that avoided major winter damage. The others will be culled if they don't recover.

 

We are no one special anymore

The sheep don't even bother to get up when Hattie and I come to clean up in the morning.

That's no pad Mocha is sitting on, that's what's left of his winter coat. He's always the last to shed.

 

He is a handsome boy.

 

The white version of the rose above.

 

First large iris ready to bloom. 

 

The worm hunters.

 Clay work

 A coil built flower pot that is larger than it appears here.

 

Some covered jars. One will be for Tux's collar and things.

 

Coronavirus project

This is a pattern for a face mask that I really like. It's a bear to cut, as you can see all the angles and nips to follow in the photo. The mock up I made is above the pattern.

 

This is the inside of the mask. You tuck a filter into the folds. That can be a folded paper towel, cotton batting or other filter material. The mask fits snugly over the bridge of the nose (so glasses can sit on top - no fogging!) and under the chin.

 

Here it is folded in half. It's a simple, clever design. Brilliant really. Sort of origami. I have a giant polypropylene bag my sink came in to use as mask material, but am waiting on delivery of a cutting blade, mat, and the clips for adjusting the elastic band.