May 1st...Garden Walk

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today in Frederick, Maryland...almost hot!  A lot of yard/garden work to be done but we seem to be moving very slow so far :)  I went to Weight-watchers, worked out and came home to the 8 yr old still in his jammies playing his DSI, and hubby in the basement practicing electric guitar...at least a load of dishes was running!

I picked up the camera and took a walk around the yard to see what is blooming today..

This unopened iris looks like an alien pod...

I absolutely love old-fashioned bearded iris...can you tell?  My Mom always grew them in all colors.

This is a gorgeous purple clematis I've had for several years...just starting to put out its flowers.

One of my hubby's favs...lily of the valley...I always think of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy" singing "I'm Lily...of the Valley..."

Phlox, dianthus or "pinks" as I grew up calling them and an unknown shrub that was here before us...I kept it because I love the little white flowers!

We just planted this small japanese maple...we had some shrubs that were damaged in all the snow and ice we had this winter, so we yanked them out.  Behold one of my plant stakes made from old wrought iron fencing embellished with lampwork beads!

Okay, this is just a mess...a couple summers ago, I planted lemon balm because I love the smell, and in Latin, it is means "sweet Melissa" :)  Unfortunately, even though it smells divine, it takes over your yard and is really difficult to pull out.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet!

I planted this last year and can't remember what it is called, but I love the varigated leaves and pale periwinkle blooms...it loves shade and inhabits the side yard with my hostas.

Thanks for taking a stroll with me...I am going out today to get some annuals to add some more color here and there!

Pottery Pitchers of Kool-aid or Iris...

My mama's yard had old-fashioned, bearded iris in every nook and corner in the spring, in just about every color imaginable.  My favorites were always the bi-color ones, but purple ones are dear to my heart as well.  Mama always had purple and yellow in the same beds, so whenever I see purple and yellow iris, I get a twinge.  They also make me think of grape Kool-aid combined with frozen lemonade, mixed up and served in this huge blue pottery pitcher she had.  We drank it in the summers growing up, and when my Daddy plowed, or did other work in the garden, we would take quart jars of it out to him to drink.  Sometimes, she would take a huge bouquet of them to church on Sunday in that very pitcher!  I wish I had a picture of it, but when us kids divided stuff up, one of my sisters got it.

These are from my yard...I got them from Brecks a couple of years ago.  I have some heirloom ones that I dug up from mama's yard, but they haven't opened up yet.  I think I have borers on some, which voraciously eat and destroy iris, so I will be working to get rid of them!









These phlox and "pinks" remind me of my mama and granny too!



Hope you have a grape-lemonade kind of day!