Friday, April 20, 2012

Flowers, Not Frost


The day was grey, damp and cool but it made the colors of the garden look to brilliant:  pinks, greens, purples and whites.  You can still see some drops.  The sweet peony has been crawling with ants, about to burst open in a marvelous bloom.  They say the ants help it open up but I can't say for sure.  It looks better if you click to enlarge the photos.


My purple iris have bloomed now. I still need to get that bird bath topper on but my back has been bad and it's pretty heavy.  It's really a cat bath though.  They jump up on it spreading out their paws around the top so no water actually gets on their paws!


Our fountain pump bit the dust.  We'll have to get a new one.  We found this in a crazy place called Gringo Jones.    You need to click on their LINK just to see it.    It's down in the city next to the Bug House, near our botanical gardens and the place is absolutely packed with STUFF.  They have vintage gates, antiques, new stuff that is weird but cool, imports, huge statues, stained glass, furniture.  Amazing place.

This is really aluminum so light enough to install easily and remove when we need to clean it out.  It's not really losing it's paint.  That's hard water deposit from the well water. 


This is our stump that finally fell over in the last year or two.  It has nice lines to it so I let it be. 


The hostas are doing very well, in fact they are doing so well I'll have to divide them again this fall.  Can you believe they started from a few teeny plants, probably from Wal-Mart.


The cats come by and drink water that rests on their leaves.  It's a favorite wasp drinking spot too.


This is the next peony bloom over, a little ahead of it's sister.  

Hopefully we don't have a frost tonight, temperatures are dropping!  They are supposed to be 36 in the city sooooo, we may-- but I hope not.


11 comments:

Wonderwoman said...

Love the pics of the peonies and iris! We've got another month to go before we see either flowering here.

I don't know if you know this frost trick or not...if you spray (whatever) with water before the sun hits it in the morning, it usually will be ok. That does not apply to heavy frosts though. I used to work in a garden center and many a cold morning I'd be out there as the sun was rising hosing everything down.

Hope you make out ok!

Lisa said...

Beautiful! What is your secret for those big gorgeous hosta plants? I tried growing those but they all died!

Lisa

Candy C. said...

Love all your flowers, especially the irises! :)

Trish said...

Hello Kathy, you have a very beautiful garden!
That lovely pink peony is a gem!
Our peony has not flowered in years and I've thought of moving it but I'm not sure if it would survive.
Purple irises are gorgeous and are a special favourite of my husband and we plan to have some in for Spring.
Hope the frosts stay away :-)
blessings..Trish

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

I think we are ok!

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Nothing! They are planted on the north side of the house where they get morning sun, in a raised bed made of retaining wall blocks with a landscape fabric underneath. They don't get extra care at all. They just grow there. So does coleus.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Thanks. I brought the iris bulbs from the old house, at least some of them. I had one adopted light purple one that grew under the neighbor's fence so it came along too.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

That particular peony is the largest, it really likes where it is planted.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

It rained yesterday and everything was damp so that may have helped.

LindaG said...

Gorgeous plants and flowers. I hope they will be safe.
Have a blessed Sunday.
*hugs* ♥

Robyn said...

You have beautiful flowers and plants, Kathy. Thanks for sharing!