A Walk With Old Faithful

I have two cameras. My newest is the Sony DSC-H50/B and the second one is the great grandfather to the new one an old DSC-F717. I love my old camera and I only pull it out every now and then to take photos with it. The LCD screen is failing and it will no longer charge unless the battery is attached to an external battery charger. I decided to drag it out and walk around the garden a little while, just for old time’s sake. When I got the H50 nothing you could have ever said would have convinced me it could take the photos that its grandfather does, now I can look at the pictures and see a noticeable difference in the color. The H50 has better color, but it still can’t stop a bird in flight like the 717.

Jamie got the windowsill containers planted for the summer. We generally go for the bright colored flowers, but this year we decided to do something a little different. I think Jamie did a fantastic job and I think these will stand up to the full sun a little better.

My grandmother’s old rose bush seems to be happy where it is and it’s sporting its first bloom of the season. I have no idea how old this rose it, but my grandmother got it from her mother when she was married in 1931. When she passed and her house was sold I dug it up and moved it to my home.

This is a new Dahlia we added to the garden this year, ‘Sumatra’.

Variegated Solomon’s Seal

'Crimson Queen' and Bridal Wreath

'Miss Saigon'

This is a wonderful old Iris that I’m just tickled to have newly planted in our garden. It was given to us last fall by a very generous reader that wishes to remain anonymous. We planted them on both sides of the patio sidewalk; I get to enjoy them every morning. The color is even better than I thought and I just love it!

Just to Catch You Up

Well, first off let me apologize for my absence as of late. I have been crazy busy getting the yard whipped back into shape and things are coming along nicely. The past weekend I managed to get the new drip system started and let me tell you, that thing is going to be a life saver this coming summer. I’ve been really surprised at how inexpensive and easy it’s been to get it all installed. I should be finished putting it in by this weekend. Weather permitting, that is.

I mentioned in the past, that one of the pharmacists that work with Jamie bought us a new arbor for the garden. We decided to plant Confederate Jasmine on it. The jasmine has been blooming this week and just those two little vines have been filling the air with the most wonderful scent! It’s amazing; I never knew I would enjoy it so much.

'Confederate Jasmine'

The ‘Crimson Queen’ made seeds for the first time. I’m going to try to plant some and see what I come up with. The ‘Glowing Embers’ in the opposite corner actually has two seedlings under it that came up this year. It would be wonderful to be able to grow our own maples. We could scatter them everywhere!

'Crimson Queen'

It looks as though we will be building a Salvia collection since they prefer full sun. This Mexican Bush Sage is named ‘Mystic Spires’. It has wonderful colored blooms and I can’t wait for it to spread. The new bed is filled with purple and blue. Those are Jamie’s favorite, so I wanted to fill it with those two colors. This picture looks kind of weird, but it's the only one I have right now.

'Mystic Spires'

This is a 'Yellow Flag' variegated iris. A friend from Gardeners Gumbo told me you can never have too much variegated foliage in you garden. Acting on her advice I started shopping around for that very thing.

'Variegated Yellow Flag'

This is a St. Joseph’s Lily. It was the first hybridized amaryllis ever created, introduced around 1790 by a watch maker named Arthur Johnson and is a cross of H. reginae and H. vittatum. We had tons of these and gave all of them away except one. Had I known how hard they are to locate and how expensive they are if you do find them. I would have sent less in each trade so I would have more to share. Over the years I’m sure they will multiply.

'St. Joseph's Lily'

This is a ‘Don Juan’ climbing rose. During the storm it was just beat to pieces and I had to cut it way back. It seems to be making a wonderful recovery. I highly recommend this rose, ours blooms the entire growing season and the flowers look like velvet, in the sun. It doesn’t seem to be as vulnerable to black spot as a lot of the other roses. Our ‘Peace’ rose has black spot so bad right now it looks absolutely horrible, all flowers and no foliage.

'Don Juan'

I’ve had these ‘Minerva’ amaryllises for years and years and I have no idea where I got them from. It’s terrible that my memory is so bad. I’m almost positive it came from my neighbor Judy, but she says she got it from me. Who knows… at any rate it puts on a beautiful show every spring.

'Minerva'

This last picture is an Iris that was traded to me under the name ‘Kaye’ and I can find nothing about it. I got seven or eight Irises in that trade and this is the only one I couldn’t find online. I would really like to know more about it. If this looks familiar to you send me a note and let me know. Maybe it just has the wrong name. Isn’t it a beauty though?

'Kaye'