Mock Orange

This bush is perfuming my whole front yard, and part of the house as well, now that I can have some windows open. I just want to stick my head into and inhale, but there are plenty of bees with the same idea.

It really does smell a lot like orangeblossom, but not quite as pungent. I remember smelling oranges in bloom in Florida, but out in the country, it was frequently mixed with burning garbage. Not a good combination!

Eye-riss?

An early spring, with nice long evenings, not too much rain. And that brings out the roving salespeople, trying to promote new roofs, gutters, yard services, etc. One evening this week, a young man was trying to get me to book an evaluation for gutters (which I do need, but I'm not going to submit to an in-house sales pitch). He seemed a little distracted, for which he apologized saying it was the end of his shift, and by the way, what kind of flower is that? I said it was an iris. 'Eye-riss?' he repeated, as though he had never heard the word. He said he had never seen anything like it, and thought it looked alien and other-worldly. 

It is a particularly nice one.

Signs of Spring

It's officially Spring! It is on the blustery side here in western Washington, but the sun has come out for a few minutes off and on this morning. Pretty nice, after how much it rained last night.

Here are a few of the yellow flowers of spring:

One of only two daffodils that bloomed this year. Maybe it's time to get some new bulbs.

Forsythia bush, now with actual blue sky!!!

And of course dandelions start showing their faces to the sun. 

Happy spring, everyone!

Sign of Fall?

I noticed this leaf on a lawn while walking this morning. The colors really struck me, and I picked it up and took it home to take a picture. It's probably not really a fall-turning leaf as much as one affected by drought and/or some kind of blight.

Iris Time

Most of my irises are only producing foliage these days, but right on schedule (i.e, same time as last year), this one is still showing off. There are two full flowers here, and at least one bud still coming. I love the bluish-purple and white combo!

Midsommer Gardens

Boo called me up this morning and asked if I wanted to go on a garden tour with her. It was called the Secret Gardens of Lake Forest Park. The first one we went to was my favorite. This little garden was on the side of the house. There was a small patio with chaise lounge, table and a bench, all facing this stone sculpture/water feature and tiny pond. A perfect place to relax with a book.

The house was U-shaped, and the gap in the back was filled in with another larger patio and plantings. And there was a wide border in the back of the yard, with a mixture of trees, shrubs and perennials. It had a lush feel without being out of control or feeling like you were lost in a jungle. This is a leaf-shaped concrete birdbath, cradled in a metal tripod that looked like sticks. (For you, Ann)
Another cement water feature, the spout coming from the center stem and the water trickling down the leaf.

More Gardens

This was just a small area next to the driveway at one of the gardens, but I liked the composition. There's a small birdbath under the light colored evergreen.


This place had a hobby/business of breeding different varieties of Japanese maples. I loved the color of this one, particularly with the sun hitting it and highlighting it in front of a shady background.

This place was overflowing with roses and lilies, but the real centerpiece was this amazing dogwood, a Cornus kousa variety that was about 50 years old. I've never seen one so spectacular.

June Flowers

There are many years in the Seattle area when June is cool, overcast and rainy/drizzly. This is not one of them. We had a lot of rain in May, including some real downpours, but it hasn't rained now since before Memorial Day weekend. I don't remember the exact day, but the weathermen say it's now been about 25 days without measurable precipitation. And the first week in June had highs in the 80s and touching 90, so things are getting dry.

The positive side is that I can be outside and appreciate the flowers currently in bloom, and notice how long the days are. I haven't kept up with the weeds, though. Above there are pink hybrid roses, a mountain ash tree (self-seeded), dark pink roses (a wild rose type), white peonies, and valerian.

This bed on the side of the house has mostly foxglove now, with some poppies and verbascum Southern Charm. I started those from seed many years ago, and through some persistence and some self-seeding, I still have a few here and in another bed. The foxglove were also started from seed, and then spread by means of shaking the dried flower stalks in different areas.

This mock orange bush, while not that attractive to look at, has been filling my front yard with the most heavenly scent for a couple of weeks now. Both the flowers and leaves are starting to get a little brown around the edges, so the blooms probably won't last too much longer.

Long Weekend

It was a beautiful weekend, sunny with temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s. Couldn't ask for better. It was also very quiet and peaceful. Many neighbors left town and those who stayed behind were not doing much. This is unlike the Fourth of July, when my area starts to sound and smell like a war zone - people taking that 'bombs bursting in air' bit much too seriously. I did some sewing, some weeding and planted a few things. This iris didn't too much last year, but this spring there are 3 or 4 stalks with at least 3 buds each. Behind it, you can see blossoms on one of my small blueberry bushes. Again, last year they didn't do that well, but now they have lots of blossoms and the bees are loving it. So some plants are doing better after the relatively hard winter we had, while others didn't make it.