Friday, March 28, 2008
Pink Bubbles
Everywhere I've lived, iris have bloomed in overgrown clumps, until that last two yards, that is--new houses with minimal landscaping. Even then, someone I knew would thin her iris patch and pass on the hardy roots. In Yakima iris grew alongside the chicken coop, a spray of fragrant clumps blooming against aged wood. In Spokane, I thinned rows of iris growing next to the rich soil of the eons old vegetable patch. I divided, my plan to plant them alongside the house. Being a lazy gardener, the clump took root right where I left them next to the grape arbor. Every iris patch I've ever tended has consisted of vintage colors, mostly brown and yellow and purple blooms. Perhaps some whites. Just the standards. It wasn't until later, when hybrids became popular, that I really grew to love the iris.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A Rose by any other name...
I planted climbing roses up the side of my house. They were cheap plants from the drug store, but they are the most fragrant roses, like the old timey ones you used to get when you bought flowers.
Ragosa Rose
This sweet rose is a vibrant pink color. It makes a great natural fence line. Grown along whimsical split-rail fence brings a lovely addition to any landscaping. When I lived in Indianola, I made a split-rail fence from beach wood. We were just two blocks from the beach and the wood that washed in on the waves during high winds carried with it multitudes of spindrift. The dry wood was bleached gray or whitish and the fence was twisted. Very nice. Rogasa rose twined around it. The thing I did wrong with that yard, was plant things too close together. I learned from my mistakes and in the next yard, I imagined the size the plant would grow to and then plan a good distance from the existing plant. Some folks have trouble doing this imaging. If that's the case, I say measure.
Heart of an Orchid
It's an amazing thing, the inside of a flower. This one looks like the back of a throat. I'm intrigued how in nature there are so many things that look humanly physical in nature. I have several orchids among my house plants. Unfortunately, the orchids seldom bloom. I've heard that orchids need heat and humidity. I'm reminded of getting off the plane in Hawaii and how the humidity hit me in the face. And the fragrance, tropical, delicious. I can see why it makes orchids flourish.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Backlit Yellow Rose Interior
I painted a yellow rose twining through rustic fence for a friend of mine named Rose. We'd both lost our brothers in accidents. It was in the 80s. It was a sad time for us, losing not only a sibling, but part of our identity. The rose was sweet, fresh, idyllic. She loved it.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Women... It's for you! I'm in love with you this morning!
I'm thinking of the roses my first boyfriend sent me. One a day for a couple of months. It was after he moved to Alaska. I never saw him again. I've looked him up, well, searched the yellow pages and email addresses for Bill Johnson, a student at Joel E. Ferris High School when I attended between 1964-1969. We were sweethearts and were to marry--but I couldn't take his possessive love. I wanted to him and I didn't. I waited awhile, sending him warm scarves to wear in the cold Alaska winter, then I broke it off.
Flor da Calçada
"Things aren't black and white. Black and white thinking equals right and wrong thinking. Win-win is the answer to harmony." Canyon
I had a white iris growing on my Glendon garden that quit producing flowers. I'm curious about why this happened. The soil was right, damp, and the light conditions right--although it did grow at the shadier end of the garden. The other Japanese irises spread from the middle, their roots growing out from the center of the clump. Eventually they have a hole in the middle of the clump. They are easy to divide, just dig up the roots and make new plantings.
I had a white iris growing on my Glendon garden that quit producing flowers. I'm curious about why this happened. The soil was right, damp, and the light conditions right--although it did grow at the shadier end of the garden. The other Japanese irises spread from the middle, their roots growing out from the center of the clump. Eventually they have a hole in the middle of the clump. They are easy to divide, just dig up the roots and make new plantings.
Bearded Iris
"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time."
Light brown and yellow antique iris found around old homes. The "Honorabile" was bred by Nicolas Lemon in 1840. It smells slightly of lemons.
Light brown and yellow antique iris found around old homes. The "Honorabile" was bred by Nicolas Lemon in 1840. It smells slightly of lemons.
Heart of a Iris
Georgia O'Keefee painted the interiors of flowers. She spent time one winter while others were on Christmas break, sitting on the floor of the empty art room, drawing passionately, feeling her feelings on the paper. People said her art depicted woman. The Japanese Iris blooms in the spring. The flowers don't last long, but they are delicate and lovely, like a many women are.
Painted Church Garden Orchid
This beautiful orchid was photographed by Nurse Betty on the big Island of Hawaii. Thirty-seven years ago, I flew to Hawaii for a vacation with my first husband. We each received a basket with a tiny bottle of wine in it, a lovely lunch, and a purple orchid. How flying has changed.
Blue Iris
I planted water irises on the Glendon, the waste management system which consists of a small hill of sand over a tank of gravel and other components, in my Kingston garden. With the lawn curving around it, the mound looked like an intentional landscape design. So I had a hill of sand brought in opposite the Glendon. I planted it with grasses: oat grass, blood grass, leather grass, and the two mounds made up the entrance into my yard. I like curved designs, more lyrical, so the path wove between these mounds, around the brick patio and down to the front, birdfeeders, tall firs, natural habitat of salmon berry and fern, and beyond, the water.
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