New Blooms and a New Path

My favorite iris opened this morning...




















and remember that Baptisia that I moved last year, in willful violation of all the Garden Rules???
It bloomed yesterday.



I picked up some more stepping stones and made a path through the butterfly garden. I need to be careful, though, about publicizing all these projects. Barbara at Wild Birds Unlimited is beginning to wonder how I can accomplish so much in my garden and so little at work. My wife has expressed similar amazement.

Absentminded, Color-Impaired, and Spiteful

You would think that I would remember this burgundy iris from last year. I remember purple, white, and yellow, but not this one. (I recall that I was given some more irises back in January, but they were planted somewhere else.) Obviously the gnomes have been at work.

I'm enjoying the twenty or so May Night salvia that I picked up at Lowes for a dollar each at the end of last season. The bees love them and their dark purple flowers are a good contrast with the light green foliage of the Anise Hyssop (also from the dollar table). I'm always pleased when I hit on color combinations that work--purely by accident. (I am not skilled at matching colors; the only pants I own are jeans and khakis because they match everything.)

I don't buy a lot of plants at the big box stores. One, I don't think they water them enough; and two, I'd rather pay a few bucks extra and buy from people who know plants. I do like to cruise the markdown racks though, because I can get perfectly good plants that other people with less sense ignore because they aren't blooming anymore. Plus, at those prices, I figure I'm getting them below cost...just my own little way of sticking it to the Man.