Worth the wait.

After two years of waiting the Snowapple orchid is finally in blooming with many more blooms to come.

Holiday Decorations

Started the outside holiday decorations which included three of these evergreen pots. I trimmed the evergreen tree down by the pond which was growing into the walking path. Also I couple of other evergreen bushes were getting unruly. I cut down the dried hydrangea flowers. With a couple of white ribbon bows purchased last year at 90% off, we are calling these containers done.

Red Carrots

Small harvest of carrots from a couple of weeks back. They were good in a vegetable soup.

Seriously???

So much for fall....enter winter. Notice that the maple leaves are still green. Most leaves are not even turning color but just dropping off the trees.

Bucket of Bulbs

Inch Worm cooperated enough to let me dig up a overgrown section of lily bulbs. I believe these are orange. There sure were a lot of them--- A whole ice cream bucket full. I was going to replant most of them in the front garden to fill in some bare spots, but Inch Worm became extremely cranky and I was not able to plant them! Maybe tonight.

Diane you still want some of these right? I can give them to my mom to give to you.

One of the moth orchids looks like it will finally rebloom after two years! This was purchased at a box store in bloom two years ago and has not bloomed since. Thorny Guy threatened to dispose of it if it did not bloom this winter. I guess this pressure for survival kicked it into bloom mode.

Apple Pie

Let apple season begin! This weekend we were busy picking, canning and baking apples. So far we have picked three bushels. One and a half went into applesauce - 10 unsweetened quarts for Inch Worm and 5 for Thorny Guy and me. Also one pie and an apple crisp were made. The rest of the 1.5 bushels went to my mom to be turned into applesauce.

Iris Plant Sale

Thorny Guy and I hit the Carver County Master Gardener Fall plant sale and picked up a bag of irises. We were hoping for different colors than we have now, but had to go just off the descriptions as they did not have pictures. This is what we ended up with. My favorite after finding pics on the internet is 'Lightening Streak'. Now to figure out where to put them all!

Intermediate Bearded (IB)
Pink Kitten Wood 1976 18-24" Blue shade of pink, lined deeper on falls. Tangerine beards.

Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDB)
Dark Vader Miller 1985 6-12" Blue-Violet Dark Purple/Black Bloom Time: Midseason (M)
Copenhagen ?

Modern Tall Bearded (MTB)
Wistful Wisteria Wolf 1998 16" S.and style wistari violet;F.wistaria violet ;B.gold
Puppy Love Hager 1980 19” EM pink self, pale tangerine beard

Tall Bearded Iris (TB)
Mass Bay ?
Raspberry Silk Spoon 2000 24-36" White with pink and peach
Lady Jan Laue 2001 24-36" White with Violet Lavender
Lighting Streak Gibson 1993 24-36" Early midseason Orange Gold Brown/Bronze
Rainbow Candy Spoon 2000 24-36" Late Midseason White pink top purple bottom
Lilting Byers 1990 24-36" Violet/Lavender White/Near White Reblooming
Lemon Mist 24-36" Rudolph 1972 Pale Yellow Late Midseason
Sweeter Than Wine Schreiner 1988 24-36" White top purple bottom
Latin Lover Shoop 1969 36" light lavender-pink; grape wine with light lavender-pink rim
Sky Hooks Osborne 1979 36-48" Yellow with blue veining
Brook Flower Schreiner 1972 36-48" White with blue edge
Thinking Out Loud 36-48" Ernst 1994 Extra Early Fuchsia (Red-Purple) Pale Yellow
Steam Heat Tompkins 1989 36-48" Midseason Pale Pink Rose/Mauve White/Near White
Lacy Snowflake 36-48" HUGE blooming, ruffled snow white self tipped yellow.

Cherry Pie

We made a cherry pie from our tart cherries we picked earlier this summer. This is the pie before it went into the oven. I forgot to take a picture before we ate it... it was yummy!

Garlic pulled

The garlic has been pulled and is curing in the barn. Vampires beware.

Vegetable Garden Woes part 1

The vegetable garden is in a pretty sad state at the moment. The weather has not cooperated at all. So far this year we are almost 8 inches under our normal rainfall. That might not sound like a lot but when it doesn't rain for 3 weeks straight even the hardiest plants start to wilt.

I have bought the irrigation hose to run water to the vegetable garden (almost 600 feet from the house) but more important tasks always come up. Not that it would help that much with most of the veggies being smothered in weeds! Anyway, here are some pictures.

Below are the summer squash. Yes it's those sad plants poking up from the weeds! To the right some very short corn.

Next is my special zucchini I ordered from Johnny's Seeds. I got them because last years zucchini were so prolific we got overwhelmed. I got a variety that grows more slowly.

Here is the only garden highlight! Vampires beware, garlic is doing great.

I got 3lbs from a farm in New York with similar climate. Drought doesn't seem to stop these guys! There are 3 different types, German White, German Red, and Spanish Roja. They are about to flower.

More vegetable garden updates are to come.

Daylilies

All of the daylilies we brought from Maryland are still doing great. Here are some of what is in bloom at the moment.

Ladybug claims that we have a Little Grapette somewhere in the garden, yet I have never seen it. I think she is using it as an excuse to prevent from buying anymore daylilies!

Ornamental Millet

The Purple Majesty millet seeds we acquired last fall turned out very nice. Even with the drought conditions they seem to keep growing. We can't wait until the seeds start to appear!

There used to be a Juniper growing here next to our garage, until we found out it would get 30 feet or more tall! Not a great spot under a garage overhang. We moved the juniper then the millet went here. We would certainly plant it again.

Dahlias

Lady bug has several very nice dahlias growing in pots on our deck. We got them on sale and they turned out quite beautiful.

Asiatic Lily 'Capuchino Tango'

This is the best bulb which I purchased from brecks last year in the fall. The color and pattern adds a unique pop to the garden. I just wished I put it in a better spot... thought it would get taller.

Astilbe in bloom

In the hilltop garden, all the astilbe are in bloom. We have a mixture of white, pink and red. Most of these are three years old, but we just bought two new varities, white sensation astilbe and color flash astilbe.

A new cultivar of Astilbe simplicifolia hybrid named ‘White Sensation’ that is characterized by its pure white flowers borne on upright to cascading panicles over very dark green foliage and combined with a compact plant habit.

Color Flash astilbe produces spears of pale pink that extend 8" above the foliage, leaves that start out brilliant green and then change to purple-burgundy as the season progresses, providing an excellent frame for the bloom plumes.

Last Iris

These were the last of the irises. The last two of which bloomed for the first time after being purchased from a box store two falls ago.

Bearded Iris 'Going My Way'

Dianthus barbatus Tuxedo Black

This plant is in full bloom and I have to say I am impressed by the deep red/black color of the flowers. These were started from seed last year. I will have to try and collect more seed. I wonder if one pinches it during early spring if it will branch more and produce even more flowers. Something to consider doing next year.
Here is the description:

A Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) with profuse, fragrant blooms of nearly pure black over a long season.

• Category: Perennials, Seeds
• Hardiness zones: 3 to 9
• Habit: Mound-shaped
• Height: 16 in - 24 in
• Width: 10 in - 12 in
• Bloom season: Summer
• Bloom color: Light Black

Columbine

Here is a columbine that was started from seed last year. These are absolutely huge. They were worth waiting a year.

Cherries

The cherry tree is full! Thorny Guy needs to put a net over it before the birds find them.

Oxeye daisies

First Irises

I believe these are the iris we received from the Master Gardener presentation at the MN state fair, perhaps Iris Germanica 'Alba'. The tulips and daffodils have finished blooming. Soon all the irises and peonies will be in bloom. The irises seem to be shorter this year, probably from lack of water.

Snow Anenome

This little plant is really taking off and has a lot of new white buds. I purchased this from the plant sales last year. Does anyone know the best way of propagating these?

Bleeding Hearts

Here is a bleeding heart I purchased at a plant sale last year. It is doing so well on the hilltop slope, that I bought another 5 including a white one, from plant sales this year. At a buck each you can not go wrong and may just solve the slope problem.

The slope is dry shade from black walnuts. If that is not enough the deer always visit there and chop away on the hostas. I have been slowly adding plants to help prevent erosion. I also added several dead nettle plants, buggleweed, and periwinkle.