I am paying some long, long overdue attention to the flower garden.
When I first started to garden at Nonsuch, the entire garden was ornamental. I’ve been turning the majority of that into a food garden over the past 3-4 years.
Now, I am going to return a bit of the vegie garden to ornamental. It is the first bed you see coming around the side of the house from the front path, it already had daffodils and some bearded iris in, and recently I have planted its borders with lavender. It does have a few other perennial herbs. To be honest, there isn’t much left over for food growing, and less each year, so now I will return the lot to flowers (apart from the perennial herbs in there, and an apple tree), and it will make an attractive display both from the front path and from the eastern veranda. What I used to grow as food in there I can easily shift to grow bags.
I’ve been mulling over this change in use for some time (a year or more), and it tipped over in balance of the ornamentals yesterday when the horrifyingly enticing Tempo Two catalogue lobbed into my mailbox. Tempo Two sell mainly iris and hostas (next year I will get some hostas for a shady area of the front), and I am afraid I have a deep, deep attachment to bearded iris.
I have ordered 24 – and they are costing me almost $500! But they are stunning varieties and I can’t wait until they arrive in January when the onion crop I have in there can be pulled and the soil prepped for the iris.
I have ordered:
6 of Black Suited (I love black iris!)
6 of Brothers-in-Arms
6 of Eye Candy
6 of Modern Woman (This is not a good photo of one, usually they have much darker and more vibrant colouring.)
The choice was tough, tough, tough. I had circled some 20 iris I loved, but it was better to get a good number of a few varieties than a large number of single iris.
Today, if I can summon the energy, I will plant out some Russell Lupins.
Later – just had to add this video – Simon’s cat – anyone with cats would understand. 
I had to go through this last night … except with five cats.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qHVVbYG8Y&w=560&h=315]
Glorious irises – Good luck with them! The color combinations of the four varieties is just perfect and they will look lovely together.
As chief gardener’s labourer (and financier)and husband of a keen plant-catalogue-item-circler, I am constantly amazed at the cost of plants – especially tubers and bulbs! The justification is always their ability to multiply – pretty good bang for your buck after a few years… I should just semll the the flowers and ignore my haemorrhaging back pocket I guess (for fear of retribution here as well). Nice choices Sara, we love Iris’s too.
A lovely selection of bulbs, together they should put on quite a show!
“Simon’s Cat” was quite the treat. I loved the detail in it, from the claw caught in the ruined curtains, to the ‘making sure the fly is dead’ to the whole tap-tap of the vanquished. Thanks for sharing that, and I dread to think what your five got up to!
I jsut adore the Iris’ Sara, especially the Black & Eye Candy. I only have the boring noraml colour ones & a couple of white.
Yes, I can relate to the Siomn’s cat video & love them, but at leart mine don’t want to share their “kill”. They prefer to eat it themselves. 🙂
Beautiful irises, especially the black one.
Gorgeous irises, I love the black ones as well.
The video at the end has me nearly in tears, that’s exactly what Kitteh is like.
Alright so I was glancing over the SaraDouglass site about books initially, between my political science homework and my procrastinating, and I stumbled on a link to THIS site! Needless to say I wanted to see how you were doing, and while browsing found some interesting comments about your books and you needing to write more (Namely BookNerd). So, as a fan, and as a reader and owner of every book you have ever published that has hit the Canadian shores, I would like to say…”Screw them.” Honestly, as much as I love your books, your health is more important, and your happiness. Seeing as we only have one life to live, if working in your garden gives you a greater sense of joy, then do it! And by gods, you have a wonderful garden and home!
Anyway…Sorry, I just had to say something. I cannot stand seeing the pressure put on my fave author, especially after what you have been going through.
Much love, and Im looking forward to seeing the further improvements in your health, and of course the garden. 😀 <3
OOOHHHH more irises..(iri??…grin) Wonder what the unidentified ones you received will turn out to be …
Those are lovely ..I fancy a whole bunch too ..