Wednesday Wandering

It's been so nice the last few days so I worked out in the gardens most of both days and now doesn't my body know it! I keep forgetting I'm 70 and not 35. It's been raining today so I'm just relaxing. 

Funny story about these daisies. Last August we went on a little vacation for a few days and when we got back home the lawn needed a good trim.  I noticed what looked like daisy leaves in the lawn which is actually full of all sorts of stuff and not just grass. So, I dug up the little patch and moved them into my cottage garden in a couple of sport and marked them with a flag. I'll be darned...they were daisy leaves!

The tree peony blooms are starting to fade. 

And the Iris are starting to bloom. This is in a patch of weeds/grass I haven't pulled yet. I know there is poison ivy around that area and I'm just not prepared for a case of it yet.  I used to have a lot of Bearded Iris in a variety of colors but one year they must have gotten a disease or the rhizomes must have gotten too wet or something because I found most of the rhizomes rotted.  I had dug up the patches of them and saved what I could. 

These yellow iris have been around since we moved here over 30 years ago. They multiply like crazy and they are almost impossible to kill. I even threw some on the compost pile one year and had iris growing in my compost pile. They grow in sun or shade. 

More Aquilegia (Columbine) are in bloom. This is a spurred type. 

These are a Nora Barlow type columbine. 

The flowers are a little different than the old fashioned varieties. 

I just love this white one I started from seed. It has sort of a light purplish tint on them as they mature. I think it likes it there under the shade of the lilac. I have Lamb's Ear next to it near a pathway and also along the pathway but not showing here are some Lilies of the Valley that are no longer blooming as well as some chocolate peppermint. 

The Baptisia (False Indigo) is starting to bloom. I haven't even gotten around to cutting back the dead wood from last year. I did winter sow some seeds from this but I have not seen any sprouts yet. It needs at least 30 days of cold stratification. I also winter sowed cream indigo and I have a couple of seedlings now. They are slow growers I guess. 

I forget what these purple flowers are. They reseed themselves and pop up here and there in the cottage garden every year. I think it is called Farewell to Spring.  It popped up this year amongst some tree lilies. 

And the Cranberry Bush (Viburnum Opulus) is in full bloom. High winds destroyed a lot of it a few years ago but it is making a comeback.   My mother-in-law lived with us for awhile before she passed away. I planted it near a window where she sat so she could look out and see it as well as some other flowers like roses and hollyhocks. I also used to have a bird feeders and bird bath near there so she could enjoy bird watching too.  When the bush is in bloom it reminds me of her. Seems like there should be some blues music playing in the background. She loved to sing the Blues. 

And so it grows...