Garden Update

I've been busy in the garden lately, spending two or three hours on it every day. After I had trees cut down in my yard, I made three large flower beds and started growing daylilies, lilies, and bearded irises. I have a lot more sun in my yard now and things are looking good. Here's some recent photos.

A purple Louisiana iris

This is a bearded iris I transplanted from my great-grandmother's house. If I identified it correctly, it's called 'Francina' and dates from 1920. The flower smells like grapes.

Another, smaller, bearded iris from my great-grandmother's. I haven't identified it yet.

Another shot

This was my first year growing borage. The flowers are edible, and they indeed taste like cucumber

A few Narcissus x odorus bulbs I dug from my mom's yard

Freshly dug bulb of Narcissus broussonetii. It had two large, fleshy, ridged roots, which I found unusual. I haven't got this fall-bloomer to flower yet but let's hope we see some blooms this November.

My 'Pepperbox' poppies are starting to bloom. This is a strain grown for poppy seeds. I transplanted them in February. People say you can't transplant poppies, but that's not true. The trick is that you have to be very careful. When I transplanted them, it was like surgery. I gently took them out of the pots, gently placed them in pre-dug holes, and lightly pushed dirt around the root ball without disturbing it at all. Then I watered them in with a gentle shower attachment.

My system of keeping track of daffodil seeds: placing them in gelatin capsules. Each capsule has seeds from a specific cross I made.

While my roommate and I were talking on the patio, a Giant Swallowtail butterfly flew in and started laying her eggs on my citrus trees. She wasn't afraid of us at all; she was just fluttering all around us. It amazes me how they can find citrus trees.