DollsArtCats

 It's black in overhead inside light, and a deep, deep purple in sunlight: So very fancy! I regret that I had to cut it from it's parent plant, but the rest of my iris are still sprawled from the storm, though blooming still: These are the ones my friend Andy brought up in a suitcase from Kansas, and I am so pleased and delighted they manage to survive here! Some of the are just so elaborate: I love all the colors! The black iris name is supposed to be "All Night Long" and is from (I think) a breeder in Oregon. It came in a small box as basically a small root, and I was worried for it, but I planted it in a sheltered spot last fall and it made it ok under a pile of peat moss. Now it's looking quite healthy and, fingers crossed, will put out more blooms next Spring.

 Last week the weather was perfect, and we planted quite a few things, including a new echinacea plant. It looks like we will get some of the old ones to come up again from seeds, and they are the greatest color--so fingers crossed. They will hopefully be like the ones in the photo above. The Blythe is one I got from Ebay--she came in that outfit and was both cute and inexpensive since she had some odd product on her hair I have not been able to completely banish. (Something like argan oil). This week it has been wet and rainy, good for the plants, less fun for humans gardening, so I have been doing housework instead. I ordered a couple of travel hampers from Amazon-- they are light and vertical, so you can carry them in one hand and hold a stair railing, which I decided was important since I am finding it less safe to carry a laundry basket down stairs with both hands while not being able to see my feet. They came in a small envelope and I was sure they had sent me the wrong thing...

  This is such a tease--it was outside, but then we got a tornado watch, a severe thunderstorm warning, and a chance of hail, and I said the heck with it and snipped the entire bud stem and brought it in. It's a good thing I did, most of the other iris were blown over since we had gusts up to 45 mph (but no tornado). Because it's in a vase, it will bloom, but so much slower than it would outside, and it does look like it will be a very very dark purple. I'm excited to see it fully open! I love iris and they are so expensive to buy at the nursery, especially if you want the more unusual ones. My friend Eden in New York develops her own varieties for fun, and they are so exotic and gorgeous! This is one of hers: And this is one my friend Andy brought from Kansas in a suitcase (she brought me SO MANY) Andy's are super hardy and the white ones actually bloom twice, once in spring and once in fall, which makes me so happy :)   So once Cat's is fully open I will take anot...

 It's gardening season and I am outside in flip flops, weeding. If I am mowing or using the weed wacker, I'll be in leather clogs to protect my toes, but it's sweaty. Unfortunately I am allergic to a lot of green plants, poison ivy for one--my cat used to walk through it in New Jersey and then rub his tail on me, and I would welt up.  So my habit of flip flop shoe wearing means that often I will blunder through something I am wildly allergic to, like Virginia Creeper. (Parthenocissus quinquefola). They actually sell Virginia Creeper in some garden stores, which is bananas. If your climate supports it, you will have it, for free. It loves total shade, terrible dirt, direct sun, strangling it's fellow plants, exploring your siding, and probably assassinating small animals when no one is looking. It grows really, really fast. That is about six feet up, which the Creeper managed in about three days.  If I brush against it, about a half an hour later I get this little tingli...

 When we moved here from New Jersey, the only thing that got broken in the 11,000 pounds of household goods that we shipped-- were the toes on this plaster caterpillar. Just the front toes, even. This was in 2012, and I said that I would fix the caterpillar in a month or so, once the other stuff was unpacked. Thirteen years later, I finally got around to fixing his toes with Apoxie Sculpt and touching up the paint to match his back toes. It was Caterpillar Spa Day. Cat's iris is still teasing me--it's added more buds, but not opening yet! (It's also slightly out of focus, to add to the mystery.) You can see I need to touch up the paint on my siding. Maybe in a month or so... The rest of the yard is looking a little more put together--the dish is water for chipmunks and bees, the upturned stock pot is over an outdoor outlet that powers the bubbler for the water trough for the birds. There is a still a lot to do. (I love the chipmunks, but they do complicate gardening).

 So this doesn't look too exciting yet (the tulip in the back is past it's prime) but the iris in the center of the screen was a gift from my friend Cat, and it looked very small and weedy in it's shipping box when it came--but it survived the winter-- and it even has leaves on either side of the root that look very healthy. It is supposed to be a very dark color when it blooms...MAYBE TOMORROW. But "soon" in any case, and I will put up another picture when it does. In other news, I was very stupid and ordered a medium-sized doll from Luts (Kai, an msd elf). This was when tariffs were supposed to be (I thought) something like a whopping 80% for China and 10% for everyone else BUT NO. South Korea is 25% and that is going to be Very Sad when it comes time for me to pay the duties for this little cutie. On the other hand, I have no other doll plans aside from spiffing up the clothing of the ones I have, so I guess it's just pennies per day (laughing crying emoji)...