Thanks Renee! Lovely!

Just lovely as always, Renee!
Are your SPed daisies the paludosums that weave in and out of your plantings in the winter and spring, or are they bigger ones??
I just plunked in some more agapanthus myself--a new variety called Baby Pete, which I commend to one and all. Lovely mid-blue. Stays short enough for the front of the border, and doesn't seem to be quite the snail magnet of the others.
A question about iris, if I might. . . . If I put down compost/mulch over the soil, compost eventually breaks down, right?? So, do I have to lift up the rhizomes as I compost, so they don't think they're planted too deep? (A roundabout way of confessing that my iris don't look anywhere near as good as yours, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.)

Kay

Lovely, lovely. Except for rose foliage, it's been a great spring, hasn't it?

Oooooooh, so beautiful and inviting!

Kay, it's the paludosums that are finished. I have the big rose bed with all of the paludosums in full sun, and right now it is barren. It looks like large dogs have been digging in it. The shadier bed is in its glory now, though.

You don't have to lift your irises, but you cannot mulch or put compost on top of the rhizomes or they will rot. After three years or so, it's time to divide them anyway, so if they have gotten a bit buried but they have not rotted you can plant them higher again.

My irises look good because I water so much. Some of the other people in the iris society have foliage that is already short and browning, because they don't water in the summer months. I grow so many rebloomers that I have to water if I want flowers. I plant them on little mounds to avoid the mulch and rotting problems. Argentine ants find these perfect spots to raise their young, so I'm always stomping on the soil around my irises.

Hoovb, it's been a great spring, except for the balled roses and the aborted iris buds. Everything else looks stellar, especially the pelargoniums. I got my first two pattypan squash today!

Very nice.

I think your gardens are lovely and always enjoy your pictures.

Aha! Raised mounds!! The clue I've been waiting for!!! I do water in the summer, but raised mounds will solve the "buried rhizome" phenomenon excellently. I don't envy you your Argentine ants, but it sounds like, um, mechanical control has the situation well in hand. What kind of agapanthus are you planting, Renee?

Just gorgeous, Renee!

Thanks, all. Kay, I got a dozen dwarf white agapanthus- no name. I'll post when they bloom.
Renee

Lush and gorgeous!!!

So lovely, Renee. If you find a 57 woman camped out in your backyard in the corner, well, it's me :-) Very, very beautiful and lush. I feel like I'm looking at a gardening magazine when I see your yard. I was trying to find a glimpse of the dreaded hose, didn't see it in any photos, lol!

Patty S.

renee's hose is lying somewhere out of sight, just waiting to make some more trouble!
min

Do English schoolgirls chase fairies through your garden? It is just jawdropping.