What a LOVELY garden, Brooke, a real treat to see. I like how your plantings "flow" and have a nice contrast of foliage.

I've been severely tempted by Japanese iris in the past, but I'm not sure I can meet their cultural requirements - my yard tends toward dryness, not moisture, and I don't like to water unless absolutely necessary. I've toyed with the idea of a small round dedicated JI bed, made by sinking a defunct plastic swimming pool in the ground and filling it with good, mildly acidic, moisture-retentive soil. I have ONE place in my yard I could do it - maybe next year. . . .

Laurel

Whoa Ellie! What a nice spread you have! The Japanese Iris are gorgeous -- I tried them last year for the first time. Planted 3, lost 1, and I even have plastic buried under the dirt beneath them. But it's worth it, except I want the colors you have! After the Storm is beautiful, too.

Thanks Laurel for the compliments on my gorgeous garden but oops, not mine. That beautiful setting belongs to our beloved mizellie.

Ellie absolutely GORGEOUS! I love the shade areas - what a great place to retreat to after being out in the full sun admiring the daylilies. I want to know if the rhodie is one that had the "slop beat out of it" to proprigate it.

And then ya'll keep posting pics of your gorgeous iris that I still can't grow. I'll just admire everyone else's beautiful blooms - and sulk.

Brooke

I don't know if my friend ( dh's friend ) beat the slop out of it or not. Brooke, it really is nice with all the shade and flowers to just kick back with a glass of tea. Course it will be almost dark and I can't move, shift, dig or pull anything.. My yard is haphazard to say the least. no rhymne or reason. I just started digging hole and set stuff in. My grass is horrible, too!!

Chris and laurel , thanks for the compliments on my weed infested yard...Ellie

Ellie, absolutely beautiful.

I miss not having much shade and being able to plant some things that don't like full sun. I might plant some pines just beyond what is now my yard. It would be several years before they are large enough to give a lot of shade, but in the meantime, I could beat the slop out of some things and get some seedlings started. I would love to have a Rhodendron. Possibly, there is a CV that would grow here with good filtered shade.

Interesting that you mentioned the plum tree. I have 3 that are going bye-bye. I never get any plums because of diseases, so they ain't paying their way.

Will Japanese Maples grow in full sun? I have one in a bucket that I need to plant and don't have much shade.

Royce, thanks for the compliment on my flower garden.
I really don't know if JM's grow in full sun. Some do of course but I know some require filtered sun. I have a couple, a red one and a green one ( botannical name unknow, brooke ) that are in full sun. Also I have a couple that are in the shade of a large red oak. brooke can probably tell you more about that. So beat the slop out of some stuff and get started. Between brooke and I, we can probabaly come up with some Hosta's for your soon to be shade.

BTW brooke, I took all of the solid green leaves off my Japanese Butterfly Maple and all of the leaves are cream colored now. Only a few have any green atol...Why is that, do you know?.....

If you know what the name of this one is, please tell me as it is the most beautiful of the darks....I Took pictures early this morning while the rain was stopped. We got a full 1.34 inches of rain today. Ellie

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Now to teach Royce about shade - your house has four sides. On each side of the house, at sometime in the day, there should be shade! The most shade should be on the north side with the east side being the second best side, the west side and the south side, the worst for shade, particularly the south side.

To determine the various points of direction, you might need to invest in one of those direction finder thingees marked with N-S-E-W - most people refer to them as compasses. Next month on your trek to town for supplies, stop at the WM and purchase one - should be relatively inexpensive.

After you determine the N and E side of your house, you can now add various shrubs and trees to increase the shade in those areas. The Japanese maple should be fine on the N or E side of the house, particularly since it is probably one of the vigorous older cultivars that comes true from seed and has survived for five years in a bucket. Then you can add other trees and look for shrubs that can take a beating and add those to the mix. I have never beaten a shrub to propigate it, but I suspect any shrub that can stand up to that will be a big, fast growing variety and can give you shade fairly quickly.

The fancier JM cultivars are usually the ones that need to be understory trees because of the leaf texture. Actually it is wind that is a bigger threat to them than sun. Windy conditions will dry and shrivel the leaves fairly quickly.

It sounds like Ellie has all three kind of JM's. The red one, the green one and the variegated one. Now that she has eliminated the all green leaves from her fancy one, the cream leaves will not be overtaken and she will end up with the beautiful variegated leaves. I love that kind in the spring when they are green and pink and the pink turns to white.

Royce after you get your compass, if you have trouble, let us know and we can get you pointed in the right direction.

Brooke

OOOPS! Ellie, I'm so sorry - YOU deserve the credit for that wonderful garden! Yikes, and I thought I was actually AWAKE and COHERENT that day. (Note to self - check my other recent postings for embarrassing mistakes. . . .)

Laurel

It's ok laurel.. We have all had days like that.. Actually, I thought it a compliment that you thought it belonged to Brooke. She has a lovely yard and lots of interesting STUFF too!! She is going to name everything for me when I come up..

Brooke, the Varigated Japanese weeping willow has the beautiful pink in the spring too !! It's not quite as flashy as the other one though.

Royce, my dh used to coon hunt, I'm sure he has an old compass lying around. Since he can't go off in the woods alone anymore, he only rabbit hunts now...Ellie

Ellie,
Your gardens are ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL! After seeing the photos you now have to admit that MY GARDENS are definitely the MOST HAPHAZARD! You know, cuz you've seen them in person! LOL....Your dark Iris looks like it could be Titan's Glory?
Nancy

Ellie, beautiful pics!!! I don't know about your iris - there are several nice dark ones.
The ones I have (or had) are Black Tie Affair, Dusky Challenger, Hello Darkness, & Loyalist.
Do any of those ring a bell, or do you just not have a clue what it could be?
Tammy

Numama, Titan's Glory isn't as dark as this one. I have TG in another place. Also my camera doesn't get the real darkness of the pic. As you can see in a previous pic. Before The Storm isn't as dark as it should be. The Iris is actually black but my camera captures it as a dark purple.

I think it's Night Ruler. I had that one and messed up the labels so that's why I am trying to identify it.

Tammy, loyalist has a reddish tint, ( I have that one ) and I have never had Black Tie affair.
I also have Dusky Challenger that is quite beautiful but not quite as dark, but almost. Anyway it is beautiful.

More pics. below.

Varigated Japanese Weeping Willow..Then A cypress of some kind that I don't know the name of ( Brooke.) It has beautiful golden tips that my camera picks up as kinda white . Also the willow get picked up as kinda yellowish but has white varigation. In the early spring, all the white yellowish color is pink.. I got this for Mothers day about three years ago.. Enjoy....Ellie

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