ROSES in our Yard

Meet CRAZY LOVE -Taken 6/3/20

Dear Friends/Family,   Today I will share a few of our many Rose Varieties in the yard this year.  All of the pictures in this post were taken between 5/23/20 and 6/4/20.   This has been a good year for all of our flowers  (probably due to the rains and cool weather we've had).   The Roses have been putting on a show for us since late May.  Hope you enjoy seeing some of these little beauties!

RADIANT PERFUME -5/23/20

DARING SPIRIT --5/25/20

Royal Welcome -6/3/20

SUMMER SURPRISE  -6/4/20

SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT -5/27/20

ALL-AMERICAN MAGIC -6/3/20

APRIL in PARIS -5/31/20

ELEGANT LADY -5/26/20

SHOW YOUR STRIPES - 6/3/20

\

I finished the photos today with "Show Your Stripes" --because I think it is appropriate for July.  I hope that all of you had a great July 4th weekend.   George and I both are VERY patriotic --and it hurts me to my soul when reading and hearing about our country's history being destroyed all around us.   As "older adults" --that history is something we cherish.   It is what it is ---HISTORY.   We my not agree with how things may have been done years ago--but that's why it is called History.. We learn from it--and move on,  making things better in the future for ALL.

********

UPDATE from last week's post:

Thanks so much to many of you (from Blogger and from Facebook) who took time to list your favorite pictures (from my "Battle in the Sky"  photos).    I posted 14 different pictures... I took 8 pictures using my Canon and 6 using my iPhone.  The iPhone pictures were No. 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14.   

Your favorite  by far was Number 9,  an iPhone picture.   In 2nd place was No 5 --also an iPhone picture.  AND in 3rd place was No. 10,  a picture taken with my Canon camera.   THEREFORE,  my iPhone 11 Max WON the battle of the cameras!!!!!  Poor Canon... I've had that camera for a long time and love it.  I still love its ZOOM ability much more than the iPhone.  BUT--I agree that the iPhone takes clearer pictures (at least using these comparisons).   

My Favorites:  #10 and #5;   I liked No. 9 also --but not as much as the other two.... It's all just a personal choice --and there are NO wrong answers.   I chose No. 5 as my Blog Header for July and No. 1  as my Facebook Header for July....   Thanks for participating in that blog post.   I had so much fun doing it and reading your answers/thoughts.   

Have an awesome week --and enjoy JULY!!!!  (June came and went too quickly!!!)

Hugs,

💚💕💚Betsy💚💕💚

More IRISES in our Yard 2020--Part II

Waltz Across Texas Iris -- photo taken 5/1/20

Dear Friends,  As I said last week,  we had 32 different varieties of Irises blooming in our yard this Spring.   AND --many of those varieties each had many many blooms.  It was a great year for the Irises and George and I loved  "walking the yard" most every day!!!!

Last week (Click HERE)  I posted Part I of the Irises...  Today I will share the remainer of them.   I will probably publish one more post showing some of the 'group' pictures of the Irises in our yard.... I hope you enjoy seeing all of them.  They are gone now (sniff sniff) --but I love looking at all of the pictures and choosing ones to show you!!!

English Charm Iris --5/5/20 (after the rain)

Electric Shock Iris  5/3/20

Iceland Iris  4/21/20

Champagne Elegance Iris  5/5/20 (after the rain)

Feedback Iris  5/2/20

Floor Show Iris  4/29/20  (George took this neat picture.)

Harvest of Memories Iris  5/3/20

Orange Harvest Iris 5/23/20 (always a gorgeous Iris)

Hell's Fire Iris 5/1/20

Fall Fiesta Iris 5/16/20 (George took this picture of the LAST Iris variety to bloom this season.)

Halloween Halo Iris 4/25/20

Eugenia King Iris 5/5/20  (Taken after the Rain)

Cable Car Iris 5/18/20

Bountiful Harvest Iris 5/2/20  (my favorite Iris;  note my header blog picture)

Goodnight Kiss Iris 5/3/20  (Such a beautiful Iris which we have had for several years;  This year --for the first time,  we realized that this is NOT the name of it....They must have sent the wrong Iris when we ordered it years ago--and we didn't catch the mistake.  SO---to us,  it is still Goodnight Kiss.  Just don't try to order it under this name!!!!!!!  I absolutely love the colors in this Iris.  I wish I knew the 'real' name.

WELL---there you have it!!!!  Those are our 32 varieties of Irises this season.  Most of them are rebloomers --so hopefully they will rebloom in the Fall....  I have never enjoyed our Irises as much as I have this year.   I have one more post to share sometime --showing our Irises in groups,  many showing off many, many blooms....

The question I always ask is which in this group is your favorite????   You know how much I love Bountiful Harvest---but another favorite this year is  Waltz Across Texas.  It bloomed and bloomed, and so did Eugenia King.

Have an awesome week ---don't forget to get out and enjoy the Flowers and just being out in Nature.

Hugs,

IRISES in our Yard--2020 (Part I)

Concertina Iris--  picture taken 4/21/20

Dear Friends,   I know you have heard me complaining about our crazy Tennessee weather this past month(s)...  We have had WAY too much rain (for many months) --and this past month,  we have had some unusually cooler/cloudy weather, after having a very mild winter.... I may not have liked the weather much of this time,  but our IRISES this year must have LOVED it.   That is because the IRISES have been prettier and more abundant than many years in past.

We have had 32 different varieties blooming --with most every plant with LOTS of blooms.  Wish you could have been here to see some of these blooms.   I was sad to see the Irises finish blooming for now   --but since we have re-bloomers,  many of them will bloom again in Fall.    AND---now that the Irises are gone,  guess what is next??????? WELL---here comes the Roses,  Lilies, and Day Lilies.... YEAH RAH.

Today,  I'll share one of probably three posts showing our IRISES.  Hope you enjoy seeing these little beauties!!!!!

Garden Grace Iris  4/21/20

Immortality Iris 4/28/20

Second Fiddle Iris after the rain 4/25/20

Victoria Falls Iris 4/28/20

Buckwheat Iris 4/28/20

Pinkness Iris 4/28/20

Blatant Iris 4/21/20  (one of our BEST bloomers this year)

Cantina Iris 4/28/20

Lemon Duet Iris 4/28/20

Anxious Iris 4/17/20  (Love the border on this newish Iris in our yard)

Eggnog Irises (2 in one!!!) 4/28/20

Clarence Iris 4/21/20

Honey Glazed Iris (our first bloomer this year on 4/9); This picture was taken on  4/21/20.

Las Vegas Iris 4/28/20

Double Your Fun Iris 4/14/20

BLATANT IRISES in abundance 4/22/20

I'll close showing you just one picture of how many blooms and buds we had from our Blatant Iris this year.  As I said --you should have spent the months of April/May with us!!!!  Every day,  as we "walked the yard, there would be more Irises in bloom.  Even now (as I write this on May 31) --we still have one Iris blooming,  one called Fall Fiesta....

My question is:   Do you have a favorite from this group today???? I love them all,  but Second Fiddle is exquisite I think with the raindrops on it....

Have an awesome week --and stay healthy as life begins again!!!!! Welcome to JUNE.   YEAH!!!

Hugs,

Azaleas are Spring!!!!

One of our Front Yard Azaleas --5/3/20

Dear Friends,   Hope this finds all of you healthy and happy!  I don't know about you --but I'm SO ready to get this Pandemic OVER and DONE....  I'm  tired of reading about it;  tired of hearing about it --over and over and over...   I'm sorry to say this,  since I TRY to stay positive  (and have until recently)...  I will continue to be careful and we'll make it through this....

What worries me more now than the Virus is the Economy....  We are in such a terrible mess ---and so many other things in life we count on,  such as our food supply (and I'm NOT talking about toilet paper),   will cause other problems over the next many months....When we made our weekly Walmart trip (wearing our masks) this past Friday,   we noticed so many shelves (of many ordinary things) fairly empty...  Farmers are having to throw out milk and eggs since the factories and packing plants have been closed.    Ordinary people are out of work --and need to work in order to feed their families....  All of this scares me MUCH more than the Virus does.... OKAY---I'll get off of my soap box!!!!  SORRY!!!

The biggest JOY lately for us has been taking time to enjoy all of the Spring flowers/plants/shrubs in our yard and neighborhood.   We cannot travel YET ---so sitting at home for days and days and months is not easy for us --but there's not a day that goes by that a new flower appears --smiling at us---and bringing us JOY...

Today, I'l share more of this JOY with you... We don't have many Azaleas,  and we miss going to Biltmore this time of year to see all of their gorgeous azaleas.  SO--instead of the huge Biltmore Azaleas this year,  we'll show you some from our yard.  We have two large ones in the front yard and about 6 smaller ones in the backyard... The large ones have been gorgeous, but even the smaller ones bloomed and were pretty this year.... All of the pictures were taken from 4/10/20 through 5/3/20.    Hope you enjoy seeing the colors!!!!

Okay---that's enough pretties for now!!!!!  As you can tell we have various colors of reds and pinks.... There are some white Azaleas across the street from us --but I've never had a White Azalea.... AND--I've never had a Purple Azalea.  How can that be--as much as I love purple!!!! ha ha

Hope I could put a smile on your face today....  Not only do the flowers make me smile,  but I got to see two of my sons yesterday  (first time in a LONG LONG time).   It was Mother's Day---and they took George and me on a picnic on the top of a mountain in the Cherokee National Forest.... How NEAT is that!!!!   It was one of the best Mother's Days I have ever had!!!!

Have an awesome week ---and 'keep on keeping on' and staying careful during these hard time...

Hope you had a Happy Mother's Day TOO!!!

Hugs,