Its been an off year for me, with the planting. I started off really early on my veggies, in hopes that they actually do something this year. Mostly I ended up with a lot of dead seedlings for my efforts.
Then, I was late with starting flowers from seed. Ugh! Most of my new babies are just tiny things, or didn’t bother themselves to grow at all. Luckily, I have a good few that over wintered just fine and have been shouting to the sun their joy at being alive.
My Sweet William from seed, now in year three and showing no signs of stopping.
I might have to stop it myself by deadheading – damn stuff self-seeded all over the place and is smothering one of my blueberry bushes (in a pot).
Not from seed: clematis! Year two for this plant, and sadly it’s hard to see the blooms as it is growing up the grey willow tree and gets buried in the leaves. I took the fist pic with my iPhone – second one was iDJ’s work but I have no idea what he used. His is more true to life colour, but I like mine better because I couldn’t even see the bloom, it was over my head and horizontal so I clicked and hoped for a result. Woot!
Also not from seed, unless it seeded itself – native Irish yellow iris. Most people here would not have this in their garden, it’s rather invasive and weed-like. Don’t care: love it.
Yet another not from seed! I hopped a wall and stole this from the terribly unloved landscaping at the business next door to mine. Seriously, it’s all weeds and horsetails over there. Except for these zinnia! They are very large, 4in or 10cm across. I’d hoped these were Gerbera daisies when I stole them. But I’m not displeased. I’m sure they will love it here!
Roses roses roses… Nothing out of my favourite lavender rose yet: something snapped off the early spring growth and it is only just considering blooming now. But the massive white roses are taking over, the candy-floss pink ones are exuberant, and the darker pink ones are just deciding this is a good year.
Galliardia from seed last year, survived our mild winter but is slow to start. The rudbeckia is all leaf still – but one of those plants is now three years old, too!
The native common spotted orchid is in bloom!
Lilies are in bloom! The orange ones came up first.
But today! Today, we walked out front to see the first bloom on my “black” lilies! I love these so much!
Best thing is that I accidentally learned an iPhone photography trick for flowers. I took a shot of this, and it was so very wrong in the colour. Too red, too orange. So I put the flash on, as a whim – and by golly by jazuz, the real colour came out and said hello! I will be using this again in the future – imagine how that clematis pic would have looked!
Thanks for wandering around my small Irish garden with me!
heretherebespiders 
Wow. These are lovely shots! You are surrounded by beauty!
I love my plants! I just sit out there and smell them and smile!
I can imagine…your own personal Garden of Eden!
It’s a bit small and lacking in food stuffs for Eden 🙂 but the scent of the sweet William and the roses both is just divine.
WOWZERS!!!! Eye candy.
Thank you!
Plant swiping! I salute your cheek. I once (it was sort of a college prank) crept up the hillside of some rich denizen of the toney end of the county, attired in black leotards, and took cuttings from a dazzling orange azalea as a gift for someone I knew would be able to make it root. (Not me). These days I’d probably get shot, the US being what it has become.
The Sweet Williams are still my favorite but I’d love those little yellow iris to go with my baby purples.
Actually the yellow iris are quite large! I could post you some seeds under cover of black leotard envelope 🙂
I’d never steal an entire beloved plant – a nightmare of mine is that some jackass will come along and steal some of my potted plants. I’d be so upset! But cuttings? Sure! I’ve no problem with that. Actually might have picked a few broken bits of things off the garden centre pathways and stuck them in water just to see, too 🙂
Exactly! A German professor (in both senses as she was born in Saxony and a professor of German language at the State University nearby) once bequeathed me some seedpods she had sneakily abstracted from the garden of the Mozart house in Salzburg, on vacation. We couldn’t get them to grow, but we know no one ever missed them.
All very beautiful! Thank you for sharing these 🙂
Thank you!
Just beautiful 🙂 (Watch the lilies with kitties and pups deadly) my roses are all hibernating for winter..the pansies and violas are going gang busters…my irises are all dormant but I have grape hyacinths that should have died right down springing up..i have bulbs to plant but the weather here is godawful…great pictures sweets and they warmed me up ..enjoy the Irish sunshine my friend:) loves Fozziemum xx
So pretty! Irish irises, I’ve never seen one before! It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if you put a gun to my head I’d say this one is it.
We have fields full of them! They grow like weeds. Thank you!
What awesome colours. The Galliardia is my favourite tho 🙂
Oh, you will love the rudbeckia! And I don’t know if it was your repost but WP keeps telling me my views are off the charts…
I doubt I’m that popular. Did you ever consider it might be because your blog is good, ya eejit lol
Something odd is going on! I’m not used to this, it might go to my head 🙂
It’ll tell you in your stats what generates it, and just enjoy it, you deserve it 🙂
It’s coming from Facebook! And mostly all in Ireland! Oh boy. I don’t have a FB for the blog.
Cos if you look at the post, people have shared it to their facebooks 34 times. Mystery solved, you’re post is popular lol
My lily of the exact same purple just bloomed this morning!
Yay! I’ve never seen anyone else with these – considering I bought them at Aldi on the cheap, I might see more! Maybe everyone else wanted pastels…
Pastels, schmastels…