Greetings from the North!

Here we are in the Great White North, watching as the cold rolls in and the flowers roll out. My garden is in its death throes at the moment, except for the potted hibiscus I brought in (which the cats are infatuated with, much to my frustration) and the cute little pink snapdragons that are still holding on.

Anyway, I feel terrible for not updating more, especially with winter coming on and subsequently fewer and farther-between posts. (Did that make any sense?) However, I'm sure I'll be able to bug the living daylights out of everyone with pictures of the cats and of Dan's indoor projects, so fear not!

Iris heaven!

I have Las Vegas on both sides of the porch! The one on the other side finally bloomed. :)

And the main side is just going bonkers.

Three huge blooms on Las Vegas and one about to open up.

The newest one to bloom now has two flowers!

They're SO PRETTY!

I, uh, just can't seem to stop taking pictures of Princesse Caroline.

My snaps are looking good, even though I accidentally knocked one over with the hose. Oops!

All the verbena is going crazy, including the verbena in the mailbox!

See?

And unfortunately, it seems that there's a problem with this Gerbera daisy, because one of the new flowers has started getting brown spots too. :(

I need to make a matching one that says, "Keep Off the Indestructible Thyme."

My grape hyacinth isn't looking as bad as I thought. It almost looks like it's trying to make a comeback, but isn't it too late in the season for that?

This lisianthus is so darn pretty!

And last, but certainly not least, Her Royal Highness. Angry, as always, that anyone would dare to go outside without her.

Las Vegas!

At the nursery today I saw an iris that looked just like mine, and it was called Las Vegas! So now I have a name for it. And I think it's appropriate, since it's brown, but colorful underneath. ;)

I also made some purchases. And I think my garden now looks AMAZING! I got some pink snaps, which I've wanted for a long time, and I think they look great in the sedum garden. I also got that daylily in the "corner" -- it's called Happy Returns, so the little kid inside me who remembers watching Return to Pooh Corner just had to get it! It's going to be yellow, and it should bloom later in the summer.

Close-up on the snapdragon.

I got a flat of verbena for pretty cheap, and it's positively everywhere -- any spot that was even slightly empty got some verbena, including the mailbox.

Here's some with a flower, near Jim's moss rose. The tag said it's a consistent bloomer from spring to frost, so that's exciting!

The pansies were still half off (!!!), so I got a flat of Dynamite Whites and stuck them in with all the other three colors. I also got a gorgeous columbine.

I just love them!

I like the orange and white together.

It's a really striking difference with the purples.

Las Vegas also, er, got a friend. Her name is Princesse Caroline de Monaco. When I saw the name I couldn't say no. And look at her! She's regal!

That's a very full patch.

A coral bells also followed me home... can I keep it? Well, apparently I'm going to, because I even dragged out the big shovel and used it myself, in my Crocs, to plant some of the bigger flowers.

Some Pink Wave petunias brighten up this side bed. It was pretty much empty except for the bleeding heart and the creeping phlox before.

They're so happy! And I was surprised to be just crazy about the foliage, too.

There are some little patches of verbena in front of the coral bells, too.

In related news, Ginger stole her sister's new mouse toy and hasn't stopped playing with it yet.

I hope she can share, because I don't think she's giving it back.

Grrr!

I got this kitty gym half off today at Petco! I can't wait to pose Ginge and Elphie on it together.

I keep walking in and finding Ginger sitting on it, so I guess it's a success. :)