I'm so excited!

The song,  I'm So Excited, by the Pointer Sisters is running through my mind right now.  I guess that dates me. Oh. Well.

If you're wondering what I'm so excited about, it's THIS!!!  It's a passionflower bud! 

 Two years ago I received a seed packet for this beauty from my friend Katie. I followed the directions and nicked the seeds and planted up a few in little peat pots and started them in a cold frame. Eventually I planted 2 in my raised garden bed and watched as they grew very slowly.  At the end of the season I wasn't real impressed.  That winter we had some very cold weather for our area.  About when we thought things were back to normal we had another big storm.

Surprisingly, last spring the plants were back and I transplanted one to a big pot and put a neat little trellis in the pot and watched as it grew up and beyond that trellis. I moved the pot over along a fence and attached some wires for it to grow along.  Boy did it grow.  It had lots of foliage but not a single flower.  I was later told that it can take years for a passionflower plant to actually flower when grown from the seed. 

Two days ago I was out in the garden, looking at all the new growth this plant is putting out when I noticed that some of it is different than the rest.  I pinched off one of these little buds and peeled back the leaves to reveal the beginning of a flower.  I'm SO excited!  Oh, I said that already.  Really, I am so looking forward to this plant being covered with blooms.  I hope it has a very extended bloom season.  I'll definitely be posting photos of the blooms.

I'm also excited about this...my first bearded iris bloom of the season on April 21st.  I can't remember its name right now and I can't seem to match it up to the order information that I can find from Schreiner's Iris Garden up in Salem.  (Sadly I have misplaced some of that information and over time the little tags break down in the weather.)  No matter what its name, it is gorgeous and I am so glad to have iris blooming now.  Many of my other iris plants have buds forming and for the first time I will have some bearded iris blooming in the backyard.   I'm so excited!

Here's a little photo page I did 3 years ago after a trip to Schreiner's Iris Garden.  Love that place.  If you've not been there put it on your bucket list.  They have 10 acres of display gardens filled with spring flowers.  It's seasonal so check to see when the best time to visit is before you go.

This also gets me excited each year, a dogwood and azalea blooming together. It's not in my yard but in that of some friends a couple blocks away.  This is so beautiful to see that I will purposely take the slower way home just so I can look at it.  Our dogwood tree died after a hard winter storm about 3 or 4 years ago.  It was with the house when we bought it and not nearly as large as the tree in the picture, but a really nice accent in front of our house. 

And just around the next corner is this beautiful rhododendron.

One more turn and I get to see this yard with wisteria, azaleas and a rhododendron. It makes for a nice drive through the neighborhood.

Today while out in the garden I noticed this cutie.  I've never noticed the poppy in this state between flower and seed pod.  It reminded me of a little ballerina with her tutu.   She was an orange poppy like you see in the background.  Orange isn't my preferred color but these are so bright and cheerful in the garden that I just let them do their thing. They are up against our dark grayish-blue house and actually look quite nice.  They spread through seed and the plant is easy to recognize so I could just pull them all out, but why? 

 The daisies started blooming today.  I have masses of them.  They're like a weed but I love them and they are easy to pull out if I get tired of them.  Now, I didn't say they will be easy to get rid of, they send out about a bazillion seeds and come up all over the place.  When they get big enough I just pull out any I don't want.  The lucky ones that get to stay are here to brighten up the yard.  It's been real cloudy today so I didn't get out to take a picture but I have this one from a few years ago.  

I suppose that is enough excitement for one day!  I'm sure tomorrow will bring its own excitement. 

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to leave a comment. I'd love to know you stopped by.