Reiman Gardens, Ames, Iowa

As I mentioned in a previous post we enjoy going to Reiman Gardens, the butterfly house is my favorite but the gardens outside are well worth a look-see.

Yesterday's Blooms (Actually Last Summer)

Jackson and Perkins Catalog

The Jackson and Perkins catalog arrived yesterday, as I mentioned in an earlier post I do not have many hybrid tea roses. But my husband was nice enough to build me a raised rose bed last summer after we visited Reiman Gardens and seeing the roses there made us both miss the teas. It was late June before the bed was done so only two bushes were planted last summer. Both bushes did well, the red one is Okalahoma, the pink one is Truely Yours. I have my fingers crossed that they make it through the winter.

Double Delight was always my favorite, I see it is still available from Jackson & Perkins so I will order that one for sure plus a few of the fragrant ones. Plus one floribunda caught my eye, Heaven on Earth, it has large peony shaped flowers and is fragrant.

Carolina Wren Revisited

The Carolina Wren is still at our feeder, I was happy to see it is making it through the cold temps we are having right now. Yesterday I saw a Morning Dove at our feeders, I know some folks in Iowa have them at their feeders all winter long, I think ours take a short vacation south because the leave in the late fall and show up back here late winter.

Walking the Dogs

We went out just as it was getting light this AM to walk the dogs, we are lucky as we have a nice small lake close to our house that has a blacktop path around it that the city keeps cleaned off. A good time was had by all.

Surprise Lily, Resurrection Lily, Lycoris squamigera

This is one of my most treasured plants, I have about 30-40 of these, given to me by an old neighbor years ago. They are one of the first things to emerge and green up early in the spring then the leaves disappear, in mid august soon after a good rain, tall flower stalks appear. They are known as surprise lily, resurrection lily, magic lily and naked lady. My neighbor called them naked ladies. They are really Lycoris squamigera. They smell wonderful, anything that smells good is a fav of mine. I wonder if I used "naked lady" as a tag I would get some traffic to this blog????????????? I don't think I will try it :). I would like to move and divide some of the bulbs but do not really know the correct time of year to divide, I have read that they should be dug after their leaves die back and I have also read that they should be dug in the fall after blooming. So instead of taking a chance of losing them I just let them go.

Signs of Summer

While looking for pictures to include in my blog I can accross this one, is this a sign of a Iowa Summer or what???????????

Callie Cat

While reading my posts I noticed I have a picture of 3 of my critters but not the 4th so this is Callie Cat, she is a very small calico kitty cat, and very photogenic also. She rode to work under a pick-up truck one day about a year and a half ago, so guess who took her home? She was a very small and scared kitty.

Violets and other winter pastimes in Iowa

This little african violet sits on my kitchen window sill along with a few others, I like it because it is such a dark purple and has a nice little sparkle to it, brightens up a cloudy, damp, dreary day like we had today. Where oh where is that sun???????????

Old Roses

The "old roses" grow so well in my garden, this is a scrapbook page I did with a photo of a old rose from my garden. My Mother and I took a cutting from a bush in a old cemetery that is no longer maintained by Chickasaw County, the tombstones are old and mostly made from limestone, some dating from the civil war time. I can not remember exact dates as it has been several (15?) years since we took the cuttings. I used to have lots of hybrid tea roses, but they are so needy and clingy :). I do still have 3 or 4, if they make it through the winter that is, it is always a guessing game when I uncover the teas whether they made it or not. But the old time bushes bloom and spread without any help from me.

Carolina Wren in Iowa Again

I decided to share a couple more pictures of the Carolina Wren at my feeder, in one of the pictures, if you look closely, the bird's tongue cam be seen.

The dogs and I spent a long time outside this past Sunday enjoying the snow. Well, Erin the Cavalier and I enjoyed the snow, Quasi Boy the boxer is not so crazy about it. The table covered with snow is where I do all my potting in the summer, my husband made it just the right height for me so I can work in comfort. Erin and Quasi are my constant garden helpers, I could not garden without their expert opinions.

My Iowa Gaden in January

Autum Joy Sedum with bonnets

This is what my Sedum looked like this weekend after the snow. Autumn Joy Sedums are one of my favorite flowers mostly because the butterflies and bees love them, on a beautiful fall day they will be covered with butterflies and bees. An old friend who is no longer living gave me my first Sedums or Live Forevers as she called them over 30 years ago. The original plant is still in the original spot that I planted the first little cutting.

Dream Weaving

While Iowa was getting its 6 inches of snow this weekend, I was reading through old issues of Birds and Blooms and gazing through seed catalogs-again! In Birds and Blooms they had a picture of a flower grouping of Holly Hocks in the background, Phlox in the middle and one of the shorter goldenrods in the front. It is a grouping I am going to try, it was gorgeous. I am crazy for all 3 of those flowers, in fact I already have all of them in my garden except for the shorter goldenrod, I have some tall goldenrod, but I am sure I can find the shorter variety in one of my catalogs.

Carolina Wren in Iowa

We received about 6 inches of snow in my part of the world today. We had an unusal visitor at our bird feeder today, a Carolina Wren. Last winter there were two of them at our feeder most of the winter, today was the first time I have seen one since last spring. We have not had much snow cover until the past week, so maybe that is why it is back at the feeder, it amazes me to see them this far north.

Clivia

These are some photos of my Clivia in bloom last spring. There is also a yellow Clivia, when it first was available for sale it was over $200.00 for one plant, it is much cheaper now but still more than I am willing to pay.

Iowa is under another winter weather advisory, same as last Sunday, 4-7 inches of snow is predicted. It gives me hope for a snow day on Monday, but we would need about 13 inches of snow before my boss would consider it a legitimate excuse.

Clivia

All I Wanna Do is Lay in the Sun

This is Jon Pickles enjoying some sunshine today, he is a large cat but he manages to get in behind plants to soak up the rays. The leaves in the picture belong to a large Clivia plant that I have had for almost 20 years, it blooms every spring, last year it bloomed twice, in the spring and later in the summer. I transplanted it to a larger pot after it bloomed, they do not like to be transplanted but the roots were beginning to show on top of the soil. I hope it blooms this spring.

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Visiting Reiman Gardens in the middle of an Iowa winter is a wonderful way to spend the day. The gardens are awesome in the summer without a doubt but visiting the Butterfly House on a day when the temperature is only 0 or so is exhilaring! The Butterfly House is warm and toasty and full of tropical plants and butterflys of course, it is a great place to take pictures as well. There is also a wonderful conservatory that always has a gorgeous display. These pictures were taken in December, I can not wait to visit again soon, the flower display has been changed in the conservatory and I am sure there are new butterflys to see and photograph. If you have the chance to visit Reiman Gardens, do not hesitate it is well worth it. It is located on the grounds of Iowa State University. The money for it was donated by the Reimans, anyone who regulary reads their magazines has probably heard of it, they published (the company is now owned by Reader's Digest) Birds and Blooms, Country, Country Woman, Taste of Home, and other magazines, all of which are great reading.

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Reiman Gardens Butterfly House

Lipstick Plant

My houseplants get me through the winter in Iowa, I mentioned in an earlier post how I found a lipstick plant and I had not had one in years, when I was repotting my original purchase one of the small branches broke off, I stuck it in a small pot, it has rewarded me by blooming!

Sunnys On My Mind

Sunflowers

After the snow we had in Iowa a couple of days ago, the bird feeders have been far more active than they have for most of the winter. Anyway, it reminded me of the volunteer sunflowers that grew under the bird feeder last summer and this pretty little black and white moth that visited one day so I wanted to share this slide show. I wish I knew the identity of the moth.

Monday Monday

In case you are wondering who is in the picture, that is Quasi Boy one of my constant gardening companions. He was adopted through Midwest Boxer Rescue. He did not have the greatest life before but is quite happy now. He has a large scar around his neck from someone letting a collar grow into his skin.

Well, we did get some snow but not much, 3 inches is the official total. Not nearly enough to give me a good excuse to stay home from work for a snow day.

I mentioned that I placed an order with Select Seeds this past weekend, I ordered some Martagon lily bulbs, lilies happen to be one of my favorite garden plants. I read an article in a magazine some time back singing the praises for this particular lily also mentioning that it does not mind partial shade and even thrives in the shade. I hesitated to order the bulbs for spring planting because fall planted lilies always do better for me but I could not pass them up.

Sunday Snowy Sunday

On this snowy day in Iowa, I want to share some pictures of things that are in bloom in my little world. The Christmas Cactus is a bit of a late bloomer. The first photo is of a Star Hoya that blooms almost the entire year. I have several other Hoyas that bloom in late winter to spring, their blooms are all wonderfully fragrant but the Star Hoya's blooms have no fragrance.

Sunday Snowy Sunday

As I am sitting here composing this post I am watching the snow fall! A rare occurrence here in Iowa for the last several years. We are under a winter storm watch, I am glad to see some snow, I like the white cleanness of it and am really really tired of cleaning mud off of the dogs paws each time they go outside and come back in. The ground is not frozen yet and it is January! Maybe if I get lucky it will continue to snow and I may get a day off of work, that would be wonderful, doubtful that it will happen but I can dream.

Last night I was doing more catalog browsing, I have jotted down a few shrubs I would like to try as well as a few perennials. One is Dream Catcher beauty bush, Kolkwitzia amabilis it is hardy to zone 4, early pink flowers, golden-yellow foliage in the fall, Black Lace elderberry Sambucus nigra , it is described as having purple-black filigreed foliage that resembles thread leaf Japanese maples, Japanese maples are not quite hardy in this zone so this elderberry interests me. Phlox 'Sherbet Cocktail' also caught my interest, it is a new color described as yellow edges with pink centers. I love Phlox, the scent always takes me back to my Grandmother's garden.

Yesterday I shared some pictures of my begonias that are in bloom, today I would like to share some other pics of plants in bloom in my little world. The above photo is of some paperwhites, they smell wonderful to me, some folks tell me they stink.

Angel Wings

Another Angel Wing

Angel Wing Begonia in Bloom