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 My Mother and I took a cutting from a bush in a old cemetery that is no longer maintained by Chickasaw County, the tombstones are old and mostly made from limestone, some dating from the civil war time.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.