Bearded Iris

Our friends down the street invited the neighbors for coffee and goodies in their garden this morning. It's a beautiful garden and the company was fun so I didn't take any pictures. 

We walked Ozzie at Spring Lake and I got quite a nice heron shot, since it is almost tame and I have photographed it many times. It is always staring intently into the water, unmoving, so all my shots of it are pretty similar.

I took lots of pictures in our own garden, and although I have photographed them, painted them, and published them many times, I present you one more time with a bearded iris, one of several clumps of bulbs and dirt tossed into the ditch which we rescued when we moved here and planted in old wine barrels. They have rewarded us every year with spectacular blooms. 

We were comparing notes with the neighbors and learned quite a bit about our mini micro climates here on Wildwood Trail just by when the irises bloom. Our neighbor to one side, planted  hers lower down the hill and they have been finished for three weeks. Ours are blooming now, and neighbors at the end of the road and right on the creek say theirs haven't bloomed yet.

Dana, her boys and her dogs are on their way for dinner which OilMan is barbecuing. it's a perfect evening for a glass of wine, finishing the day as we started it…in the garden.