Lily & Iris Bouquet for Floral Friday

White lily and blue iris bouquet: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Happy floral Friday! My dear husband gave me these beautiful flowers and I thought sharing them here would be a good way to preserve the memory and hopefully bring a smile to your face.

White lily macro: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

 This super close up of a white lily was my favorite photo of the session.

Blue irises with yellow and white: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

 But I love the yellow and white accents on the blue irises.

Pretty blue irises: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

 From the angle above you can see more of the blue irises.

Iris and lily bouquet overview: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

And this is an overall shot of the bouquet. The flowers have passed but thanks to photography, they live on in images. Hearty thanks to my husband for the flowers and to you for visiting!

May God bless you this Friday and always!

Related posts:
Blue poppies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/02/rare-blue-poppies-for-floral-friday.html
Blue and yellow irises: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/yellow-blue-purple-and-white-irises.html
Red, white and blue flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/red-white-and-blue-flowers-and-haiku.html

Fair Flower Photos for Floral Friday

Earlier this week I posted about my county fair frenzy so I thought for floral Friday I'd show you some of the flowers I entered in the fair. These aren't the actual blooms entered but are flowers from the same plants (thought you'd appreciate the prettier ones still on the plants).

I think our yellow knockout rose earned a blue (1st place) ribbon. I love this rose because it smells slightly lemony and the blooms fade to white so it's like you get two kinds of roses on one plant.

I think our white hybrid tea rose also earned a county fair ribbon.

I'm not actually sure what type of rose this is but I guessed it was a floribunda and I think it earned a blue ribbon.

Last year our orange zinnia earned a first place (blue) ribbon but this year I think it earned third place (white). Even though I grew this plant from seeds I gathered from last year's blue ribbon winner, the rabbits kept eating the seedlings down to the ground and this plant is a good two feet shorter than it's parent was. The birds, butterflies and bees still love it though.

I think our red and pink zinnias that I started from seed after our front yard was excavated this spring earned white and red ribbons. You might wonder why I keep writing "I think."  Well, I entered over 30 flowers and floral arrangements and I didn't write down my results so while I'm pretty sure I remember correctly, I'm not 100% sure. On Monday I'll pick up my vases and ribbons and then I can give a true count. I wish I'd taken pictures of the fresh floral arrangements before submitting them, especially because they were my first floral arrangements ever entered in any kind of contest. However, they are already suffering from the heat and humidity and don't look so hot now. Also, as a separate note to remember for next year, I'll have to find out if it's permissible to add a flower preservative to the water (I assumed it wasn't but it can't hurt to ask) because that would help them all to last longer.

So, those are 5 of the 30+ flower entries I clipped from our Maryland garden and entered in our county fair this year. It was a lot of work to make sure all the flowers and vases met the requirements and fill out the paperwork and tags. I'm not sure I'll ever enter so many again but it was certainly fun to do once.

Which flower did you like best? Have you ever entered anything in a county or state fair? I'd love to hear about it!

May God bless you, dear reader!

Azaleas, Lilacs, Ghost Ferns, Tulips and Backhoes: This Week in My Maryland Yard

Welcome to my Maryland garden! It's been a heartbreaking week for our yard so I'm really glad to have some pretty flower and foliage photos to share with you (from the non ruined parts of our yard). This white azalea is actually growing in a sunny part of our yard. The bush was there when we bought the house. Someday we might move it to the back but utility lines run under it so most likely we'll just leave it where it is.

The backhoe work I mentioned last week turned out to be significantly more extensive than expected. Instead of losing one flower bed and a 3' x 40' length of sod, the plumbers had to excavate much wider and deeper, in their words, "turned out big enough that you could install a swimming pool." Not that the front yard is the place for a pool. So we lost three major planting beds (front of house, along sidewalk and along driveway) along with about a 40' x 20' area of lawn. Because the soil at the bottom of the excavation is now what's on top of our lawn we need to amend the heavy clay soil before we can put back the plants we managed to save (which are looking kind of sad in their clumps and pots, but the ones in pots are looking better than the ones in clumps).

I love these Japanese painted ferns, also called Ghost Ferns. They're shorter than many ferns and look nice near the front of a shady garden bed.

Our Josee lilacs are starting to bloom. They already smell lovely and that should only improve over the next couple of weeks. These are reblooming lilacs so we'll be able to enjoy their scent on and off through fall but the greatest profusion of blooms is in spring.

Angelique tulip close up. I love the pink and white combination of this beautiful flower.

Our seedlings have started to sprout. By midsummer (God willing, of course), we should have enough Cosmos and Zinnia to please the local birds and butterflies.

As hard as it was to have an astronomical plumbing bill and have such a large amount of flower bedding and yard destroyed, God and good friends helped me greatly this past week. Also, others' suffering (a friend lost his wife and another her father) showed me that in the greater scheme, my loss is not as great as it feels. I still have my beloved husband with me and precious friends who encouraged and prayed for me. You are priceless and I love you all. Thank you for being part of my life. May God bless you!