Irises, Pansies, Begonias and a Rose with Tiny Bees

Pale purple iris: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The irises and roses have started blooming and I think they look especially pretty with raindrops on their petals.

Burgundy & yellow pansies: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Most of my neighbors have already pulled up their pansies but as long as they look great we're letting ours stay. I did plant other flowers in between the rows of pansies though so once they start to fade there will already be established plants in their area.

Creamy yellow rose with bees: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

This pale yellow rose, which I think is a knockout rose, smells lovely and the bees (even the teeny tiny ones in the photo above) seem more drawn to it than our other roses. It was also the first to start blooming this year.

Deep purple blue irises: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

These deep purple/blue irises smell lovely too. The only iris we have that smells nicer is our giant yellow and that one's just starting to bud. Maybe next week I'll have a yellow iris photo to share.

Yellow nonstop begonias: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

This is my first ever nonstop begonia. The largest flower is almost four inches across. I wish I'd asked the nursery worker what they used for fertilizer because the new blooms coming in are much smaller. But they're still a lovely yellow which brightens up a shady corner of our side yard, which I appreciate. That's all for this week's post. I hope you enjoyed my flower photos and pray that God will bless you this spring and always!

Which photo(s) did you like best? What's blooming in your area?

Related posts:
Yellow irises: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/yellow-blue-purple-and-white-irises.html
Kenilworth irises: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/05/flowers-at-kenilworth-aquatic-gardens.html
Iris  buds: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/tulips-fire-poker-lilies-japanese-maple.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!