Japanese Iris, June 2010.

Japanese Iris, June 2010.
Originally uploaded by Leenechan

These remind me of the talking flowers in Alice in Wonderland. I was fortunate enough to be able to photograph these right after a rainstorm!

Daylily in the rain.

My taste in flowers has always leaned towards the garish: sunflowers, peonies, hibiscus the size of your head. When I was growing up, my favorite flowers of all time were tiger lilies. When my family went on vacation in Rhode Island one year, I had the treat of seeing tiger lilies and cattails growing together on the side of every beach road. XD

I know these aren't tiger lilies! Close enough for me, though. I've always had a hard time growing lilies. They usually come up for one year before some vermin snatches the bulbs away. Nowadays, I don't put much thought in planting lilies any more. Lilies are so poisonous to cats that if you get just a little pollen on your clothes and bring it into the house it can kill them. No thanks!

Sometimes I regret that I can't bring cut flowers into the house any more. Not too much, though. Peonies in particular give me massive allergy attacks. Cosmos and columbine aren't poisonous to cats, but I'm not too keen on letting Lucas munch a mouthful of them. If I brought in a bouquet, I know he would try to eat them.

So I have to be content to enjoy my flowers in their native environment.:D

Seedling status so far: all the seeds I sowed a week and a half ago have sprouted. So far that's ten sunflowers (Irish Eyes) and twelve cosmos (Seashells and Sensations Mix). The California poppies, bachelor's buttons, and pots of cosmos and sunflowers haven't germinated yet. I am watching them very closely...

Three of my cherry tomato plants may or may not have the Funk. I've separated them from the other three cherry tomatoes and patio tomatoes. The rest of them look pretty good...