Tuesday, March 27, 2012

It's Blooming!


I'm a plopper.  I admit it.  When I first started my garden, I was a planner, but I soon became a lover of plants, and so my plopping days began.  In fact, my walking garden was designed to be a plopping garden!

Marcia of Birds, Blooms, Books, etc., generously gave me some purple irises last year.  I plopped them in the walking garden.  I have other irises in that garden.  Mostly white ones, but also some purple ones.  As a plopper, I didn't remember exactly where I had placed Marcia's irises.   So when purple irises started blooming, I wasn't sure if it was my purple irises, or the ones I received from Marcia.


But because I blog, I can look back to see which iris was here last year.


This is the iris I received from Marcia.  It's a beautiful, deep, royal purple, with frilly petals that have a white edge and a pure white top.  I love it.  Thanks, Marcia!

Plopper, planner, novice or expert - blogging is wonderful because:

  • I've met some of the sweetest, most generous, and helpful people.  All with an interest in a hobby I love.
  • I've got a record of my garden.  That has really helped me see the differences in the garden from year to year.

If you're not a blogger, but have been thinking about it, I say - try it!  At the very least, start taking pictures of your garden.  You will be amazed how useful - and enjoyable - it can be to have a daily record of your garden and its blooms.

Has having a daily pictorial of your garden helped you?

55 comments:

  1. Absolutely Holley! It may not be daily but is frequent enough to be a reliable diary of what we've been doing in the garden. I agree about your good reasons for garden blogging :)

    Anyone who likes plants is a 'plopper', one way or another and we're not an exception. Lovely looking Iris!

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    1. I didn't realize how useful that diary of photos would be, but I love being able to look back at last year's garden and compare the differences!

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    1. I think a lot of us are! I really tried not to be, but once you fall in love with plants, it's hard not to be a plopper!

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  3. Your irises are just beautiful. I love them and planted so many last fall. I can hardly wait to see them bloom this spring. I am a plopper of plants too. Sometimes it works out well and other times I have to move them around.

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    1. I move a lot of plants, but just to keep them alive. As far as color scheme goes, I just let things clash! :O

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  4. What a surprise to read your post! It is a lovely iris but not one of mine. I think I sent you a deep purple or pale lavender one but they were both mostly one color not two colored. I even went back through my spring 2011 postings to look at the irises and no sign of the one you have there blooming now. Is there one still with buds yet to open?

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    1. hahaha - Seriously? Well, the only one I remember where I planted it is the one we had to dig up because of the electrical line work, and then replant it. It's fine, but it's small, so I'm not sure it will bloom this year. I guess I'm in for more surprises! Well, I appreciate the gift, even if I can't figure out which one it is!

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  5. Beautiful purple iris you have there! Blogging helps me organize my thoughts about my garden too, and plan and keep track. It's also been so fun to learn from other gardeners this way.

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    1. I agree with you that I have learned SO much from other bloggers. The wealth of information out there is immense!

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  6. I’ve only been blogging for five months, but I already love having this record of my garden. Blogging is a great way to keep track of what’s happening from day to day. I often wish I had started blogging sooner, but I think the time was just right for me at this point in my life.

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    1. You will love it even more next year when you can look back and compare from year to year. I think blogging is an easy way to keep a record, and enjoy the garden even more.

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  7. I can't be a plopper yet... There simply isn't room for new plants, so I have to plan my garden so I get more and more flower beds and plant them sparsely enough that there will be room for plopping in years to come. I can't wait for the day when I acquire a new plant and think "Ooh, I can plop that in here to fill this gap", rather than think "Okay, I need to carve another flower bed out of the lawn before I will have a place to stick this plant"...

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    1. I hope you become a happy plopper soon! :) I really didn't intend for the walking garden to be a plopping garden, but I did leave it open to be able to add plants, and it's just become my plopping area. I hope you'll find the right area for plopping, too.

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  8. Plan as I might I always seem to end up plopping the most! Beautiful Iris.

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    1. haha - That's exactly how I feel! But it's fun!!!

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  9. Of course it helps! When you have four seasons like we have here ( and a very long winter ), when spring comes back, you don't remember what your garden looked like last summer. You don't remember that particular plant right there, but with pictures you can make a return at the last summer and see the progression of the garden and sometimes...the mistakes too!

    I just love irises. I think I should get a look at my pictures of last year 'cause I don't remember how many species I have again! 8)

    And blogging is such a great way to give me a reason to take my camera and show what I see every day but don't always have the opportunity to share this day to day enchantment. Blogging is a great way to never forget what you enjoy most and share it 8)

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    1. I like to look back at the summer pictures during winter, too. And to look back to see how much the garden has changed. It's amazing, really how much the garden can change through the seasons and in a year! And you're so right about taking the camera out in the garden - you clearly see the day to day enchantments.

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  10. I do refer back to my photos to see what was blooming and when. I love my little digital camera. And I confess to being a plopper, although now I try to plop in odd numbers, since I was told not to plant "onesies" and even numbers...so many rules...but I don't think plants follow rules of landscaping! I also used to worry about my flower colors clashing, until another person told me to plant what you like because the plant police will not arrest you!

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    1. I plop a lot of 'onesies'. I call them my accent plants! :) I love that statement about the plant police! haha I often think the plant police would frown heavily on some of my combinations!

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  11. When you design a garden to be a plopping garden, you get the best of both worlds! (Of course, some people would call it having your cake and eating it, too!) Even setting aside the pleasures of being part of the blogging community, I can't believe how useful the blog has been in keeping track of what blooms when, etc. I've been doing photo purges once a month, too--going back to the last two years' photos for March and getting rid of the yucky ones. Without that visual reminder you forget that things really are growing and filling in--it's nice to see the starting point again and be encouraged.

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    1. Is designing a plopping garden an oxymoron? :) Oh, I definitely agree that it's such a wonderful visual reminder to see the growth in the garden. It's really amazing how fast gardens grow, when we look back, instead of constantly forward.

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  12. Exactly...start documenting your gardens, everyone. (especially in the under-represented desert, though perhaps I'm one of the few from there reading this) I admit, I like the idea of designing a plopping garden...shhh.

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    1. I'm surprised you like the idea - but your secret is safe with me! :) My plopping areas are so much more fun and exciting to me. So many changes there!

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  13. Totally... without the blog I would have no idea what happened when, or the approximate date when I planted something or where exactly it is. As it is now I keep weeding out all my broadcasted seeds. Its not until I've weeded everything and start wondering what happened to all those seeds I threw down when I realize my mistake...every...year...

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    1. I do the very same thing! I have weeded out so many plants. I'm worried I've weeded out my echinaceas this year! (Wouldn't be the first time!)

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  14. I love that about blogging, it helps keep me far more organized than I might be otherwise. I can't remember now in spring what plants I put where in fall.

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    1. I usually show the garden's blooms, but I should use it more as a record of what I'm planting.

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  15. Hi Holley, Fun post. I haven't been blogging very long but part of why I started was sort of to force myself to take more pictures and notes. It seems to be working, but I know there's lots I'm not keeping track of still. I think it would take away a lot of the fun if all my garden beds were rigidly designed and I couldn't plop (but probably if I had some garden beds that were even sort of refined I'd feel differently). If you had some of every conceivable kind of garden space (sunny, shady, wet, dry, blue and yellow, red and white, etc.) then you could always plop in an existing design somewhere. I can dream, right? Right now, I'm more-or-less content to have some sunny and some partly shady plopping zones.

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    1. Wouldn't that wonderful - and challenging - to have one of every kind of garden! But it might keep the plopping more organized!

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  16. Hi Holley, Can't wait 'til our Irises bloom. We have some flower stalks started --but nothing blooming yet. Your Irises (even if they were 'plopped') are gorgeous....
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. I love irises. I think they are one of the most beautiful of all blooms. And I like the spiky stalks, too!

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  17. Blogging keeps the beauty of my garden just a 'keystroke' away. It refreshes my memory and my senses... Blogging has forced me out of my comfort zone since I'm not much of a creative writer but I enjoy reading about everyone's gardens and their learning experiences (especially the lovely photo's). Your irises are stunning!

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    1. Everything you say I could have said - refreshing the memory, and enjoying other gardens and experiences. And I love seeing the photos, too!

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  18. How I like blue irises! In my garden irises don't grow well, only yellow irises grow like a fence.

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    1. The yellow irises must be a special kind. The Dutch irises I keep planting, although I don't think many of them come back. But the bearded irises do very well here.

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  19. The irises are absolutely fab - what beauties! I also agree that blogging is a great way to share information and meet other keen gardeners, and a great way to keep a record from year to year.

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    1. I didn't realize the benefits when I first started blogging. I had heard it was a good way to keep records, but until I had last year to compare to this year, I didn't realize just how wonderful that record would be.

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  20. Huge Plopper here ... I find it hard to beliweve you are a plopper - your garden is so beautifully laid out. And your Irises are beautiful!

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    1. There are a couple of areas I don't plop. But I love the areas the most where I do! More variation, more challenge, and more fun!

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  21. Not so much a plopper as a squeezer! With beds mostly filled up, I will try to SQUEEEEZE one more plant in hoping it wont encroach too much on its neighbor. I still keep a garden journal but you are so right about the photos of a blog being an invaluable record!

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    1. A squeezer! hahahaha I'm becoming one of those!

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  22. Love Love love purple irises. Being from Tennessee where the iris is the state flower, the grow in abundance. Since our move to Alabama, I don't see as many except in my own garden. Thanks for sharing these beauties!

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    1. I don't know why they wouldn't be more popular in Alabama. Such carefree plants, and so beautiful!

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  23. How beautiful, and there is nothing quite as exciting as Springtime and the blooming of flowers. Love irises!!

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    1. You are so right about spring being exciting. I guess it wouldn't be as exciting without winter. Every bloom is special.

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  24. You are so right, Holley, blogging is invaluable as a garden reminder. Without it, it would be so easy not to notice the weather changes occurring or the garden visitors visiting. Some flowers bloom for such a short time and photographing them keeps them for all time.

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    1. So true, Donna! About garden visitors - I've found that I love photographing and observing the butterflies just as much as the blooms. Finding a new butterfly makes my day!

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  25. Having your garden on video and in photos helps a lot. I would be lost without them. You have such beautiful iris!

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    1. I hadn't thought much about video. But I think I'll start doing that. It would be a great resource to see and hear - especially for changes or new plans to the garden. Thanks!

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  26. Well for a plopper you have a wonderful sense of design...gorgeous irises...my garden has slowed with the cold and I am actually grateful. Blogging has had more rewards than I can even count...it has helped me keep my garden journal more up to date for sure!

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    1. I know what you mean about being grateful for the cold and slower growth. It's been in the mid 80's here, and everything is blooming so fast, I'm wondering if summer will have anything left to show!

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  27. The iris is stunning! I confess to being a plopper too. Mostly as a result of wanting to grow too many plants. The design tends to be second to whether a plant will grow in a certain spot...somehow it all works out! Blogging has been such a great surprise in so many ways...friends, documentation, new resources, inspiration...So glad to have met so many wonderful gardeners!

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    1. I think us gardeners have a dilemma. We want a great design, but we need to grow more and more plants! We just can't say no! :)

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  28. You indeed have beautiful irises here! How fortunate of you to have a friend who was able to share such a lovely flowering plant. Being a "plopper" is okay especially when your love for your plants and garden shows when they thrive!

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