New and blue

I thought I'd better post these photos of a new blue anemone before I actually put them in the ground and probably kill them. The tag says it blooms spring to fall, I'm dubious. Looking these up on the Internet and in several resources I don't see any indication that they bloom except in the fall. I have the Whirlybird white anemone which does bloom faithfully every fall, the flowers are much smaller and more delicate than these big fellas. These blue ones remind me of an Oriental poppy in size and I like that dark eye in the center which is rimmed by flower eyelashes. The wind has blown fiercely all week and by now most of the petals have blown off. Sure glad I took a picture.

Last Sunday, before the wind drove me inside, I finally managed to dig, yank, and hack out a rose by the front walk which has been snagging the mailman for a number of years. It used to be Bibi Maizoon, a heavenly cabbage rose that I adored. But Bibi died back to rootstock one winter and ever after it bloomed once a year as a small, pale pink, open-faced rose. It was okay so I left it. But last year all it grew was a giant tangle of thorny branches and no flowers at all.

Once I got it out of there, I was able to see a nice little clump of Minnow narcissus which I had forgotten about. They're such tiny blossoms they were dwarfed under all the rose canes.
Out in the bed by the front walk these Darwin tulips are in bloom. I'm pretty sure these are Pink Impression, I vaguely remember planting some a few years ago. So these must be them.
The Canada Goose decoy guards the bed of tulips. I have a few of these decoys in the beds in the front yard. I don't know why I like kitschy stuff in the garden, but I can't seem to help myself. The garter snakes like to curl up under these. The rose in the rear is Betty Prior, gearing up to snag passersby. I have to keep the front side of it hacked nearly flat so the neighborhood children don't get scratched as they go up and down the sidewalks on their riding toys. Bad placement of a rose, but then I never thought it would thrive.
I did find some blue pansies to plant around my tulip bed. I'd seen a picture of this and thought it would be very pretty to accent all the bright colors with the more subdued blue. When I got to the garden center I was wowed by all the shades of the pansies, and I ended up with several flats full of jewel colors in my cart. Then I got a grip and reminded myself of my original intention. So out went the jewel colors and in came the blue. I'm glad I was able to restrain myself because I like the way this looks.

SOGGY

This is a semi-arid climate, we aren't supposed to have moss growing on our trees. And so much rain on the pfitzers that it looks like frost. We've had rain for seven days in a row, and not just a gentle mist. Bucketsful! It reminds me of a vacation in the Yucatan where it rained so hard we thought all the water in the Caribbean Sea was going to be transferred to the grounds of our hotel.

If the weather gods had seen fit to spread this rain out over seven weeks instead of seven days we'd have been set for the summer. But we'll be heading back into the 90's tomorrow and the plants will be gasping as usual. It was interesting while it lasted. I can put my pots and pans back in the cupboard instead of under my leaking skylight in the kitchen. And the mailman will be happier if I cut back the floppy canes on the rose which used to be Bibi Maizoon before it died back to rootstock.
The renegade canes are now arching gracefully under the weight of all the water ready to shower the unsuspecting guy as he shoves his way past them. He only brings me bills anyway.