Lilium Candidum - The Madonna Lily

One of the oldest lilies in cultivation, and an often temperamental one to grow, when it blooms, it puts other lilies to shame: flawless white color, striking gold stamens and an enchanting scent unbeatable by any other lily.

Rose

The only rosebush to escape the wrath of the satanic deer and bunnies (because it dies back to the ground every year) is blooming like crazy this year. The color is hard to capture.

My month so far can be summed us thusly:

April showers bring May flowers; May and June showers bring......

...weeds, wet flowers and mud! Every other day it seems to rain or at least remain mostly cloudy which, no doubt, is causing my vitamin D deficiency. The cottonwoods are spewing their evil cotton, which seems to have a 150% germination rate because I have those stupid things popping up everywhere! And heaven forbid the dog go potty on the grassy areas! She seems to hone in on the muddiest paths. And my liquid fence has been washed away more times than I care to count, so the rabbits and deer are having a smorgasboard with just about everything. I have daisies with no petals, just the yellow centers. Hell, why not just eat the whole thing?? Probably because then I wouldn't have to run around dead-heading them. Bastards.

At least my peonies are surviving. Peonies are such beautiful flowers, usually fragrant and long lasting. Peonies, however, do not do well with rain while blooming. I always have at least one bouqet on my nightstand so I can enjoy their scent but this year I've got vases all over the place!

Yellow Iris

Finally! After about 10 years of nothing, the little bastard decided to bloom. I guess it was worth the wait. It's gorgeous!

Iris seedling

A NEW seedling, planted in 2007, has finally decided it would bloom this year, and the result is just stunning (at least to me!).

I would call it a silvery-white.

For more of my Iris, they are on my flickr page.