Work work work!

Today I had to clean off a big old flower bed that is getting too full of grass, and wild strawberries? I'm not sure how I'll deal with the grass yet, but the dead stuff is off. It's MUCH bigger than it looks in the picture. I'm not good at guessing measurements but... 40' long?  Took two hours to rake it off and now I'm shot!

Oh yea, on the left you can see the sad remains of my favorite bench. I hope we can use the pieces to build a new one, I just love it in this bed when the flowers are all blooming. It did last over 10 years, but wish it would have lasted 10 more.

Here are a couple shots from around our yard. We have 3 acres total, and lots of trees! Not the prettiest time of year to take pictures. Most of the trees are still very bare. Our yard is outlined by pine trees, wayyyy down there!

 The back of our house. My hideaway deck , where the neighbors can't see us!

Here is my "play house" - greenhouse. Door is shut because I started seeds yesterday and it's not exactly hot outside. I have a chicken waterer, maybe some day I can have some chickens!

And here are some views of the iris beds. They are growing well, even with the hail storms and cold wet weather!

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Annie says-

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Getting there....

I'm almost thru the website updates. Still have some pictures to change, and some prices that need corrected (mostly lower) , but I'm getting there! A few orders have come in , thank you thank you! Do remember that the iris don't start to ship until Mid to Late July.

It's been cold rain and wind so not much working outside. I see the oats are very happy growing among the iris ....*sigh. Time to get out the hoe. I wish the rabbits would just eat them already!!

Here are a few more pics from my gardens to help us ignore the dreary rainy weather.

          My big orange poppies. I wish they would last longer.

    This is a volunteer that comes up in a new place(s) every year around my yard!

                                                 Florentine Silk putting on a show.

 My lupine maddness! I love it when the colors start mixing. last year I had one that was pink top to bottom on one side, and purple top to bottom on the other!

Did I miss summer? ???

This weather is crazy cold, and too too wet. I sure hope it straightens out soon so the iris can dry out and get growing buds.
Since there isn't any new news in the iris beds right now, I'll share a few more pictures of my family. Well my fur family, they like their pics taken. First I want to start with my dearest garden buddy ever, my sweet Maddie Maye. She died in July '09 because the neighbors sprayed their yard for dandelions, and Maddie got it on her feet. She died a long and horrible suffering of strokes. I hoped she would make it, but I lost my sweetheart and It still breaks my heart. Please don't use those chemicals on your yards. What's a few dandelions, they don't last that long. I know what a pain they are in the flower beds, but I'd rather weed than bury my best friends. She was only 6 years old.

 The last picture of Maddie I took. If I'd only known, I would never have let her outside that day.

 She loved to climb. If she coudln't see me she would sing a funny meeeoowwwowowow song. :)

 Her favorite flowers, here she's wishing they would grow faster so we couldn't see her. Funny thing is, there is still a bare spot in the center where she used to sleep.

                                           She loved frogs, this one she patted!

                                          Her last gift to me, she was a great hunter.
                         And that's why she was in the neighbors yard, they had a lot of mice & voles.
                                                                I miss you sweetie. :*(

Akkk what happened to spring?!!

The kitties know what to do on a day like this...

                                              Addie and Maggie say  Take a Nap!!

One of my favorites! Genetic Artist

A few pictures from 2010 while we wait for this year's blooms

Order questions.

I've had a couple questions about ordering the iris.

Yes, if you order you will be first in line for that Iris. If too many are sold, they will be filled by date of order.

Shipping- It's hard to determine actual cost until the iris are dug and packed. Some are naturally smaller, some are huge... If you overpay by more than $2 I will refund the difference when they are shipped.

If you have any more questions feel free to send me a note.

Spring is here!

FINALLY the weather is warmer and the frost is gone! The iris are growing,and of course so are the weeds.
I'm working on my website, stop by and see the progress daily as I go alphabetically from a-z and update the missing pictures and descriptions.

www.sunshineannie.com   (click on link at top right -> )

You can also follow the link there to my etsy shops. This time of year most of the activity is in my diecut shop and the iris. In the fall I get to work sewing loads of  fun stuff for the Elizabeth craft show in October.

You can place iris orders now if you like, however rhizomes will not be shipped before mid to late July when they are ready. But if there are some you really like, don't wait as they might sell out and you would have to try again next year. :(   Nothing worse than not getting the one you want!  (There are several I've been trying to add to my gardens for years and I always miss out).

Think spring! Warm weather and sunshine will bring blooms galore.

Still moving slow

but I'm moving! It's a  start . I managed to shuffle down to the iris beds to see how they look. I hadn't been down there in 6 days and was worried about all the cold weather and how the iris were taking it. The first bed I looked at had a lot of iris heaved up and my heart sank.  But in walking around as much as I could, overall they look good. I do need to get some help and put dirt on the heaved up ones. As tempting as it is to just step on them and smush them down into the dirt, you aren't supposed to do that. (truth, I did a few- we'll see what happens) Weather is supposed to start climbing slowly and they will be happy happy then. So will I!

We seem to have quite a few doves this year. They are busy under the feeders cleaning up after the other birds. Mostly black birds and starlings right now. Early in the morning there are loads of yellow and red finches, a few cardinals and the bully blue j's.

This is our current stray kitty we are calling Scratch. He had scratches all over his face when we first saw him hanging out on the deck. I took the picture out the downstairs laundry window, he sits and looks in at my kitties and meows at them. Not aggressive or threating, just "hey, can I come in too?"  Poor guy.  I wish ppl would stop dumping out kitties. I can't let any in, ours are already naughty because he's out there. We feed him in the morning and if he's begging. Hubby is going to see if the local shelter would take him. They are good at finding homes, but so far he's not let us near him.

Uggg the recovery...

 Well, I'm down and not getting much at all done since last friday. I had another ERCP with sphincterotomy and stent...in other words an "OW" procedure. Not fun, but not doing it is not an option.  One bright side to it, as of this morning I'd lost 7 lbs! I'm sure a lot of it is water weight, but it's still nice to see the scale going down instead of up! If you aren't familiar with an ERCP,  you're lucky. In short it feels like being punched in the stomach, and stabbed occasionally. So, eating just doesn't even sound good. But, I'm healing , until the next one end of April. *sigh

 I'm hoping to be able to stay up long enough today to work on the website. I have all the names listed now, so I'll start updating and adding pictures and descriptions.The iris section is still turned off on the site to save confusion. I'm aiming for a week, or two, to get those things done. (Not sure how fast I will be able to work)

 When the weather warms up, and the iris show me how they survived the winter and latest blast of cold, I will be able to get an accurate count and change those numbers. But once the photos and descriptions are done I will activate the iris section and start taking orders. Be sure to add a few substitutes for any that are sold out. Or I will send you a refund.

Website work

Today was too wet to work on cleaning the iris beds, so  I'm working on the web page.
 If you go there to check it out you will see that the pics aren't showing. It's temporary. I'm getting all the names in first , and then I'll go thru and add the pictures and descriptions.

Cleaning the straw off March 15, 2011

 It took me about 5 hours to clear all this straw from the beds.

I still have to go in with my hand rake and clear off the small stuff and oat seeds. Some are already sprouting! uggg

Now it better not get into a streak of freezing temps day and night or I'll be frantically putting it back on!

Everyone cross your fingers!

 Doesn't it seem like the beds go on forever? Yea, when I'm working on them it does too!

Peeking out, checking for sunshine!

Finally a Blog !

I'm new at this so give me some time to get it going. I wanted to have a place to let everyone know what's happening on the iris farm.


Today was a lonnnng day cleaning off the winter straw cover. Took me about 5 hours. The iris are looking good, and hopefully the weather will stay warm and they will take off.


I'm working on my website slowly. I have so many corrections and additions to do.If you are looking for anything special send me a note.