Watsonias to the rescue

This is the sad time in our yard when the irises are starting to get a bit ragged and the profusion of climbing roses from the neighbors is fading. The apple tree has done its thing and the veggies are still too little to get excited about. Our garden is the best in early spring; after that it's a job to keep it interesting until the Naked Ladies arrive.

Two years ago our friends and neighbors, who are the Cottage Park versions of Martha Stewart, gave me some buckets of bulbs - corms to be exact. It was blazing hot so I just half-heartedly dug up some dirt and threw them in the ground here and there around the yard. It was just too hot to care or make any good decisions. Besides, I didn't really know what they were. I'm pretty good with all the major plants and I know which way a bulb goes in and how to plant a rhizome. But my friends were almost dismissive about these flowers, just some pretty white flowers, they said. I was expecting some wispy little nothings.

They didn't do much of anything the first season, but this year they're putting on quite the show. I asked my all-knowing garden friends again what they are called. Watsonia was the answer, and they are definitely the answer to getting me over the demise of the irises. They are not dismissive little white flowers at all, they are holding their own and looking so pretty with their bright white color and pink centers. I was a busy bee that hot summer day because they are coming up around the Tupelo, near the grape vines and a few next to the Honey House. They hereby have my permission to move about the garden.

Our SMUD freebie Tupelo tree is reaching its teen years!