Wedding pictures....

A year ago on the fifteenth, our oldest son Andrew married Patricia. It was a rainy morning but turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. The photos are informal pictures that I took on that day in Chicago.
The couple is celebrating their first year in marriage in the northern California wine country. They just called me from Alcatraz, and could see the Golden Gate Bridge from there.

Pin Oak.....

I bought two of these as small twigs two years ago. They are slow growing, so they say, but I have been impressed as to how fast they are developing. Their leaves are a neat color green and the leaves turn in the fall but do not drop until the spring. I have read that one needs to keep stone or small rock around their base to help them grow.

Seeing magenta-red and yellow......

I couldn't get out this afternoon again, as it was raining again. I found this photo from a week ago. The colors are unreal with such intensity. They don't last very long and the rains have finished it off a few days ago. It is a busy time with weeding and planting. I potted up two new containers but they need to grow for awhile before I share them with you. I found two different kinds of granite ware cooking pans and planted a variety of flowers in them.

Barberry Thursday......

I was clipping out the stray mulberry trees coming up in the area and looked down and saw all of these beautiful colors. I don't understand the variegated leaves. They may be new sprouts. But it is a perfect color scheme of greens, light and dark, lavenders and purples.

Rose clusters.....

The rains are keeping me inside today. I have some new and different things to photograph but I thought this close snap of these roses was an interesting composition. They have a great smell and it continues to keep producing new flowers each day.
I will add the larger view to see the total plant. I will prune it back this year as it is getting out of control.

Portrait of Laurie.....

This is an iris that I have had around for a few years. Wet weather didn't take it out. It seems to be pretty tough. I think I will be moving part of it to a new area. It sits out in the middle of my orchard area all alone. The iris are all about done blooming now so I am going to have to get out a find something totally different to photograph.

Peony portraits....

The two bottom peonies come from the five in a row that were planted here by a previous owner. When I bought the property thirty two years ago they were in bloom. The white one is interesting as it has some pure white flowers on it and then some have the red and pinkish markings like the one showing. I guess the small flower heads are the pure white.
The red peony is a family plant that started with my Grandmother at her property in Murray, Iowa. My mom moved some of it to Osceola, Iowa and now I have three plants of it. It isn't special as there are a lot of red bushes out there, it just that it started from my Grandmother who has been gone since 1973. My Uncle lives at the place in Murray now and none of those plants survived the different ownership. He does have old iris growing on the old cave that I aim to get starts from this summer.