Thursday, August 25, 2016

THE FLOWERS THAT BLOOM IN THE SPRING


Hello,
The Iris have bloomed again this year - I love their spectacular colour..


I need to learn how to divide the bulbs, to grow more next year.
When these beauties appear, Spring is not far behind...


Did you notice Kate wore her blue poppy dress this week?
The one I loved when she came to Australia.
And don't think I would not try to copy it -
if only I could get my hands on that fantastic fabric.


Liberty have this blue poppy design, pretty but not the border print needed to make a Repli-Kate...
Perhaps, as we are going to London in any case, I could pop in and get a piece, and make an 'inspired by' creation..


Is anybody watching the Great British Sewing Bee?
Currently running on Foxtel...I love it..


All those excellent sewists being put under pressure - 
rather them than me, actually.


I have been taking a few trips on the vehicular ferry which crosses the Brisbane River upstream from where we live.
It is a short route to the dressmaker, who has been working hard making my silk coat for The Wedding..


The little punt carries about 15 vehicles maximum, but sometimes there are only one or two on board.  I was first on today.
Five minutes of peaceful drifting under a brilliant blue sky and off I go again..


This is my wedding hat..


Can you imagine how I am going to get it to Ireland?
Might be tricky...


My blush colour shoes.  It will be a garden wedding.


Daffodils have appeared in the shoppes, so I bought our annual bunch.


Only to come home to find the Garden of Neglect had managed to produce one all by itself.  And another has appeared today.


There are a few of these as well.  Is there such a thing as a white daffodil?

Happy Springtime and enjoy the sunshine.

XXXXX









34 comments:

  1. Dear Patricia - your wedding hat is gorgeous, can't wait to see you wearing it. I am sure it will survive the journey, being feathers they should just fluff up again - some bubble wrap and tissue paper and I am sure all will be well.
    I imagine that you are both getting very excited.

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    1. Bubble wrap sounds like a good idea, Rosemary, and I will use lots of tissue too. Yes, we are getting excited now, while trying to wind up various affairs before we set out. I always enjoy the relaxation of sitting back in the plane being waited on, knowing the holiday awaits.

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  2. Those iris are gorgeous, such a deep blue shade.
    I love Kate's poppy dress too....I hear that they are going to be coming to our city in September!! Will try to go and catch a glimpse of the lovely family when they are here.

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    1. I love the colour of our iris, so brilliant in the sunshine. Yes, I saw the itinerary for William and Kate, which looks very adventurous, all over British Columbia. I hope you do get a chance to see them - and tell us about it :)

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  3. Repli kate...you are too funny!

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    1. Won't it be fun if I manage to pull it off :)

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  4. Trish, I love your wedding shoes, the incandescent pink color. How pretty! Now I will need to know if you manage to find Kate's dress material.

    We are still in summer here in the US. It looks mild in Brisbane also.

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    1. Hi Debbie, Glad you like the wedding shoes - it was a stroke of luck to find them, just the right shade plus wedges for walking on the lush green Irish grass. The blue poppy fabric hunt is officially On!

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  5. What a lovely blog you have crafted!
    To divide iris;
    It's recommended in the fall, every 3 to 5 years. Do not divide the first year, at least. Try to wait till the 3rd year
    Cut back the green leaves of the plants to the top of the rhyzomes. Leave a little green top to them. Prepare your new planting spot, sprinkle some bone meal in the new hole. Iris are really not bulbs, they are rhyzomes.
    But they like bonemeal like bulbs. Take your sharpest, pointed spade, and make a slice between the thickest plants. Go straight down, pull spade straight back up, move spade 45 to 90 degree and continue to make straight down cuts through until you've made a triangle like bunch separated, then you can lift this up and out with the spade. They can crowd one another very much and this is the most difficult part. Don't worry about destroying or botching them. This is for their own good and you can't really hurt them. If iris are left alone and not divided every few years, they will crowd each other out and die off.
    I usually aim to take out about 1/3 to 1/2 of my bulbs.
    Once you've lifted out the rhyzomes, cover back up the now bare spots with dirt. Take your spade and divide up the dug up plants by cutting through to separate into single plants vertically. Use the green cut leaves on their tops as a guide to identify them individually. Then just plant these green up in your new spot, green cut leaves up above ground level about 3-5 inches apart.
    Wow, that was a lot, but it's really not too hard. Iris are so pretty and I have a lot of them from an old family farm that I just love. I put bone meal on mine in the spring after they bloom. But if you have Japenese iris, they don't like bone meal.

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    1. Thank you so very much Amie, and welcome to my blog. My iris are about 5-6 years old, and you are right, they have started to die off over the past year, and there is a dead gap in the centre where I originally planted the first one. I have printed out your instructions and will do this when we return from holidays, when they will have finished flowering.
      And welcome to my blog: are you a blogger also?

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  6. Patricia, your sparkly shoes are very similar to my shoes I wore at Jess' wedding. And your hat, it's fantastic! I can't wait to see your whole outfit. The flowers in your area are so pretty right now. The white daffodils are soft and lovely. I really like Kate's blue Poppy dress, it's very cute. I love BLUE in fashion.

    I'm so glad to be on this wedding journey with you, Patricia, and relieved that Jess' is over now so I can rest. :) Have a peaceful weekend, dear.

    love, ~Sheri

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    1. Ah Sheri, we really do like the same things - Twins!!
      I will save the whole outfit until after the wedding and hope to show a few pictures. I love our short Springtime when we have lots of pretty flowers, just before that long hot summer where everything dies off. That blue poppy dress is a popular one - I think it was voted best dress on her last Australian visit. It must be nice to have Jess' wedding over, knowing it went so well, and you have all the lovely pictures and memories to enjoy forever! Happy weekend to you too my friend.

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  7. You are going to look lovely at the wedding. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures! I've watched all of the latest Great British Sewing Bee episodes and enjoyed them immensely. I dont know how they sew under so much pressure, and the critical, watchful eyes of the two judges.

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    1. Hi Kristie, I love that you are also watching the latest Sewing Bee. Twins!! The pressure on them is terrible, but absolutely fascinating. The task I would be hopeless at is the one where they have to convert a garment into something entirely different. So fun to see what they do.

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  8. How very elegant you will look, Patricia! I was a little surprised to hear you were not making your own wedding coat though. You are sooooo talented with your needle. Your Irises are the most beautiful colour, aren't they? And just lovely to see the daffodils coming up! Enjoy your spring!

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    1. Thank you Val, I will try to look OK in the photos! Not making the coat because (a) too busy at the moment and (b) stopped making coats years ago as can't fit myself properly. Sticking to the easy stuff now. I do enjoy our short Spring, and love those Iris and our minimal few daffodils.

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  9. Hi Val, great suggestion for the hat. You are a wonderful fabric enabler, and I have carefully written down these addresses in my Travel Diary :) It is entirely normal to remember good fabric places wherever in the world they are found. There was a great one in Taos, New Mexico, 2006....... (sigh)

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  10. Gorgeous shade of blue on the iris ... my favourite spring time flower. Here I split iris in August (late summer) by gently breaking the corms apart with my hands (where they have grown into more than one corm). Plant them so that they tops of the corms are not covered with dirt and exposed to direct sunlight. I had to transplant all my iris last year because they were rotting in an area that was not sunny enough. Although they didn't flower this year, all the leaves are looking very healthy again. I hope for them to bloom next spring. I see a few stragglers were left in the bad garden, so will be moving them this week as well.
    Love your hat! Hats aren't very popular here in Canada, although I wish they were. I can't wait to see your dress AND coat!
    Wendy

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    1. Thank you Wendy for your iris information, which I will print out for myself. Hope to have a bigger patch next year! I love the hat too, although they are not worn much for weddings here either, mainly only the races. Let us hope the photographer gets some good shots of my outfit.

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  11. Love your Iris.....beautiful shade.
    Your hat is fascinating! Hahaha! You will knock em dead!
    Safe trip...will be looking for posts from you...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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    1. That iris is the best shade of blue! I love it too.
      My hat is not for the shrinking violet - I might be taking a risk, but whatever, I am the Mother of the Groom :) Hope to keep posting on my travels. Cheers Linda.

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  12. Beautiful flowers and design of your dress

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  13. Aw, I wish spring was on the way here! Autumn is pretty but Spring is by far my favourite season! Lovely photos and daffodils specially. You can get daffs in yellow, white and believe it or not, pink. ! :)

    Your shoes are beautiful and I agree about Kate's lovely blue poppy top. I haven't seen anything like it here, I wonder if it was specially made.

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    1. Wow, a pink daffodil! That I would really love to see Jenny. I'll be looking out for it forever more :)
      Yes, the poppy outfit is so different, perhaps she did have her own special version - it must be great to be able to do that!

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  14. Aw, I wish spring was on the way here! Autumn is pretty but Spring is by far my favourite season! Lovely photos and daffodils specially. You can get daffs in yellow, white and believe it or not, pink. ! :)

    Your shoes are beautiful and I agree about Kate's lovely blue poppy top. I haven't seen anything like it here, I wonder if it was specially made.

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  15. Iris are my favorite flowers so I enjoyed seeing yours. Your wedding hat looks lovely, can't wait to see you wearing it.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed my iris Darla. It is a good plant which I bought at a church sale. I hope I get some good pics of that hat, the blog will want to see it!

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  16. How sweet loved you hat and shoes they are stunning,lady in beautiful blue dress is so pretyy

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  17. Iris are my favourites as well. Those blue/purples are captivating. Your hat and shoes are elegant.

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    1. Welcome to my blog, and glad you enjoyed my iris. I hope the hat looks the part on the day!

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  18. Loving the flowers and your photos ♥

    summerdaisycottage.blogspot.com

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  19. That is truly amazing, if you think about it, to have heard Mother Teresa speak, and for us to have lived on this earth during the time that she was made a Saint. Thank you for sharing your comment, Patricia. It made my morning.

    ~Sheri

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