An update to my post on Nola's Iris Gardens and my purchase. Due to the heat and bad air from the fires, we had to postpone planting the irises I bought from Nola's. They sent some bonus plants as well.

I was surprised to see flower stalks emerge a couple of weeks ago. Online research tells me that when the weather is unusually warm the irises will bloom in fall. They will probably bloom again in spring, but perhaps not as big. So far we have 6 plants with buds.

The first one that came up opened today--a frilly yellow and white.

A later bud bloomed first--also yellow, but not as filly. I can look up the names if anyone wants. Waiting for 4 more to bloom.

I visited the hardware store in September and came home with seeds and some snapdragons. I put the snaps in one of our patio planters and they are so cheery! I have almost 3 dozen seedlings coming along in peat pots--now I have to decide where to put them. Nasturtium, sweet peas, and morning glories because these are plants the squirrels and rabbits won't eat. I also have planted 8 pots with spring bulbs and still have more to plant in the ground in the next few weeks.

That's a tree aloe in back--it just started blooming.

I haven't planted flowers from seed in decades--I can't remember the last time. This will be a great project to get me through the next months.

October is prime planting time in the SF Bay area, so we've also been redoing part of our yard--pulling out older plants that died or that we didn't like and replacing them with better ones.

Quite a summer: heat, smoke, fires just over the ridge, Covid and politics, but when I'm out gardening I forget it all and look forward to watching stuff grow.

No food crops--we live too close to the wild. Last spring and summer the critters even ate our lemons off the tree! The fires have been a terrible tragedy for wild life as well as humans.