GGG, Beautiful Irises and cottage garden ALL! I'm with you - I loath chain link fences. Except for the picket fencing around my front yard, my fences are barbed wire, chicken wire, and field fence - good for keeping in livestock, but does not lend to the overall effect you want for a cottage garden, now does it? I too love your Thyme Walk. I love all the colors and varieties you have...your living stepping stones. Lovely effect. The roses arched over it is stunningly beautiful. I've got one variety of Creeping Thyme started in two walk areas. It can take the walking really well. It is growing between the stepping stone (broken concrete) in the rose garden and beside the stepping (red pavers) by the patio. The patio thyme will, I hope, eventually fill in between the pavers. I wanted to get other Thyme varieties for varied colors, fragrances, and textures of Thyme, but we missed the Herb Festival this year. Darn it! I did find a silvery variegated thyme the other day and am going back to buy a few pots of it. Do you walk through your Thyme Walk, or is it just for looks under the arches? Whatever the case may be, it is very lovely and so cottage-y. Thyme does really well growing in the walkway. I give it a Weedeater haircut once in awhile and it loves it. And smells yummy. It would also make a wonderful Thyme Bench, which I have in plans to build. I want to plant it with Lemon Thyme or some other super fragrant variety. Then you plant thyme around and under the bench for that ages-old effect. I have the slab and the cinder blocks - just need some muscle to move the slab where I want it set. :) Thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers and gardens. ~Annie

I got word several days ago that Iris Marie will be processing our order on the week of July 4th. I'm sorry, I meant to post this when the information first came to me but there's so much going on right now at home it sort of slipped my mind. My 91 year old grandmother had to be hospitalized a little over a week ago for a broken leg bone and we're not sure how it happened. She spent 3 days in the hospital then was transferred to a nursing facility for rehab so she'd be able to come back home. After a few days in the nursing home she was complaining about the pain in her leg being so bad she couldn't stand it so she was taken back to the hospital where it was discovered not only was the lower part of her leg broken but there is also a break in the upper leg as well. She has been in the hospital for the past 2 days but was taken back to the nursing home late this afternoon.

The Bright Purple Iris is 33" tall. My iris seem to run at or under the given measurement of the named example. So, I'm not sure that it's an IB. It does look like Crimson King in one picture that I found. I think that this Iris may be newer, based on where I got them. Thanks for your help! Penny

What kind of irises? If you want beardeds, especially rebloomers, the very best is Winterberry Gardens just past Leesburg. That's Don & Ginny Spoon, (1-540-888-4447, vspoon@aol.com). Lovely people, very friendly. If you want spurias, japanese or louisianas, Sans Souci irises in Monkton MD is a great source. Bruce Hornstein (lbh0125@emailman.com 410 557-0250) Nicholls Gardens in Gainsville is not bad: Diana Nicholls sells all kinds of irises plus peonies. I'm not sure I believe all her claims for local rebloom, though. 703-754-9623. That said, I have bought many of my rebloomers from Sutton's in CA -- their rebloom chart is fairly accurate, so that if they list an iris as a reliable rebloomer in Z6, it will probably rebloom for me, and you can't beat the prices on their "sunset list" cultivars. And it's too bad you missed the local AIS sale at Meadowlark Gdns a couple weeks back... Lynn Lynn