I have been in and out and all around and not landing any place too long for the past few weeks-LOL. I tried several times this week to post or write something but to no avail! I decided today I would post what is blooming in our garden. I am more of a visual artist, so some Sundays I will just show you the splendors of our Urban Potager…. 
This past week it has been all about the iris in our urban potager. I feel my Iris are a “fun plant” just for me…..I plant a lot to feed people, soil, and pollinators, but sometimes you just have to include “fun plants”….and an Iris is like an exclamation point in the spring garden!
I have a thing for purple and white….
most of the Iris that I have are from other people….
almost like a caterpillar is crawling out …
These iris are in my garden growing with food…here they are with garlic in a bed seeded with other summer vegetables.
These were given to me by my mother several years ago from her garden friends…
In between some fun plants are all the urban potager plants providing food….it is okay to have a few fun plants that are just for beauty.We have been eating salads for a few months this year since I started some lettuce under lights to plant out early this year…
Golden peas were eaten by finches this year, but I did get a few which tasted great!I’ll try this fall to grow them again.
These were some purple snow peas I was trying this year
Nemophila Baby Blue Eyes are spring bloomers I planted this year for the bees….
Matthiola Incana-Ten- week stock plants are blooming beautifully, but I know it won’t be too much longer..
Native Physocarpus Opulifolius-Nine bark bushes are filling in and creating a privacy hedge..
Nine bark blooms are delicate , but the leaves and bark of this plant are the true beauty.
Baptista Carolina Moonlight blooming is a sign spring is finally here!
Petunia I started from seed in early spring are starting to take off in the garden + in pots…
grabbed some radish, kale, swiss chard, and parsley to make
breakfast Sunday morning….an urban potager with food, flowers, herbs and fresh eating. The only way to live!
Immunity Gardens 
Ohhhh…. I’m one of those ‘visual’ types too, great photos. Aren’t irises just beautiful, I love the purple and white ones too – breathtaking. I love seeing flowers and food growing together, it makes vegie gardening even nicer 🙂 And gardening is an art, so why not! Don’t think I’ve come across purple snow peas before, I’ve grown purple beans though, lovely pink flowers. Sunday brekky looks great too! 🙂
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Well, Beth:-) a Kindred Spirit! Your blog is filled with visual beauties, too. I just tried them this year. I tried several types but this “shiraz” was the only one the birds left alone. I prefer the golden snow, but the purple have healthy anthocyanins in them for fighting diseases!
http://www.seedaholic.com/pea-shiraz.html
You can get them also from Johnny select seeds, but they sent me a note claiming they had some off t ypes htis year. Mine are fine so far, but the flowers are maroon + purple, so maybe that is what they meant. I don’t mind the different colored flowers. The snow peas are purple! I love purple!
The red poppy is blooming, so next post I need to get that on here, but they are hard to capture-much better in person!
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I see what you mean after reading the link with the flower colours, sounds like a nice variety anyway! Thank you so kindly for remembering the red poppy, I look forward to it. Isn’t it always the way, being better in person 🙂
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I am disappointed in the poppy this year since it only had about 7 blooms:-( Last year it had at least 25+! I always have a hard time capturing that flower the lighting has to be right, or else it just glows-lol:-) In person it is the perfect shade of red:-)
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Ah well! I should find some to grow myself 🙂
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I love Iris too, Robbie. I’ve never seen any like the orange color your mom gave you. Gorgeous!
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Mandy that is a “chocolate ” one( what she said) + she told my mother it was “old fashioned”, but I don’t know what the name is since my mother came for a visit a bunch of years ago and brought them in her car quite a distance to share:-) This year they just took off, I will have to “pass” some along to others…they are a lovely color:-)
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I wrote a long comment about how inspirational your garden is and the internet ate it! So briefly, in case it does it again – I love the irises – wish I had room to grow them. Love that you are eating from your garden already and am not surprised you are challenged to compose a blog post – you are so busy ! xoxo
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lol..yes, pauline + remember when I thought I could write / photography two blogs-lol..who was I kidding! I was thinking the other day I would need to have a helper if I had any more gardens:-)
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It is great to have a look around your plot Robbie – your iris are stunning and you certainly deserve a bit of fun amongst your hard working plants. Breakfast looked good too!
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It was Julie:-) yum…the radish are getting a bit “woody” and some cole crops are going to seed since we have gone from winter to summer-hot and humid out there, but so much better than snow! I love the Iris blooming this time of year they just command attention:-) I have to learn to cut them, so I can have beautiful vases like you:-)
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Your potager looks amazing. I love your irises, what sumptuous colours. I think it is fabulous the way you grow flowers amongst your veg; food for the soul as well as the stomach! Brilliant photos as usual.
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Thank you Chloris:-) It really is a challenge since I don’t have a lot of space, so I have to be VERY selective. It is not easy for me since I have such a hard time making decisions! Over the years and a lot of observation I have only kept those I “have” to have because I just enjoy looking at them through the changing seasons. I am now trying to save more seeds for vegetables and now I have to make decisions for my vegetables ,too. I can’t grow everything, so in the next few years I have to make “choices”….oh my!!!Decisions are hard for me to make, but “taste” and “health” are two criteria they have to pass. Also I finally have all the pollinator friendly plants I can include, so it is different than when you have larger places, so as the years go on I keep only “those” that make the cut:-)
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Splendid indeed! I love the Iris! And the nemophila is new to me – what a beautiful blue. That Sunday morning breakfast looks great! I do miss eggs (being Vegan) but have discovered tofu scramble and savory oatmeal. I feel good and that’s what matters. I enjoy a salad for breakfast, too. I have a patch of Iris that was given to me last Fall and it is blooming and beautiful! I will have to look closely at my Ninebark – see if it is ready to bloom. All I see are the Poppies right now. I just planted out some brussel sprouts – yum. My Potager is a favorite place (and source of delicious flavors)! You’re right – the only way to live!
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I know only way to live!!! My poppies are just starting to bud and bloom. I have red ones, but this year they are a bit smaller compared to last year. I don’t know why. Iris are the best pass around plants, they just love where ever you place them. The blue eyes I planted for the bees, but I have not noticed too many on them. Sometimes the plants they recommend for bees are the smaller types, so I will keep watching and get a bit closer for the smaller pollinators:-) Here is the blue flower…I believe it should reseed, so I will find out if it does here in zone 5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemophila_menziesii
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What a wonderful time of year and thanks for the gorgeous photos 🙂
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🙂 fun to share photos of the beauty around us:-) Enjoy visiting your blog with lovely photos of the beauty around you further north:-)
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Beautiful! I especially like those red irises – I haven’t seen those in ages. It is good to include some fun plants…something I would do well to remember come planting time.
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I took another look at them in the garden and you are right their is an orange-red look to them and they look more red/orange depending on the light, and sometimes more brown. Yep, a girl has to have FUN in the garden-lol
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Gorgeous Robbie, absolutely gorgeous. Your iris are stunning. I love the blue ones, blue flowers of any type I adore. And brekky looks good – homegrown and cooked is the ultimate food, better still if someone else has done the cooking!
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They are stunners and so easy to grow:-) I agree I prefer when others cook,too!! I don’t have any room for anymore, so I will be giving mine away soon:-)
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U do not have to apologize for spending time in your garden, sweetie! With veggies like those for breakfast, who could blame ya?! PS, thanks for the note about the peas. I already had to net ours because the squirrel kept digging in their bed (smart bags, actually) so they should be safe from the finches. I think. I hope. 🙂
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I found the golden snow peas a bit tastier than the purple shiraz, but they do have the anthocyanins in them, so all good-lol. I have found the critters find out who grows food and they just stop by the kitchen garden for a snack! I just went outside to find the resident racoon just left his half eaten strawberry to taunt me!!! Well, I put another patch in so there should be enough for us all-lol!
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I know whatcha mean!!! Maybe if more people grew veggies, they wouldn’t single us out so much. 😉
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:-)lol
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Robbie – your garden is SO amazingly beautiful – the flowers are gorgeous and the the food so enticing – good thing you don’t live closer, I’d be over there all the time – you’d never get rid of me! ;-D
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That would be so much fun + I would be at your place hiking with you on your beautiful 7 acre wonderland:-)
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I think its important to mix fun plants with “fun”ctional plants when you have a small urban garden in order to get the best of all of the worlds. You also get the “confuse a pest” advantages of a mixed garden and the bee attracting power as well thanks to gorgeous bright and beautiful flowers. I, too, love iris. They are salt of the earth plants that grow just about anywhere and that will grow in very tough conditions. I was given some rhizomes and just tossed them on the ground and promptly forgot about them. All of them grew and flowered the next season! I LOVE those purple snow peas…how beautiful! I can imagine how exciting a simple salad or stir fry would be with them shining out like beacons amongst all of the usual greenery :).
I adore stocks…they are one of the most scrumptious scents after roses that a garden should always have. I love your beautiful and functional garden. SO pretty, so productive and so rewarding. Thank you for sharing it with we winter gardeners who are (too lazy) procrastinating about heading down the driveway to rake leaves…
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I agree! Confusion is best with pests. I noticed that this year with my spring planted scarlet Kale + red chard. If I planted it in a mixed bed it did not suffer from any pests or four legged kind either! I have not stir fried with the snow peas, but assume the purple color may disappear after you cook them like purple beans. I will let you know:-) I tasted some today that were a bit larger and they are getting a bit tastier because at first they were not that tasty when small.
I grew the 10 week stock this year + they were not too scented, hmmm…do you have some more scented ones? which ones do you grow? I am starting seed for my fall garden right now since I know it won’t be long before we will be heading towards colder weather again( 4+ months comes fast!). Just when we head into fall you will be starting your gardens. I really enjoy the fact we can see your garden blooming when ours is under snow!!!:-)Over the cyber fence friendship is great! While you are curling up near your fire, we are growing and when we are curling up near our fire you are growing!:-)
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