Garden Diversion: Peonies, Iris, roses, hydrangeas, clematis

I love spring and all the fresh green colors and shades, but mostly I love all the blooming beauties in gardens here in Texas before it gets' hotter than the hinges of h---.

This week I went with six dear old friends (read from high school) down to a friend's amazing ranch in Central Texas, near Hico.  Before we got there, we stopped at to walk the amazing garden's of Ellen McS.  The peonies were glorious and abundant.  Her iris come from an iris farm in Hondo, New Mexico, down near Roswell.

This "Beverly Sills".  Isn't she stunning?

Here is the perennial bed full of Dephinium and Foxglove.  Heaven.

I wish Foxglove wasn't just an annual in sweltering Texas

My ranch friend, Janet's, Penstemons are a prize that are difficult to grow in Texas, but she did it.

And now to my backyard by the lake:  here is my Jackmanii Clematis and red Knockout roses.

To die for!!

First "Endless Summer" hydrangea of the season.  I'm mad for the blues in these.

Daughter, Kathleen, gave me this little "Fairy" rose for Mother's Day about six years ago. I dig it up and moved it from that house to this house four years ago.  It's thriving beautifully here by the lake.

Hico=Pie

Ok, so I was so eager I ate part of this gorgeous piece of coconut meringue pie before I remembered to bust out the trusty IPhone for a pic. Maryann and I stopped at the Koffee Kup in Hico, a authentic old-school coffee shop, for lunch. We held back by sharing a small hamburger and curly fries (natch) first and then each ordered a piece of pie. Sixty flavors to choose from. She had Black Forrest, with layers of chocolate, chocolate mousse and whipped cream. Mine was lighter with the meringue. Heaven.