More Montana wild flowers on my dog walk today, purple Lupine, toxic but beautiful.

The wild lupine are blooming here also, in purple and also white ones. I love them.

Have you ever tried topiary?

I have been willing shapes on junipers here for a few years. This is my Saguaro Cactus juniper. It is ready for a trim, I just took the netting off this spring, it is still holding it's shape, snip snip a bit when I get the chance.




I reclaimed these junipers in front of the rentals [ 2 of them like this, one shorter] from taking over the sidewalks, been snipping about 5 years now.

I really like the cactus one. Makes me smile.

They have 3 of them, cactus shaped ones, at the Taco place in Missoula. Stolen idea, works just fine.

I still feel the cactus juniper's pain, I picked one that was supposed to run prone to the ground and stood him up, I am not sure how the plant feels about it's shape, maybe they get used to stuff too.

And just maybe it likes being up where it can see the world around it.

The Iris and Potentilla came out while I was gone to Billings this weekend:
[ The Wilform is still in pristine shape]

Very nice. What is Wilform?

The thing with 2 shafts the follows the horse, it has never been wrecked , yet, remember that lovely Kaiser horse I bought it for?

Off to dinner, check back later

Ahhh, yes I do remember the unforgetable Kaiser. How could I forget.

Isn't the salmon colored Iris strange shaped? They were like that last year too.

The last week I've seem many with that type of shape. It is pretty.
I still have the red one you gave me so many years ago.

I have not had any of the red ones bloom for a while, I went back to the old yard next door, the one we sold, and got a start of the red ones again, I see that one is going to bloom again this year.

The salmon Iris used to have the same shape as the rest of them, but they are all squatty now.

Do you still have the Trumpet Vine? I had to start a new one.

It died about 5 years ago. Not sure why. The occasional sprout comes up in the lawn, I should dig one up and give it a home in the border.

Even plants have a life span.

I started a new trumpet vine last year and thought it had died, then it came up really late so I put it into a pot and in the garage for over the winter, it came up this spring and I finally set it outside since the freezes have finally stopped [ knock on wood ], but I think it will stay in the pot and go back into the garage this winter, winters kill so much here, just a fact of life. That is why I try to care for what will survive.

I have it by the Clematis for the summer:



They both have a great view anyhow.

You were so right, seed pod, shows how well I see without my cheaters, har de har har!

That looks like a seed pod? Hard to tell from the photos.