Memorial Day at Schreiner's Iris Gardens - I keep going back to take a look at these beautifully presented flowers. Today, all sorts of purples, lavenders and blues.

I took this photo while seated on a sturdy white bench. It's great to get this perspective without worrying about wobbling due to 66-year-old legs/knees and my general lack of being balanced.



This one is called Blue Hour.



This one is called Countess Cathleen.



These flower beds are in the area farthest from the parking lot, well worth the walk which is either on grass or a hard-packed dirt path. Lots of shade, too.



These are called Astro Blue.



Creamy columbine blossoms among the purples and the blues.



The iris Berry Fulfilling and a whole lot of two-colored columbines.



A rhododendron and lots of hostas on that dirt path. Such a pretty place to walk.

Schreiner's Iris Gardens, Memorial Day 2014, No. 2

Some sort of peony, one of the first flowers I photographed after eating lunch. Amazing to me that a single flower contains such rounded and sharp petals of this size. Not that I know much about peonies, just that I think they're pretty.

Schreiner's Iris Gardens, Memorial Day 2014, No. 1

A couple of photographers seen at Schreiner's Iris Gardens in Salem, Oregon. I drove a Zipcar south out of Portland, to enjoy the flowers and the chicken dinner prepared each year by the Gervais (Oregon) Knights of Columbus.



Lots of folks come out for the same reasons as I do, to enjoy the flowers.



Lots of folks come out for the same reasons as I do, to enjoy the chicken dinner.

Thanks to my Zipcar, here's something I saw at the Oregon State Fair, the Slingshot!

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Just released, speeding upward on some sort of giant rubber bands! Holding on and smiling. I took this photo at 2:43 p.m. on Sunday, September 1, 2013, in Salem, Oregon.
 

In no time at all, physics takes hold and spins the seat so that the occupants are heels over heads and still speeding upward. I didn't count the number of ups and downs, but I can tell you that one would be more that I could take. Have you ever been on this ride? What makes it a ride? More like a jolt.
 

My Zipcar, Toyota Prius Islidur. We're at my on-the-way pit stop at the Fred Meyer in Canby, Oregon. It's the best place to stop for the deli counter and the restroom, bar none, when leaving Portland and heading south to Swan Island Dahlias, Bauman's Farm and Gardens, Schreiner's Iris Gardens, the Oregon State Fair, and/or the Sublimity Harvest Festival.

And, remember yesterday's post with the sign? Today there are signs, too. Folks, pay attention to these if you're trying to decide if you ever want to submit to the Sling Shot. I didn't even have to read because I knew beyond any doubt that I would never find my boo-tay strapped into the capsule. No way, no how.

I've typed what the one one the left says for you here:

Rules
1. Please remove all loose articles: Hats, Sunglasses, Keys, Cell Phones, & Loose Change.
2. Everything must be removed from your front pockets before riding the sling shot.
3. You must be at least 48" tall to ride the Sling Shot.

Restrictions
1. You ride the Sling Shot at your own risk!
2. You cannot ride if you have back, neck, heart, or other medical conditions!
3. YOU CANNOT RIDE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT!
4. You cannot ride if you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol!
5. By going on the Sling Shot you agree that you have read all the Rules & Restrictions and will          abide by them!
6. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone!
7. NO TICKETS, NO RIDE, NO REFUND!

But here's where it gets down to brass tacks, on the sign on the right:
SLINGSHOT Riders
$30 per person (the squares with the prices on them have been attached to the sign because, dontcha know it, the prices have changed, gone up, I'm sure--it's the slingshot, they're not gonna go down, are they?)
Single Rider $30
Video $the stair rail is in the way, so I cannot tell if it is $30 or $20, but I'll lean towards $30, for consistency and continuity of pricing.

DO NOT RIDE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT DO NOT RIDE IF YOU HAVE BACK, NECK, HEART or HEALTH PROBLEMS

Hot Shot Thrill Rides
TOWER HEIGHT: 190'
CAPSULE HEIGHT: 250'
APPRX. SPEED: 100 MPH
MAXIMUM G'S: 5

RIDERS RIDE AT OWN RISK Needless to say, all I did was take a couple of photographs.

Happy 4th of July

A poppy, a dogwood, and an iris provide me with the proper patriotic, Happy Birthday to America! colors for today's collage. I found these beauties on my Zipcar trip to Schreiner's on Memorial Day, 2013.

Allium, Memorial Day, Schreiner's Iris Gardens

One of the many things I enjoy about Schreiner's Iris Gardens is the mix of flowering plants on display. Every which way you turn, you see colors, shapes, textures. All that to say, this will not the only photo of allium that I will share with you.

It had been raining most of Sunday night and into Monday morning. I decided, what the hey, I'll get in my Zipcar McMinnville, the Mazda 3, and head on down to spend some quality time among the gardens and to enjoy the superb chicken lunch, cooked by the Gervais Knights of Columbus.

Here's some info about allium that I found on the Internet:

Allium is a monocot genus of flowering plants, informally referred to as the onion genus. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic. The genus, including the various edible onions, garlics, chives, and leeks, has played a pivotal role in cooking worldwide, as the various parts of the plants, either raw or cooked in many ways, produce a large variety of flavors and textures. The genus contains hundreds of distinct species; many have been harvested through human history, but only about a dozen are still economically important today as crops or garden vegetables. Many others are cultivated as ornamental plants.

Onions, shallots and gardlic are members of the allium family that belong in the vegetable garden. But there are many ornamental alliums that deserve a hearty welcome in your perennial gardens. Alliums are plants of exquisite beauty in both flower and leaf, with tough constitutions. These easy-to-grow bulbs come in a broad palette of colors, heights, bloom times and flower forms. They make excellent cut flowers for fresh or dried bouquets. Even crowded gardens can accommodate a few alliums because they don't take up much space. What's more, alliums are relatively resistant to deer, voles, chipmunks, and rabbits.

Fuschia, Memorial Day, Schreiner's Iris Gardens

I count myself blessed by the grace of God when I see such beauty. But I have to wonder, "How did this pretty flower end up with such an odd name?"

So, I looked and found some info on the Internet.

• Fuchsia (/ˈfjuːʃə/, few-shə) is a vivid shade of red, purplish-red or pink named after the flower of the fuchsia plant, itself named after the German scientist Leonhart Fuchs. Fuchs' name is preserved by the plant Fuchsia, discovered in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean in 1696/97 by the French scientist Dom Charles Plumier, who published the first description of "Fuchsia triphylla, flore coccineo" in 1703. The color fuchsia is also named for him, describing the purplish-red of the shrub's flowers. 
• Leonhart Fuchs (1501 – 10 May 1566), sometimes spelled Leonhard Fuchs, was a German physician and botanist. His chief notability is as the author of a large book about plants and their uses as medicines, i.e. a Herbal Book. It was first published in 1542 in Latin. It has about 500 accurate and detailed drawings of plants, which were printed from woodcuts. The drawings are the book's most notable advance on its predecessors. Although drawings were in use beforehand in other Herbal books, Fuch's Herbal book proved and emphasized high-quality drawings as the most telling way to specify what a plant name stands for.