Sunday, June 8, 2014

Pretty pictures: Iris cvv.






'Shelley Elizabeth:'

'Shelley Elizabeth' previously: 2012




Bonus unidentified irises that aren't mine:






Liza said...

Your grammar is fine, mr_s! So is your yard. Everyone has some weeds, there's no shame in that.

All those Irises are gorgeous! Are they blooming now? I'm trying to gauge how far behind in the bloom cycle you are from me. I was in Santa Fe last week and they still had Irises blooming. Mine have been done in Abq for weeks, but it's also already in the high 90s tempwise, so the Irises wouldn't stand a chance in that heat. I'm always curious to know what's blooming in other people's gardens. (So I hope to see that poppy yard you referenced.)

Glad you and the husband are ok!

Diana at Garden on the Edge said...

1) Nice irises. If you got the iris bug you should look at Rainbow Iris Farm and get totally overwhelmed!

B) The dandelions and "weeds" are there because to support butterflies and native pollinators (bees)!

III) I think it's "were" and "affect"

Ginny Burtonn said...

Having been blasted by your readers for correcting "preventative" to "preventive"* I'm hesitant to jump on your questions, other than to give an affirmative to "affect." I pulled out my "Fowler's Modern English Usage" and had a delightful time reading the three pages under the "Number" entry. Hilarious! I started to transcribe the whole passage comparing "the natural man's" opinion to that of "the sophisticated man," but decided you should look it up for yourself, if you have a copy, or you can probably find it online.

*I don't use any dictionary newer than 1970, sorry!

Paul said...

It is "were" and "affect."

"Were" because, in this case, "number" is plural (as the additional information "of orange poppies" makes evident). For example, you would not say "There was a number of people at the parade." You would say "there were." If "number" was obviously singular then use "was." For example, "There was a number 10 on the side of the mailbox."

Pat the Plant said...

Pathetic show of dandelions. Do you not feed them? I used to have a 3m x 3m lawn that was just dandelions and daisies. Spectacular in flower and clock.

Liza said...

Oh, thanks Paul. I don't think I ever knew that about was/were. Great use of examples to illustrate your point.

Rather than dwell on being wrong about that, I'll just remind myself that it's been an awful long time since I was in grammar school. As if the time lapsed explains everything.

Ginny, I'm curious, why don't you use modern dictionaries? I'm surprised by that, since language evolves alongside us. They add and subtract words all the time from the dictionaries.

If my question brings up terrible memories from your childhood or something like that, please ignore me! I only asked because you brought it up. But you are welcome to tell me it's none of my beeswax! You too, mr_s, since I asked on your site.