Work in the mixed border, iris buds

This week I've been doing some work in the mixed border.  I have a royal mess, to be sure.  I've been pulling up honeysuckle and poison ivy.  Those can be quite invasive.  Here is a little pile of honeysuckle; I had already taken a larger pile of it to the back yard where I stack it to dry out.

 

Here is a pile of poison ivy (and a couple of cow itch vines and a little sweet gum root and sumac).

 

Over the last little while, I had accumulated a wheelbarrow load of weeds that I had removed from the border.  I put them on my compost pile yesterday and decided that would be a good time to finish turning the pile.  Last July the pile looked like this:

 

Last fall, Caleb or I put some of the sycamore leaves beside this pile, and I layered the nandina canes I pruned out recently.  I stacked my weeds on the nandina canes and began turning last year's pile over onto the new stack, adding some chickweed that was growing all around as I went.  The pile was fairly dry, and the grass clippings from last summer had an impressive amount of mold that blew everywhere in the gusty wind.  I left a small amount of the pile unturned.  If we get some rain tomorrow to wet the pile, I will turn the last little dab.  Here is the new pile...

...and the last little dab yet to be turned:

 

I had moved enough of the pile to have good access to the compost that has sifted its way to the bottom of the pile.  I loaded up the wheelbarrow and began strewing compost here and yon.

 

Some went on the rose by the porch.  The bed by the porch is a frustration because it seems to be harboring black root rot.  When I found out that irises are resistant, I thought I would get some rhizomes from Mom.  She has a white iris that I thought would be pretty next to the rose.  I got some divisions from her late last summer.  This is what they looked like not long after I had planted them.

 



Just this week, I noticed a couple of fat buds on them.  I'm thrilled.  I'm looking forward to seeing some pretty blooms.