Irises
I had a serious illness back in May 2018....a very bad, bad case of Iris fever! Now, don't get alarmed, it's nothing fatal or debilitating - except to the wallet! And, indeed, my wallet was well and truly damaged by my iris obsession. Though, actually, not quite as badly as it might have been, thanks to some wonderful connections I made...but I will get to that!
In my garden growing up we had some purple irises - dark purple and white bearded irises, given to my mother by a friend of hers. Tall, green swords, tight purple buds, then big, heavy beautiful flowers.
When I finally had my own garden, of course it had to have irises. There were irises all over the neighborhood - I needed irises! But I didn't just want the usual purple ones, I wanted some exotic colours. I went to trusty Google, and found a website, Breck's Bulbs, that sold many colourful varieties. I wanted them all! But they were pricey! So after much dillying and dallying I got the ones that my heart just called for - a pink bearded iris (Pink Attraction), an orchid pink one (Social Graces), a maroon and gold one (Decadence), and a sky blue one (Victoria Falls). Alas, out of the four (very expensive) irises, just two of them grew! And, of those...only one was the colour I wanted! What I ultimately got was the orchid pink one, and a dark purple one - very pretty on its own, but commonplace, and not what I wanted. Was it the soil, or did Breck's make a mistake? I'll never know.
Breck's does have a good guarantee, so I called them up and asked for a refund. They gave me a refund on one, but it was only sometime later that I realized that I had bought four, not three, and only two grew...anyway, I gave up on the matter and just lived with what I had. Maybe I hadn't planted them properly, etc.
I was expressing my sorrows on a Facebook gardening group I had joined (how I do love Facebook!) and then...a kind soul said "I have some pale purple irises I can give you!" and then another person also offered me some irises! Yay! So I went and got the purple ones (and she gave me a pale yellow one too - more yay!) and the other person gave me some dwarf iris and a flag iris, so yay! And then my neighbour down the street strolled by one day and gave me a yellow and brown iris (I had been admiring it, and had expressed my interest should she ever be dividing them...) My next door neighbour had also given me a purple iris in the autumn - I didn't get to plant it then, and wasn't sure it would survive the winter in my garage, but it did! So, I planted all these bounteous gifts last May, and am very hopeful that I will have many delightful irises next spring.
But there's more....apparently irises come in rhizomes and bulbs! So, last autumn, I also bought a zillion iris bulbs! Okay, maybe not a zillion...I think I got a bag of 50 mixed Dutch iris, then a bag of 12 brown and gold Dutch iris..and maybe something 10 of something else? And then I bought a bunch of tiny iris reticulata (so cute and they come out very early in the spring, when we really need some flowers. So yes, there will be many, many irises in my garden next spring, if all goes well.
In my garden growing up we had some purple irises - dark purple and white bearded irises, given to my mother by a friend of hers. Tall, green swords, tight purple buds, then big, heavy beautiful flowers.
When I finally had my own garden, of course it had to have irises. There were irises all over the neighborhood - I needed irises! But I didn't just want the usual purple ones, I wanted some exotic colours. I went to trusty Google, and found a website, Breck's Bulbs, that sold many colourful varieties. I wanted them all! But they were pricey! So after much dillying and dallying I got the ones that my heart just called for - a pink bearded iris (Pink Attraction), an orchid pink one (Social Graces), a maroon and gold one (Decadence), and a sky blue one (Victoria Falls). Alas, out of the four (very expensive) irises, just two of them grew! And, of those...only one was the colour I wanted! What I ultimately got was the orchid pink one, and a dark purple one - very pretty on its own, but commonplace, and not what I wanted. Was it the soil, or did Breck's make a mistake? I'll never know.
It is a really lovely iris...even if it isn't Victoria Falls
Breck's does have a good guarantee, so I called them up and asked for a refund. They gave me a refund on one, but it was only sometime later that I realized that I had bought four, not three, and only two grew...anyway, I gave up on the matter and just lived with what I had. Maybe I hadn't planted them properly, etc.
Well, one out of four isn't bad...Social Graces
I was expressing my sorrows on a Facebook gardening group I had joined (how I do love Facebook!) and then...a kind soul said "I have some pale purple irises I can give you!" and then another person also offered me some irises! Yay! So I went and got the purple ones (and she gave me a pale yellow one too - more yay!) and the other person gave me some dwarf iris and a flag iris, so yay! And then my neighbour down the street strolled by one day and gave me a yellow and brown iris (I had been admiring it, and had expressed my interest should she ever be dividing them...) My next door neighbour had also given me a purple iris in the autumn - I didn't get to plant it then, and wasn't sure it would survive the winter in my garage, but it did! So, I planted all these bounteous gifts last May, and am very hopeful that I will have many delightful irises next spring.
Gift irises are the sweetest!
The French garden last May, with the gifted yellow and brown iris on the right hand side.
But there's more....apparently irises come in rhizomes and bulbs! So, last autumn, I also bought a zillion iris bulbs! Okay, maybe not a zillion...I think I got a bag of 50 mixed Dutch iris, then a bag of 12 brown and gold Dutch iris..and maybe something 10 of something else? And then I bought a bunch of tiny iris reticulata (so cute and they come out very early in the spring, when we really need some flowers. So yes, there will be many, many irises in my garden next spring, if all goes well.
Cheerful iris reticulata bloomed in late April
And, not just spring! I bought two Dutch irises in Autumn 2017. They bloomed...the following July! Odd, but nothing wrong with prolonging the joy! This one was supposed to be pale yellow, not white. Oh well, with the garden we get what we get and it is all glorious!
White flags in the summer sun.
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