Monday, May 24, 2010

Outdoor Garden, May 19-24: Irises

The bearded Irises (Iris germanica crosses and cultivars) have been putting on quite a show, first the yellows, then the blue/dark blue bi-colors, then the dark purples, and finally the pale purples/lavenders. Here they are in my garden over the past week:

Circle around our street tree, May 19. The yellows had been opening up for about a week at that point.

Same circle, today. The dark and light purples are making their appearance.

Bi-colors by our Birch. (Betula species)

Bed near the front door May 19. Yellow Iris with Alliums and Clematis.

Same bed from a different angle, today. The dark purples are now dominant.

Dark purple, close up. The light hit the flower so that the richness of color can be seen.

Pale lavender Iris, close-up.

I think I also have a few whites near the birch tree that haven't opened yet. They were planted there when the tree was smaller, and there was no shrub bed nearby, so they are kind of hidden. I'm going to be a busy plant lady doing divisions this summer, I think.

As always, click the photographs for larger views.

4 comments:

Julie said...

Your irises are gorgeous!!! I just discovered them this year, and have found they do not do well here at all, and that was why I had never seen one before (at least in real life)! Seems weird for a 53 year old to have not seen a real iris before! They are really stunning!!!

CactusMcHarris said...

I left the Idrias for the Irises and haven't regretted it - yours look fabulous and I hope that mine look half as good some time.

Karen715 said...

Thank you, Julie and Jeff.

Irises tend to get better and better every year, until suddenly they don't and then you have to divide them.

Every Iris I have comes from a large bag of rhizomes my husband bought 8 years ago, before he was my husband. The number of plants has more than tripled since then.

Miller Delilah said...

Very creative ppost