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recent Iris garden photos
It all started when a friend laid some wild irises on me from her garden. I was just starting again- a humble renter with a parking lot full of gravel to garden. I think I had five fresh -looking corms. Everywhere I have lived I have had success with flags and irises - for instance in a house that I rented I found one or two flags jutting out of the cement walk where they had been thoughtlessly crushed and abandoned. "I'll separate these knots" I thought -and in no time I had large shining stands of the darned things.
When the first lovely, silken wild iris flowers showed their indigenous glowing souls the second year, I had picked nine million stones and assorted car junk from the developing beds.
By the time I finished planting and propagating irises, I had a basket of variegated from The Carleton Place Horticultural Society, also some lovely white ones, giant yellow Iris from a friend, purple and mauve bearded wild, and some miniatures in magenta which bloom a little earlier.
Little did I know that after something like five years I would be saying "Take these irises -please". Yep, they propagate in enormous bundles, and need to be thinned every two years or so.
The corms look like lobsters. When I separate mine I carefully relieve the soil of the plant and dip my corm in a bucket of clean, warmish water. I wash and trim the roots and either send them to a friend or replant in another space. In July when they have finished flowering, cut irises back to about four inches of leaf to neaten them and to allow the beauty of the next annuals to take shape, leaving the strength in the corm.
Purple
Bearded Iris
I have never seen so
many blooms on one stem as on this wildflower. How exotic its
colour and delicate yellow fur look.
Most of my purple variety
yield seven flowers on one stem. I haven't seen this in the wild,
and yet the irises one finds by canoe in a duck-weed green shallow
live gorgeously in tuffocks that hang out of a perfect water and
nutrient supply.
The moral of the story- plant in lots of stone
and gravel and add tons of healthy compost and topsoil to this. I
also water every two days.
Though the purple blooms every year,
the mauve takes a vacation after two years, and does not do so
well in the shade. Yes, shade.When I had my parking lot shade
garden, I went around saying "What
can we grow in the shade" so often to myself I was probably
interviewed by the RCMP for covert practises!! My wild purple
experience grows and blooms even in deep shade. What a lovely
plant to work with. (As of this year, (2006) even my mauves are doing
extremely well in deep shade!)
I haven't finished yet. There are hundreds of varieties to explore. What a wonderful sight they make in early summer!
All three Irises shown here grow well in my
garden, yet they are wild water-loving Irises, found near rivers and in
wetland bogs.
Each of these Irises are Iris versicolor, the most medicinal of which
is cited by US Pharmaceutical business as the plain light mauve bearded
Iris; European herbal cites the striped variety for herbal medicine.
To explore, see the links below the article.
I have never seen so many blooms on one stem as on this wildflower. How exotic its colour and delicate yellow fur look. Most of my purple variety yield seven flowers on one stem. I haven't seen this in the wild, and yet the irises one finds by canoe ina duck-weed green shallow live gorgeously in tuffocks that hang out of a perfect water and nutrient supply. The moral of the story- plant in lots of stone and gravel and add tons of healthy compost and topsoil to this. I also water every two days.Though the purple blooms every year, the mauve takes a vacation after two years, and does not do so well in the shade. Yes, shade. I went around saying "What can we grow in the shade" so often to myself I was probably interviewed by the RCMP for covert practises!! My wild purple experience grows and blooms even in deep shade. What a lovely plant to work with. See below- if you don't believe me - my first irises under tall maples.
I haven't finished yet. There are hundreds of varieties to explore. What a wonderful sight they make in early summer!
image of mauve bearded with stripes
purple variety of iridaceae versicolor
L’ris
versicolore (en francais) Iris versicolore
(Iris versicolor)
Famille: Iridacées
Espèce vivace introduite, de taille moyenne (70 cm), qui
affectionne les lieux humides où il pousse en touffes et forme
d’importantes colonies.
L’iris possède de longues feuilles fendues à la base et
imbriquées. Généralement, la tige ne porte qu’une
seule fleur à la fois, de couleur mauve et le rhizome horizontal
est gros et charnu.
Le drainage des terres humides a tendance à faire
régresser son habitat. L’ris versicolore est devenu
l’emblème floral officiel du Québec depuis novembre 1999.
(French translated:, Iris versicolor)Iris versicolore (Iris
versicolor) Family: Iridacées
Type vivace introduced, of average size (70 cm), that is fond of the
humid places where it pushes in bunches and forms important colonies.
The iris possesses long, split leaves to the base, which are
interlocked. Generally, the stem carries only one flower at a time, of
mauve color, and the horizontal rhizome is big and fleshy.
Drainage of the wetlands tends to decline its' habitat.Iris versicolor
became the official flower emblem of Quebec since November 1999.
'Kermesina' name of Purple Bearded Blue Flag the striped version is the wild original, according to Czechoslovakian source...
Native Plant Society of New Jersey mauve bearded iris is listed as Iris versicolor in this one!
homeopathy who is right- is it purple, or is it mauve-mauve?
Wikipedia, on Iris
versicolor .."all types of Iris.
bearded is actual Iris by name,bearded, growing from rhizomes.
Limniris is a beardless Iris growing from rhizomes.
