Saturday, April 14, 2012

Walking among my iris

My mother didn't like iris'.  She said they didn't bloom for a long enough time.  A former neighbor didn't care for them either; she called them "old flags", sneering as she dug them up.  
I love my iris.  They ask for so little.  Oh, you can fuss with them if you want; a search on the Internet tells me they must be divided every once in awhile if they are to thrive.  But in the old yard, I never did a thing but enjoy them, and they bloomed faithfully for years.  The sister-in-law who is living in our old house likes to do things right (in other words, she isn't lazy like me), so she moved them and thinned them and treated them properly.  They don't mind that, either.    


The flowers I moved back here from the old yard hold fond memories of the friend who gave me the start of them.    
And then there are the ones I ordered online; they are the ones that continue to surprise me.  Remember a few days ago when I showed you my first iris of the year?  


 It's really showing off now!  


This is my second one to bloom.  


Right next to it will be my third.  See, above the fully-bloomed flower?  It appears to be some sort of yellow.  This is the first year I've gotten to see these particular ones bloom.  The wind broke the only would-be bloom off one last year and my dog broke the other one before it was fully flowered.  So these are surprises to me.  Oh, I'm the one who ordered them, but surely you don't think I would remember what color iris I ordered two years ago?  I do recall that these are supposed to bloom a second time each year, but only if you prune and fuss with them at the proper time.  I probably won't do that.


These, behind the house, are in full bud, but none of the blooms have opened up so I can make a guess as to what color they are.  That's what makes my morning walks around the yard so exciting; eventually I get a surprise, and can tell the color of the next iris to bloom!  


One of these is showing a little color.

This one is farther behind.  

Here's my point:  My mother complained that iris' bloom too brief a time, but I've found that if you have several varieties, the iris season lasts several weeks.  I believe my red one was the last one to bloom, last year.  
And by the time my last iris blooms, the day lilies will have begun showing their colors.  Then the coneflowers and hibiscus will start, and last all summer until frost.  Flowers are one of God's best ideas, and I am exceedingly glad there are so many varieties of flowers that don't make me work too hard.

14 comments:

  1. I'm not a big fan of iris but I am of stella D'oro's. They are so easy to raise.
    Yes I would agree that flowers are special. To think something like that can spring from ugly old dirt.

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  2. I love your irises. They are beautiful and even if they do have a short blooming season, they are worth having. We only have one variety here, but there is absolutely no room to plant anything else here. I guess we could make the flower beds bigger, but then we'd have no yard at all. It's a tiny one at that.

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  3. Your iris are gorgeous. I am a big fan of plants that appear in spring and bloom without me having to do much of anything to make it happen.

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  4. There have been iris' around me my whole life. Not because I'm a big fan or anything. They've just always been there. They are decorative and nice to look at, but the devvil himself to get rid of. In places where I wanted them gone I've tried digging and spraying and everything else and they keep popping back up. I guess if I really want to get rid of them I need to try and make them grow. That should kill them off quickly. (grin) It works with everything else!

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  5. The fact that they bloom for a short while makes me appreciate them even more. Very nice post!

    ♥charlotte

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  6. I love having friends with a green thumb. I can enjoy the fruits of their labor, because my garden is rather sad. We did a lot of work when we first moved in, then work got in the way, then my disability and my husband's lack of interest. I wish I had planted some bulbs. I love Irises. :)

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  7. The scent of iris is my favorite floral scent. I spend so much time bent over with my nose in the blossoms I'll likely get stuck that way one day.

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  8. I love them. They smell delicious. I had a really black one once but it only had one bloom and then the whole plant died.

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  9. When I lived in San Angelo, TX it was always so hot that very few flowers survived. I had one lone purple iris which I called my Easter plant, because it never failed to bloom on Easter morning.

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  10. Love that deep purple color--we have lavender and deep purple and they do bloom at different times. Ours aren't blooming yet though, thanks a lot cold weather!!

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  11. The flowers are lovely. I had a lot of irises in mo. and Fleta has most of them now. I had a beatiful pink and a yellow as well as lot of others.
    Mike's girl friend was under duress at the party , Helen was there and she can be a very noticed person in a crowd. she took all thoese photos of that woman and I am sure the woman felt like she was cornered. Helen said the woman was trying to hide her double chin. Helen can be really bad at times and I am sure the woman was on pins and needles. Poor old mike was sweeting like a horse! I really liked Mike See but Helen wanted out of the marriage and so she got a divorce. Of course I didn't have to live with him. I think i might have strightened him out if I lived with him. I would have hit him up the side of his head a time or two and he would have been a better fellow.

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  12. The colors are wonderful. So pretty. Never grown an Iris in my life. Yours are lovely. You had the BEST quote ever. "Flowers are one of God's best ideas." Take care.

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  13. My mother always had iris, and they almost always did wonderfully. I loved each year watching her or helping her dig some up to thin out a bed, starting a bed in another part of the yard, or picking huge bouquets for the house. Your iris are very lovely!!

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  14. There are not a lot of blue flowers, it's so excotic ... I have many yellow iris flowers. Yours very beautiful.

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