iris in bloom in spring

Spring Is….An Iris In Bloom

I have a lot of iris in my garden.

It seems like I have always had iris. A little bit here and a little more over there. My Mother had a lot of iris in bloom and  growing and they were always just the most “common” flower to me. They were just always there. And they just grew and multiplied.

Spring-Iris-Bloom-hypertufa-gardener

I guess if an iris is happy in a place, it just grows almost without any effort at all. It always seemed that way to me. I think some of our irises came from my grandmother’s old gardens in Kentucky. She died before I was ever born but when I look at old photos of her (and we have so few), I think I look like her.

Grandmother-hypertufa-gardener

I guess if an iris is happy in a place, it just grows almost without any effort at all. It always seemed that way to me. I think some of our irises came from my grandmother’s old gardens in Kentucky. She died before I was ever born but when I look at old photos of her (and we have so few), I think I look like her.

Perhaps some of the irises I have were brought from that old tobacco farm where she lived. My grandfather raised and sold tobacco back then and they raised eight children, four sons and four daughters.  My Dad was her oldest son.

All of those eight children are gone now. But I like to think that her iris and all of her flowers brought her happiness with their beautiful colors on bright spring mornings as she got up and made breakfast and looked out over those rolling hills seeing all of her iris in bloom. It’s a great vision.

Most of my irises are just the plain old fashioned purple bearded iris, but I have a couple from the Garden Club sales. One of them is a pale blue iris and I think it is the one called “Starchy Sue.”

Starchy-Sue-Iris-hypertufa-gardener

The other variety was called “Brass Ring” but I am not sure of that name. Nothing bloomed in that spot this year but there are blades growing there. I wrote the names of these varieties on a flat rock next to them so I would remember. Otherwise I think I would have forgotten. (Couldn’t find one of the rocks, and since those iris are planted close together, I am not sure I have the correct ID on my “Starchy Sue” since that little yellow beard could be for a “Brass Ring?”)

These are Wright Irises which were hybridized by Horace Wright, nephew of the famous Wright Brothers. His wife Sue was a lifetime member of the Bellbrook Garden Club. Sue and Horace provided plants for our Wright Iris Garden at the Bellbrook Historical Museum.

http://wiki.irises.org/bin/view/Main/Bio/HybridizerWrightHorace

http://www.cityofbellbrook.org

My iris have been moved and relocated many times. I never baby them or worry about doing this or that in only certain times of the year. I have even dug up and moved them while they are blooming. And they just continue to thrive. ( I am using this photo as a cover on the Facebook Page. Come join us!)

The Hypertufa Gardener - Iris bloom in spring in a hypertufa pot

I have some tiny dwarf iris in a hypertufa trough too. Aren’t they the cutest? These are so tiny that the bloom is the biggest thing about them. They’ve been in this planter for several years and are doing well.

Do you grow iris? Is your planting all “bumpy” looking on the ground surface? Such a weird look, right? But those iris need to have their rhizomes peeping out of the ground!

Well, here’s looking forward to some warm weather. We need to get out of this COLD! ( Ohio in USA)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.