“My favorite iris photos of 2024”, from Mike in Oly:
Top photo: ‘Quiet Sky’ (Cook, 1964) A recent arrival from Merian Garten in Switzerland in a trade with the Historic Iris Preservation Society. In my care until it can be distributed more widely. I am quite fond of it already. The visiting bumblebee was a nice bonus.
I won Best Photo in Show for my shot of ‘Dusky Evening’. Couldn’t resist taking a pic of it with the ribbons.
‘Cooing Dove’ (Baker, 1959) The soft color tones in the morning light are so elegant.
‘Father Rigney’ (Bro. Charles Reckamp, 1956) Such deep, rich purple tones. A new favorite in my collection.
Siberian iris ‘Summer Sky’ (Cleveland, 1935) I have wanted this Siberian variety for many years and finally got it. It put on a wonderful show last spring. Bees love it!
‘Vibrant Rose’ (Jean Witt, 199) Such a bright and colorful variety. I love everything about this photo. The vibrant color tones, the texture veining and reticulations. Just such a pretty bloom and a very good grower and bloomer.
A shot of Japanese irises at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm in Washogal, WA. I really like all the layers from the flowers to the mountains over the Columbia river.
‘Sings With Frogs’ ( Kanarowski, 2013) Photographed at Dry Creek Gardens, CA. I love the fluffy iris bloom and the California poppies lighting up the background. Such a happy photo.
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I need more photos, jackals1 Any optimists started their seeds for 2025 yet?
What’s going on in your garden (planning / prep / memories), this week?
satby
No seed starting this year. I’m traveling too much this spring. And trying to keep alive some stuff (cannas and two tiny rhododendrons that came too late in the fall) that probably shouldn’t have been overwintered inside. Will transplant them outside when appropriate. That’s enough for this year.
satby
Beautiful photos as always Mike!
We’re under another winter storm ⚠️ warning with 2-4 more inches of snow forecast, then another plunge into highs in the teens for the next couple of days. Spring seems a long way off.
J.
Beautiful!
prostratedragon
“Talking to the Sun,” Abbey Lincoln
VeniceRiley
Very pretty! I have a couple shots of resting bumblebee bottoms peeking out of the daffodils. Before dog pee killed the lavender, it put a smile on my face to watch the bumbles bounce it like a springboard to launch from one flower to the next.
Baud
Photos are ok, if “beauty” is your thing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
My favorite flower
Jeffg166
Got out to scratch up more soil to throw in more spring seeds. They would have done better if they went in during the autumn but it wasn’t raining then. My area is still in a drought even with the nuisance snow, rain, ice storms we’ve been having.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
kalakal
@rikyrah: Good Morning 😀😀😀
Kay
Love Cooing Dove. I had irises once in a rental house. The bed was overgrown to the extent that it was just a mass of rhizomes. I dug it up, cut the roots into pieces with a spade, replanted the pieces on 4 inch centers and it came roaring back.
It’s snowing here – heavy snow, no wind, drifting down. Just beautiful.
kalakal
lovely day here yesterday, for weeks we have had an awful lot of mist and gloom. Not cold but dreary. Yesterday the sun really got to strut it’s stuff. Cleared away a lot of dead wood etc.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
narya
Those are beautiful! I want to make a needlepolnt out of them, though embroidery might work, too.
CCL
Beautiful!
Anne Laurie
That’s how I got started on irises… there were a couple rhizome-choked patches like that at our first Boston-area rental home, When I dug them up & replanted the biggest chunks, I was left with a *bunch* of ‘extras’, some of which I stuck in a leftover plastic trough. Thirty years later, the descendants of those van Gogh-type ‘species’ irises have proven so unkillable, they sometimes threaten to take over the whole property…
AM in NC
Well didn’t I need that on this cold, rainy morning – thank you! That Siberian Summer Sky is just everything I could want.
Today I am starting tomato and pepper seeds. Woohoo! It’s going to be an interim and mostly container garden this year, as we are building our house, but I can’t NOT have a garden, so we make do.
Life will out.
Kay
@Anne Laurie:
Tough, like your beloved daylilies.
Denali5
Stunning photos of one of my favorite flowers! Thanks so much for sharing and brightening my morning!
Gloria DryGarden
Glorious beauty, such colors, such velvety close ups. I’m over here moaning and exclaiming “oohh “ at every picture.
meanwhile, winter
delphinium
Lovely photos! Don’t have any iris in my garden, so really enjoy seeing these.
sab
@satby: Phil in PA saw his shadow and Chuck in OH did not. So Phil wins this round. Does Indiana have its own woodchuck mascot?
JAM
Beautiful irises Mike. I love that last picture, too.
stinger
I saw the top pic and knew it was Mike in Oly! Congrats on your photography award! And I Iove the bumblies.
I wouldn’t mind getting a Quiet Sky some day. Will you note availability here?
WendyBinFL
Huge thanks to Mike in Oly for these extraordinary blooms and photographs. I feel like I need a cigarette now… and I don’t smoke, haha!
Betty
Fabulous collection of irises and beautiful photography.
dnfree
Those are beautiful, and your dedication shows. Congratulations on the recognition!
Mike in Oly
@narya: I have had a few painters use my photos for inspiration but never for embroidery or needlepoint. I would love to see that!
Mike in Oly
@stinger: ‘Quiet Sky’ is not mine to give away yet. First any extras have to go back to HIPS for distribution to the Guardian Gardeners program. Until it is shared out to them it is just in my custody. After that happens I can I will be free to share extras with friends.
MCat
Thanks so much for these exquisite photos. I just love irises.
Dan B
I knew Jean Witt – Amber Rose. I went on a garden tour to England with her and did some work on her garden. Her husband Joe was head of the UW Arboretum. Jean also hybridized PC Iris (Pacific Coast Iris).
Mike in Oly
@Dan B: I wish I had met her. She is a legend in the iris world.