Gorgeous shots from Mike in Oly:
Thought I would pass these along now that iris bloom time is over.
Here are my favorite garden photos from the spring Iris bloom. We had a fantastic bloom season this year. The temps and weather cooperated so well to ensure a long and lush bloom time for the irises. Two of the beds were in second and third year growth so really showed off. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
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Here is a selection of photos of individual iris varieties that I thought turned out well. All taken in my garden this spring. Names are on the photos.
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
War for Ukraine Day 1,220: Russia Once Again Shatters the Small Hours of Ukraine’s Night
Rose Judson
Just gorgeous. I finally managed to get a couple of bearded iris to bloom this year, but I’d like to make the garden more hospitable to them next season. Now that I own the house, I can really play around with raised beds. Mike in Oly, do you have tips about what kind of soil and siting these guys need? I have a south-facing plot with some shade areas.
The actual soil is heavy, crumbly clay (I have an 1880 map of the area with “old clay pit” marked on the spot where my house is), but I am building raised beds from pallets and plan to get the dirt sorted in October or so.
Gloria DryGarden
All those colors! The dark black -purple one, the burgundy one with water drops. All the others.. I’m salivating, I feel such a longing to have all those colors. So beautiful!
VeniceRiley
Lovely flowers! Our roses went gangbusters this past couple weeks, and the budlia is finally blooming their big purple spears- so we have lots of butterflies this morning.
In even better garden news, we hired a nice old fellow one tooth gardener for £15 an hour! So this disaster should all be sorted two weeks from now, and then he’ll come once a month to keep it nice.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
satby
Good morning and Happy Sunday Garden Chat everyone.
Currently sitting outside having coffee, the heat wave is hanging on for today with temps in the 90s before finally moving to more normal summer temperatures tomorrow. All of Mike’s iris are so beautiful to wake up to!
Alas, mine didn’t do particularly well this year. I had nice blooms in the front of the bed, but none from the back. My guess is less rain while I was in Ireland, because the back is under the roof overhang, but I don’t know. Once the weather breaks I plan to clean out the weeds that started and to fertilize it. I don’t think it’s overcrowded yet, because it’s only the third year for that bed.
Jeffg166
Beautiful!
I cut all the Heliopsis to the ground this week in an attempt to save the plants. The red aphid infestation has started to kill them. If there’s nothing there for the aphids to eat maybe if the new growth comes up the aphid will have moved on.
Nelle
Something I wrote a couple of decades ago, to honor irises and my very believing mother. (sorry about the spacing – had some trouble with that.)
The Fugue of Irises
Before the baritone intonation of theology, the suit and tie
promenade to the pulpit, the trodding back and forth
for the offering of money earned by our fathers,
my mother brought irises to God.
Before the bulletins were folded and handed out
by boutineered ushers, my mother would walk up
the aisle of the blond sanctuary, scarcely shifting
the silence of the week, her view of the altar blurred
by the stalks and blossoms she carried.
I learned to count and sort in her garden,
mesmerized by the fugue of irises, the purple
and white, the purple and yellow, the purple alone,
the Dutch, the Japanese, the ruffled, the plain,
each catching colors and playing them back
in a different key, the perfume almost audible.
When the house rang empty to cries of “Mom! Mother!”
I could find her there in the garden, sweating
in the Kansas sun. And at peace.
Sunday mornings, as the sun drenched the kitchen
with early light, she stood at the counter
arranging flowers, her eye alert for balance, harmony,
and honor. Then she, her daughters, her husband
and her irises formed a sort of Mennonite procession
to church (which is to say we did not acknowledge
the ceremony of our ceremonies).
My mother sighed when she stepped back from the altar,
a sigh I used to think meant completion. But it was the breath
of God through her, it was the echo of creation saying,
“It is good, it is very good,” the wedding of beauty to belief.
The words of the prayers and the preachers
have sifted themselves into a backdrop of childhood,
yet distinct on the altar is the curl and drop of a petal,
the fragrance propelled by the multitude of fanning bulletins
on steamy summer mornings.
Nelle
Adding to say that your irises in the photos are incredible, full of beauty, and you have graced my morning. Thank you.
raven
My bride has had a bumper crop of Stargazer Lillies and she’s been taking them to many of our friends!
Madeleine
Thanks, Mike, for this array of stunning irises, and, Nelle, for your poem.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Gorgeous pics
stinger
What wonderful photos. I think that a few years ago, through a similar iris post, you introduced me to Schreiner’s iris gardens, and I’ve since ordered many a gorgeous variety from them. But my garden still doesn’t look like yours!
stinger
@Rose Judson:
Rose, my experience with iris is that they should be planted very shallowly, the corms barely covered or even slightly exposed (although by the time I’ve mulched, you can’t really see the corms). They are so tough and hardy that the soil type doesn’t matter. Their roots mostly run out to to the side from the corms, rather than down deep, so I’ve often set them on existing soil and just put a little good new soil around them. Mine bloom in full sun and under trees. But hopefully Mike will weigh in on this!
stinger
@Nelle:
Oh, my. Thank you! I hope your mother lived to read your poem.
H.E.Wolf
Beautiful irises. Beautiful poem. Together, they are transcendent.
MartyIL
Simply beautiful. Love Mike’s color palette and Nellie’s poem—positively inspiring
eclare
Beautiful photos and poem
kalakal
Gorgeous! Thank you for posting these.
Sadly Bearded Iris and West Central Florida do not get along though Flag Iris love it here as does Walking Iris.
Been getting regular rain for a few weeks now and everything has doubled in size to make up for months of drought
JAM
Beautiful irises, Mike! I need to find a new spot for mine because they are in too much shade nowadays.
Betty
Delightful!
CCL
Beautiful! Love the way you’ve grouped them. Another Schreiners’ fan here.
@Rose Judson:
Not mike in oly, but I have found my iris like sandy and sunny. They aren’t too fussy though and will do for me in clay. I did move a bunch several years ago from a bed where they weren’t performing. This year two Schreiners’ Sultan King irises I bought 20 years and thought I’d lost bloomed again – because I think they now have more sun and less clay. For what it is worth.
munira
So beautiful – I can’t even pick a favorite.
MazeDancer
So beautiful, Mike!
oldgold
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Nothing, but with the June bugs in hospice and worse, I am preparing to plant West of Eden.
This year I will not be putting in any plants, but only sowing seeds. With global warming extending the growing season, I do not want to take the risk that any vegetables will reach maturity.
Kristine
Beautiful, beautiful irises! Many thanks for the pics.
I have a small patch of a single variety. Pretty sure it’s “Alcazar” given the colors and where I found the first corms (a long-vacant lot). They spread well for a few years, but they’ve lost a little oomph these past few. I’ve had to fight brown spot off and on. The volunteer goldenrod may have pushed out a few. And I am wondering if my usual lack of a fertilizing game is having an impact. Any advice on iris feeding appreciated. (current conditions: soil is mostly clay. Partial sun until late morning, then full sun.)
satby
@Kristine: fertilize with a lower nitrogen mix that encourages blooms. They may need to be divided too, if it’s been a few years. Those are the steps I’ll be taking with mine, though I may not have to divide them quite yet.
Denali5
My favorite flower is iris. I have a few, but your photos reminded me of those iris with outstanding colors. I have a print of a black and silver iris painted by Georgia O’keefe. The poem is also lovely. Thank you both!
Kristine
@satby: Thanks! (making notes)
Mike in Oly
@Nelle: That was so beautiful. My grandmother grew irises and I remember her making bouquets to take to the church and to the cemetery to place on graves for Memorial day. Your poem brought it all back.
Mike in Oly
@Rose Judson: Bearded irises like two main things – lots of sunshine and well drained soil. With clay soil raised beds is the way to go, and as long as they are getting at least 6 hours of full sun a day they should be fine. Plant shallow, with the tops of the rhizomes just below the surface. (It’s a myth they have to have sun on their surface to do well).
As for fertilizer, if you have good soil you don’t need it. If your soil is lacking amend with what is missing. I dig and divide mine every third year and add some good rich black compost to the dirt to refresh the organic matter, a bit of 10-10-10 just for trace elements, and some lime as we have very acid soil here. A light mulch of chunky compost in early spring can help keep black spot at bay, as that is a result of microbes being splashed onto the fans during rain.
Glad you all enjoyed the photos! I am sharing them on Bluesky daily. I’m on the Balloon Juice Jackals feed and also post to the gardening feed, or follow me directly @mikeinoly.bsky.social
On the book of Faces I am posting pics at the Historic Iris Preservation Society page.
J.
Wow! I love irises. What a bouquet!
Gvg
It’s hot. Most things love it, especially the lawn. The phlox however keep collapsing. Some varieties do well here and the only way to find out is to try but it’s annoying. Collecting seed. The rain lilies bloomed so I have lots of seed from them. Also some purple roof iris. My vacation is ending but I got a lot caught up in the garden. I really wish it would rain. It always looks like it’s going to, then doesn’t. I delay watering because of the clouds etc. Took a bunch of cuttings. Probably will be doing interior projects for the next few months….till it cools.
Dan B
My father grew Bearded Iris. I’m a fan of Japanese, Louisiana, Pacific Coast, and Eyelash. Your garden looks wonderful and I hope the Alstroemeria you got from here is doing well. They’ve gone crazy here this year and they follow the Iris and lead the Daylilies.
Mike in Oly
@Dan B: They are alive and one is blooming. They will need another year to settle in well and spread out a bit. One of the PCIs you gave me bloomed too. A stunning blue ruffled one.