Thank you, Mike in Oly:
These are my favorite varietal photos from this season. I love photographing these classic beauties just as much as I love collecting and growing them.
Top photo: ‘Bluebeard’s Ghost’ – So well named, and such a cute little dwarf variety. I could not resist shooting these three perfect blooms all lined up. The deep blue beards and touch of the same blue on the style crests adds enough contrast to the white to make the flower really stand out.
‘Chocolate Malt’ – Another well named variety. I find the blend of pink and brown tones with that flash of purple at the tip of the beard to be so visually delicious. That flared form and smooth satin finish with the tone-on-tone texture veining adds interest to a palette that is a bit on the subdued side.
‘Prince Of Monaco’ – The bright amethyst over deep velvety plum tones are just such a rich and luxurious combination, made even better with the pairing of the alliums and emerald green of the grass behind.
‘Juliet’ – The wonderful golden hour lighting makes this flower glow, while the background full of complementary tones makes the whole shot just so lovely. I also like the added glimmer of light from the raindrops.
‘Birchbark’ – I love a clean and pristine white iris. They catch the light like nothing else and just glow across the garden. This shot takes advantage of the evening ‘golden hour’ lighting to add extra drama with the bright white contrasting with the dark shadows behind.
‘Black And Gold’ – A rich combination of deep gold and chestnut brown. I love the haft veining that almost looks like an animal print as well as that wire rim of fall color around the standards. Again, evening light coming in from the side adds drama.
‘Rebellion’ – I was drawn to the glowing heart of this bloom in the dappled late afternoon sunshine. The golden glow sets off the deep rich garnet red of the falls and smokey maroon of the standards.
‘Treasure Island’ – I love this shot for the soft buttery tones of the main flower set off by the deeper golden yellow and blue-violet blooms behind it.
‘Sunset Blaze’ – The stacks of flowers up the bloom stalks made such a great display. This variety was blooming for almost an entire month this year. I love hot colors in the garden and it really brought the show.
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
War for Ukraine Day 1,248: The Reason
MagdaInBlack
These are lovely, Mike, thank you.
SiubhanDuinne
Every one is more magnificent than the last. Simply stunning.
eclare
All of your irises are beautiful. Thank you.
Jeffg166
Out last evening to look at the cucumber vines from a different angle and saw the first cucumber.
p.a.
Wow!
Seeing Spotted Lanternfly nymphs in the neighborhood, some in my yard.
cals.cornell.edu/integrated-pest-management/outreach-education/whats-bugging-you/spotted-lanternfly/…
Van Buren
BRB, gotta order some bulbs…
Suzanne
I am not much of a gardener, but I am trying to learn by admiring the beautiful flowers and plants here. These irises are amazing. That Prince of Monaco looks just like how I picture an iris in my mind.
I wonder…. was there a Monaguesque (sp?) prince at one point who wore a lot of purple? Otherwise, I think of Prince, LOL.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Those are gorgeous!
Nelle
Beautiful. Thank you.
satby
Love all the variety Mike!
Citizen Dave
Beautiful!
To be clear–google-confirmed for myself–not lecturing down to anyone here–the spotted lanternflies are invaders who should be eliminated…with extreme prejudice. I got enough issues this year with poison ivy and the usual creeping charley invasion.
JeanneT
Those deep colors and intricate patterns in these photos are scrumptious. How can people not want to preserve the world that provides us such beauty?
In my garden, my native plant gardener and her crew took down 70% of my overgrown and weedy perennial beds and mulched them, then planted a variety of Michigan native plants. Choices in the biggest beds were restricted to varieties that get along with black walnut trees, but that still left plenty to choose from.
I’ve informed my family that I will be living in this house at least through 2027 so I can see the results as these plants mature: the saying from the native plant people is ‘first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap.’ If we are all still posting garden pics then, I hope to have some to share.
Denali5
Lovely Iris portraits. Wish I had more sunny spots. We finally got some rains. I have to concentrate my energy on improving small areas these days.
stinger
Such photography! And now I’m adding to my iris wish list!
suzanne
@Citizen Dave: We got spotted lantern flies a couple of years ago, though I saw them in Philly the previous year. I haven’t seen a big infestation yet. (Two years ago, every sidewalk looked like a crime scene.) It’s much later in the year. Don’t know if the stomping has been successful…..
JAM
Your irises are beautiful, Mike, thanks for sharing them.
oldgold
Living in the belly button of the Golden Buckle on the Corn Belt presents unique gardening challenges this time of year. As every Idiot Out Walking Around knows it’s not the heat, it’s the damn humidity that is the problem.
The cause is corn sweat. Every day in late July and early August one acre of corn will sweat out an astounding 4,000 gallons of water. In this literal sea of corn the resulting relative humidity is so high large family reunions give rise to flood warnings. The morning dew is so heavy moles drown, sump pumps purr and the frogs in unison incessantly croak “No Mas!”
On a positive note, I am now a Dude morning gardener.
Scout211
Beautiful iris photos!
kalakal
Gorgeous. Wish we could grow bearded Iris here
Jeffg166
@suzanne: I read that critters have started to eat the lanternflies. Not expecting anymore massive surges in population like the first few years.
satby
@oldgold: 😂
But seriously the humidity has turned these high heat days into dangerous days because sweat just doesn’t evaporate and you can’t cool down. Even the nights don’t cool down, at 7 am here the temperature was 72° but the heat index was at 83°, with the sun barely up. Horrible.
brendancalling
My sunflowers have been under sustained attack from local squirrels. Last night I bought a big thing of “Repels-All,” which has “putrescent whole egg solids” as its main ingredient, followed by cloves and garlic oil. I saturated the flowers, leaves, and stems as directed. I was worried it would keep away the bees as well.
As of this morning, no squirrel damage and plenty of bees.
CaseyL
Oh, Mike, those are gorgeous.
I imagine you in contemplative mode in your garden, sitting at eye level with these lovely flowers, picking out and cherishing every detail.
I’m particularly blown away by the black and gold, precisely for its fine details: the outlining, the “animal print”… just delightful!
brendancalling
@p.a.: KILL ON SIGHT!
kalakal
@satby: That’s what makes Florida dangerous in Summer. I live on the Gulf coast about 1/2 way down, the thermometer normally ( these days) gets into the low-mid 90s – the heat index hits 106 and up
oldgold
@satby: Yes, today we are under an “Extreme Heat Warning.” Right now the humidity is above 90%. The air is literally what my grandmother used to call “thick.”
I was not kidding about corn sweat.
“Corn Sweat: Corn can release up to 4,000 gallons of water per acre into the lower atmosphere each day, a process known as evapotranspiration, contributing to extreme humidity and flooding rainfall.”
Spanky
Huh! For the record, I asked Google, typing “what eats” and it autocompleted with “lanternflies”.
The answer, btw, is a lot!
satby
@Spanky: yeah, the original concern was that there were no natural predators when the lantern flies arrived from China and they’re very destructive. I’d still kill any I found, or the egg cases, but it seems that our native predators have discovered how tasty they are.
Nelle
@oldgold: I am in the same state, about a block from the edge of my suburb, four blocks from corn fields. The moisture is dripping off the windows in the morning. I’ve given up on outside exercise for now. Is it my age that makes me intolerant? Light-headed, short of breath the last two times of outdoor Tai Chi with my group, so I skipped this morning. I’ll do a treadmill instead.
Mike, I saw something that said to divide iris in July. I had thought to do it in September. Thoughts?
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
Spanky
@Nelle: Any time after they’re done flowering, and with enough time to establish before first frost. Cut foliage to about 6″ to let the plant concentrate on root development.
satby
@Spanky: @Nelle: yeah, it’s location dependent. Technically, I could divide mine now, but the heat of summer isn’t the best time. Around here mid-late September is better, that gives at least 6 weeks for the newly planted divisions to establish.
J.
Absolutely gorgeous photos and flowers. Love irises.
BenInNM
Beautiful irises! Thank you.
Today I have a few flowers to plant and continuing to dig up grass in the front yard. It’s a slow process but I keep making progress. I want to replace the grass with a dry creek bed to better catch the water when it does rain
TerryC
There are something like 4-5 new disc golf courses built around the world each day. I’d like some of those to be grown in place instead of carved out of forests or flood plains.
I am hard at work planting in my formal Miyawaki-inspired Experimental Grove (MEG), which is a roughly 10×10’ plot of land which will end up with 36 native trees and bushes planted in it. I am going to prove to my fellow designers of disc golf courses that you can grow a course in place on a piece of land that was previously farmed and had its soil depleted by planting dense groves of mixed native trees in patterns.
I’ve already done so informally over the past 12 years, building a top-notch course in this way, but not planned-out or recorded. This MEG project is being publicized and followed across the rapidly-growing industry. It’d be nice if it made a difference.
oldgold
@Nelle: “Light-headed, short of breath the last two times of outdoor Tai Chi with my group, so I skipped this morning.”
We call that cornfused.
MagdaInBlack
@oldgold: Grew up out among the northern Illinois corn fields and even took part in that teenage torture ritual of “detasseling.” Yeah the humidity from corn is real.
The other day after a downpour here ( NW Chicago suburbs) I swear the air smelled like cornfields.
p.s. 86 real feel 105 right now.
Kristine
Beautiful photos. Thank you for sharing.
Taking notes about the best time to divide irises. September may work for me. I’m in that tiny strip of Illinois along the lake that got bumped up to Zone 6 (6a?) a couple of years ago.
Lately I’ve been enjoying Monarch visits every day thanks to the milkweed. I let a few plants grow near the deck and things are overcrowded but the scent was so lovely that I couldn’t move them or cut them back. Cardinal flowers are starting to open, as are the Rose of Sharon. The goldenrod and boneset are forming buds. By accident I’ve assembled enough variety to have something flowering throughout the summer/early fall.
eclare
I watched the local news at 10 pm last Thursday. It was 88 degrees in Memphis. I don’t know what the humidity was, but my cousin refers to it as “air you can scoop with your hand.”
Temperatures are supposed to moderate a bit starting this Friday.
Suzanne
Two years ago at this time, SuzMom had a ton of medical appointments as she was getting ready for surgery. The entrance to the hospital where I was taking her has this curved canopy where I would drive her up curbside and get her transferred into a wheelchair, and then we would wait out there as the valets brought the car back when it was time to leave. One of my more enduring memories of that time was all the lanternflies that would be drawn to the light from the building, and then people would stomp on them under that canopy. I know they tried hard to clean it, but it was just this mass of red splattered bugs. Just intensely gross.
trollhattan
@p.a.:
Based on the article they seem problematic. Lord help us if they get to California.
Citizen Dave
@TerryC: Very cool job and project! I noticed the Indianapolis parks people plants a bunch of trees in and among the holes on the disc gold course at Sahm Park (on the way to one of my costcos…)–google brings up Sahm Park Disc Golf Course by Prodigy. Maybe that’s you.
Kayla Rudbek
@p.a.: I’ve seen some at work, so now I know that I should be stomping on them every chance I get (we have landscaping but I still see these bugs)
Layer8Problem
I’m sorry Mike in Oly, if you’re going to show irises named “Chocolate Malt” I’m going to think about chocolate malteds to the exclusion of all else, and I have no source of those convenient, so, darn it. That and the petals of that iris have that delicate bit of purple and my mind goes toward “how about, just to try, put a shot of blueberry into the chocolate malted and see what happens.” I mean who’da thunk mint and chocolate chip could make an ice cream?
brendancalling
Late-breaking update: WAY more bees than usual. I think they like the smell of the putrescent whole egg solids, because it’s a honeybee party outside.
HA, take that you f*cking squirrel bastards.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Lovely Pictures Mike. I only wish you could include the iris scents too!
DarbysMom
Wow. Amazing flowers and photos. So jealous!
MazeDancer
Gorgeous! Hope you charge admission for tours. Subsidize your habit or give to some worthy cause.
MikeInOly
@Nelle: It depends on your climate. They need to be back in the ground at least 6 weeks before frost (8 is better). In some places that means a mid summer dig is best. In others it is too hot to replant now and end of summer/early fall division and replanting is better for them. I am in western WA and July works best for me.
MikeInOly
@MazeDancer: I do an open garden every spring for anyone that wants to come enjoy the blooms. No charge. I donate extras to the Historic Iris Society annual rhizome sale fundraiser, and my local iris club sale (Aug. 9th, Portland Ave Nursery, Tacoma, WA), and trade or share with friends. There’s always extra irises once you’ve been growing a lot of them for a few years.
Dan B
Beautiful Iris and your photography is superb.
Madeleine
Breathtaking irises.