There is SO much to learn about the Iris. Wow! I thought I would never get done studying about them and I have only reached the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of all there is to know about Iris.
It’s all on the new website page, as always.
It was time consuming, and I procrastinated from time to time, but I finally have a grasp on the world of Iris. The most important part is the parts of the Iris and the second most important part is the kind of Iris. First you look if it is a bulb or a rhizome. Most are rhizome. Then you look beardless, beard, or crest and under that there are official categories. It’s all list in an easy cheat sheet on the website if you want to begin to learn like me.
I took a while to determine what type each Iris in my garden and to give the NOID’s a number so they too now have a name. I took the time to label each photo which flower on the website too.
Here is my video on YouTube. I took the snippets over several months as I waited for them all to open up. They still have not all opened up.
I never did get a huge big lot of Iris at the same time in the garden for a photo and film op, but you can see those photos of years back on the website.
As has been the theme this year, I am totally making over my gardens this year. I should have done this a long time ago, but it is in the here and now. I am marking each Iris with yarn for the color that it is when it blooms. Then after July 4 when it is safe to dig and move Iris, I am going to dig them all up and replant them. I am going to plant those of like kind together. Then I am going to have a patch of those that did not bloom and to wait to see what they do next year to do the same process.
I have WAY too many yellow Iris. They are crowding out the others. I am keeping one patch of the bright yellow Iris as they do make a statement this time of year and I do like them, just not when they rob all the attention from the others. If a yellow blooms anywhere else in the garden than my designatated patch, it is getting pulled, even though it is not the right time of the year. The pale yellow ones are going. I was going to try to keep some, but decided they really do not bring me joy, so as soon as they bloom, they are gone.
We had two people take Iris this year. One filled the back of her vehicle with Iris! We have thrown away trash bags full of them, which seems such a shame. Then I learned the local SEMO Iris Society will take them and sell them later this year at their annual sale, so now I am cutting off the rhizomes and boxing them up to gift them.
It’s proving to be a huge and time-consuming project, but I am glad I am doing it because things will be better in the future. Things always have to get messed up and worse before they get better.
I had purchased some Iris in 2020 and I was so delighted when my Cherry Blossom Song Bearded Iris bloomed. It is the only one that survived the crowding of the yellow Iris in the front garden bed. It looks so lonely, but I think it has claimed its designated spot and there it will stay. Maybe next year I will have two or three stems.
At the end of the Youtube video above is a glimpse the SEMO Iris Society show and competition. It is hard to believe they sell these later this year for $2 each and I took photos of a few I would like to pick up if I can. I love Iris with character and interest, being mostly bi-color, but there was one solid color that really caught my eye. It’s the one that remains on my mind so it must be the one one I should have in my garden. I can spy it in this photo, although it does ot really stand out.
I found a few photos of the world-famous Mr. Niswonger who was my neighbor in 2017 and put them on the website. He bred Iris and was known around the world for his many varieties. He was so dedicated that in his ending years I would watch him get out of his scooter, and later his wheelchair, and crawl around his garden to look at and care for his Iris. He died in 2022, but his Iris will live on.
I am learning to love each Iris for its individiuality and to care for it individually. I have loved them in mass, but I think it is much better to love individual uniqueness. That is an analogy to loving people, I suppose. It’s okay to see people for their uniqueness and separate them from the mass conglomerate of generalized ‘people-are-all-equal’ to appreciate each of them individually. We spend so much time desegretating people into one huge mass that we loose the appreciation for their individuality. Don’t let people get lost in the crowd that overwhelms. Seek for them, find them, and see the unique them.
My garden is always teaching me. Does your garden teach you? I love analogies and have many of them from my garden and maybe next year I will have my Winter project done and can move towards creating a book of photography and analogies in the garden. It’s on my distant wish list.
Cheryl
I planted them in early 2023 and they didn't bloom and then they didn't bloom this year, either. I'll replant after July 4. :D
I think I planted my iris' too close to the house because they don't bloom...