pirl's Japanese irises

Crowning Moment is the star in this photo.

You might want to try shooting photos on your aperture setting, Jo Ann. It makes a huge difference and I'm grateful to David Paul for his help with photography. Thank you, David!

Prairy Glory is doing that for me.
Just 1 plant and it keeps on going.
Even the neighbor,who doesnt grow anything but raspberries admired the garden.
Its a big change from 3 years ago when it was only mulch and plastic weed barrier peeking up thru .

Same perspective, same flowers but I think I prefer the vertical to the horizontal, probably because the JI's have such a strong vertical form.


Prairie Glory is still going strong for me, Jo Ann. Amazing how gardens change a property. When we bought this house, 18 years ago, there was one hosta, one tulip and a Montauk daisy along with one peony. Now, 30 gardens later, every window in the house looks out at gardens.

Wrong photo!

The photo demon is hard at work this morning!

Variegata photographed well at night - maybe better than in daylight.

My favorite night shot - Crested Surf.

Same story here.
1 hosta and 2 astilbes on the border.
I also want views from every room and the deck.

Here's Japanese Pinwheel from last year. If I'm lucky the last bud will open and it won't be ripped apart by rain and wind.

The flower has a wonderful very light edge and it is very wavy.

beautiful

Gorgeous, Pirl.
We are finally getting a little rain this morning, first time since May....but the clouds are already lifting, and it only rained for about 10 minutes.
Ahhhh well, nice while it lasted.

Here's Japanese Pinwheel. It's not a good photo but there weren't many flowers on it this year and it's the best photo I have of it for '09.

Red Tessa at 7:34 PM just as the sun was going down.

Here's the photo to go with the post!

Another flower on Red Tessa. This one was taken at 7:57 with a flash.

Jocasta, a long time favorite.

Red Tessa. OMG I am breathless.

That Red Tessa is something! I love Jocasta too.

Neither of the Red Tessa photos show the true daytime colors but I enjoyed the photos just the same. If it gives me the last bloom tomorrow I'll try my best to get a good photo of it.

Uh, oh. I think I feel a new addiction coming on, lol. Just beautiful!

Thanks Pirl. Waiting to see tomorrows pic if you get it. The ones on here are surely beautiful of it as are so many others. How do you chop a list with all the choices??

beautiful pirl

Thanks, F4F and Jo Ann.

Steph - Before the days of computers at home I bought several JI's locally at the only nursery that sold them and then I bought whatever I could find anywhere. When I bought the computer the first place I went to was not DG but Ensata. Fell in love by color and couldn't decide which ones when I had narrowed it down to about 20 so my husband asked that wonderful question we all love to hear - "Why not buy them all?". Knowing how happy that would make him I did buy them all - aren't I sweet?

The violet shades and the light blues have always been favorites, not the purples. A white here and there (but very few) and an oddity or two (Confetti Dancer comes to mind) were added to the mix.

In 2006 NoH20 (Candy) sent a huge package of JI's to me and then Pixie62560 (Celeste) sent more, then came Polly...and venu209 (Louise) and here I sit surrounded by beauties! In between there was a co-op and then more orders from Aitkens Salmon Creek, Iris City Gardens (no longer selling JI's) and then I found Eartheart Gardens in Maine/Sharon Whitney (also known to me as "Heaven on Earth") and so it goes. Eartheart appeals to me so much because it's more of a garden than a soldier straight nursery like some of the daylily nurseries I've visited in the past. While I can understand the need for order there is that very special quality of feeling someone has invited me into their own personal gardens that makes visiting a unique pleasure.

So, to answer your question about how I whittle the choices down...mainly by color but falling in love with a flower for no reason other than overwhelming beauty is part of the selection process.

Here is a tiny view of Eartheart Gardens:

This one was definitely love at first sight:

pirl, amazing, beautiful flowers. You take such wonderful pictures of the flowers-capturing the innate personality & characteristics of each flower. Eartheart Gardens, almost looks like a heaven on earth. The garden takes your breath away. I also wanted to mention that the astilbes make a wonderful back drop to your beautiful JI's. Hope to one day see your amazing gardens. Please keep sending these wonderful pictures.
Debbie

Thanks for all the compliments, Debbie. Eartheart is lovely as is Sharon Whitney, the owner and hybridizer. She simply couldn't be more helpful or more knowledgeable as. she carries on the work of Dr. Currier McEwen in fine style.

The way she combines the JI's with poppies is truly the work of an artist. I never once felt as though I was walking through a nursery but felt it was her own private garden that she was very generous to share with others.

She does not have solid blocks of pinks, then violet, then purple, etc. but a magical blend of beautiful plants.

Edited to say: Debbie - you are welcome here anytime! I love the JI's with astilbes, too. When I redid the front garden with JI's I added astilbes to each and every JI field. To me it adds to the beauty and doesn't detract.

This message was edited Jul 9, 2009 10:10 AM

This is a photo of her invitation to her 2009 Open Garden Days.

beautiful combination od Iris and poppies.Gives me another place for Iris.

Here's the Eartheart site, Jo Ann (and others):
http://www.eartheartgardens.com/

If you go down the list at the left side you'll find "Printable catalogue".

Thanks Pirl,I have her in my Faves already.

Beautiful pictures Pirl.

I second Pirl on Eartheart Gardens. Everything I've purchased from there has been wonderful, and Sharon Whitney is a super nice person to deal with.

The plants that she offered for sale at the open garden last year were more than generous and twice the size (at least) that you'd buy elsewhere.

Yes, Polly, she is a super nice person and so was her husband when we made the error of going there on a Saturday when she wasn't even home!

Pirl thanks for all the info. I have some on my Favs already and will go back over them. I only wish I had more room. May have to take over the coullee next to us huh. I agree with your outlook. If it strikes my eye but it does not always meet all other criteria, it is often the beauty that wins over all. It is afterall our inner soal we are pleasing isn't it. Steph

It truly is, Steph. A flower can be the wrong color, wrong height and yet it calls to us so how can we ignore the call and still sleep at night?

I'm in total agreement. I fall in love and then do anything I have to, to include it in the garden in a tasteful, respectful way. If it gets crowded out, I know that it should be moved so that it shines forth to others as it did to me. My garden is filled with flowers that make me fall in love again and again.

I agree. Somehow we generally have that inner voice that tells us either a plant should be moved or even deleted at times.

Funny but I'm in the daylily deletion process now and I can walk the garden and think "Go", "Stay", "Move", without much hesitation aside from a fond farewell.

Here's a "stay" from this AM. Wish I could find more little spiders like this!

Do I take it that you don't like the ones that look like "wet dish rags" either?

This is my "stay and grow forever" one for this morning! After four long years I finally have a bloom!

SHHH! I don't like JI dish rags either. I'm a form snob, I guess. Who is that beauty? Looks a bit like my Blue-Eyed Butterfly.

It's Destined to See. For all these years I felt it was Destined to be Unseen!

Yours is beautiful.