Show me Your Irises!

wow they all have their own fancy label. I'm impressed. :)

Puttytat, that's an impressive show! Do you grow other plants besides irises?

This is 'Roku Ogi' a sib with 6 falls.

poppysue, that is an amazing iris. Do the flowers always have 6 falls?

Cheri'

puttytat, I don't have the words to say how lovely.

poppysue, source, please!

That one came from Eartheart Gardens. We did a co-op through there a couple of years ago. It looks more like a Japanese iris the way the petals lay.

Puttytat! I want to come and see your irises in bloom! What a painting that would make!
Kooger-- Are you coming to the Iowa May 1 Dave's Garden get together? I traded alot of Steppin Outs last summer, but I could still probably find a couple for you.

Here is one I really love--Clarence. The blooms are large, rich & the texture of crepe paper. Incredibly beautiful in person.

Champagne Elegance is rather new to my garden but a real keeper. Soft colors, large blooms.

Yes, I plan on coming to the RU. I will have a few plants along but not that many. I got the 2 Raspberry Swirls planted now. Hoping the other 2 root yet. That Champagne Elegance is beautiful. Clarence is too but why'd they pick an ugly name for a beautiful flower?:)

Who knows? Some of the roots I bought on ebay were tiny & didn't bloom last year. And DG People traded me some very large Heritage Iris roots that may prove to be exciting. I'm hoping for a colorful spring with over 100 irises I have not seen bloom yet.

Smoke Rings was a big hit last spring at my daughter's graduation party. (Outside in my gardens, of course.)

pretty! pretty! I can't imagine having 100 new blooms coming. I think I'd pitch a tent outside in the spring and live with them!

And you think I don't??? LOL I run out to take photos early morning and again at 4 pm. Or all day on weekends...

And people wonder where I get all the photos to make my greeting cards.LOL I made over 500 cards this year of just the photos I liked--never more than 2 the same!
Obessed? Yes!

We bought ourselves a digital camera for Christmas so I plan to do a lot more picture taking. I think I'm going to trade, borrow, steal, etc. irises this year. I'm the last house on the NW edge of town so have hesitated to get irises and delphiniums because of our wind. I only have 3 of each and the irises are all small. I think I'll start a new bed on the east side of our lawn. We do have a large hedge on the northwest edge so maybe?? I hope, they won't get blown over there.

I find that my companion plantings give the irises support when wind hits. My chain link fence in back gives little protection. My greatest hazard has 4 feet & runs VERY fast up the fence borders when neighbors come close--Walker. I lost quite a few iris & daylily stalks to him last year. And it took me 4 months to get the puppy to NOT PULL UP MY GARDEN MARKERS. At one point, I found 32 under the trampoline. They got in his way as he ran threw the beds, so he pulled them out! German Short Hair. He's lucky he lived until Fall hunting season...

So what do you use as companion plantings and how many, etc.? Do you plant them in rows or everyother one? What do you think works the best?
I had to chuckle about your puppy. My sister's DH is a hunter and 2 yrs. ago had to replace their aging Ger. Shorthair. She had some cute/frustrating stories about her puppy too. Did your markers all find their way back to the correct plant? :)

It depends on the spacing of the main flowers in the beds. My back fence flowerborders have daylilies alternating with irises roughly every 36 inches. Those are my bones. But I also added a variety of other perennials in staggered clumops plus room for my beloved zinnias & snapdragons. My rows are not easily visible as such. I plant in a "diamond" pattern from row to row. If you plant only irises or only daylilies, your gardens will look glorious only for certain weeks of each summer. I plant for a continuing pallet of color & texture that changes from early spring to late fall.

This is a early June view of my South East house bed.

You guys are killing me here, But I'll die happy I think (-;

Puddytat, your picture from Jan.6 front-center ...orange sherbet colored Iris ??? What is the name ? I love that color.
>^..^<
shirley

Puttytat---Such Beauty in your Iris beds! How do you keep all the names & roots seperate? The bed looks HUGE!

Shirley - the orange sherbet iris is SWEET ORANGE SPICE (Sutton 93). Great reliable bloomer - nothing upsets it. Nice fragrance, too.

Wanda, keeping them separate is difficult, especially as they "migrate" a few inches each year (tags get moved as the iris blooms). Every spring I tie on "bloom tags" to be sure where it is after the flower dies. Then if it gets chosen as a pod parent, it gets another little tag. By midsummer things look rather untidy but the system (usually) works. The alternate would be fewer flowers - unthinkable! At least while I have the energy to keep up with them :)!!

Wanda--Clarence is one that I picked up last summer. They said that it is a rebloomer. Is that your experience?

LimeyLisa Kay

Clarence tried to re-bloom in October & almost made it. A frost caught it. My only successful rebloomer so far is the white "Immortality". It reblooms in September consistently.

Finally an iris that I have - Immortality! What a beauty it is. I'm going to get so many irises this spring. I'll plant them along with my money tree when I finally get one.

Here's one of the Heritage irises I love so much. Big blossums on strong stalks with interesting colors...
Belvi Queen

I have Immortality also! I am so happy to see the ones I have! All of them were planted last year and so I have not seen them blooming yet. At the end of the iris season at Hornbakers, they will thin out many of their irises and just put the roots in tubs and sell them for $1.00. I bought them off the description. I got many of mine this way last year, so never even saw them bloom or a picture of them even. Boy, am I ever going to have a bunch of surprises next year!

;~D

LimeyLisa Kay

I think (hope) most of my surprises will be the heritage Irses sent to me by Dave's Garden people. Last year was full of surprises. Our young German Short Hair puppy decided that pulling up metal markers and chewing on them under the trampoline was fun. I was able to keep them straightened out until after a San Antonio trip--30+ were under the tramp! Dayliles & irises from all over the yard! I had rearranged too often & didn't know where many of the new ones were.I had to wait until each one bloomed to replace the markers. Some iris & daylilies never bloomed, so I'm hoping to identify them this year. The joy of pets!

This one was a Walmart find--Raspberry Blush.Intermediate & shorter than my tall bearded.

Iowaron-

Exactly what kind of poppy is the pink one you are using as a companion plant -- it really gives your garden that extra punch of color that pulls it all together. How do you plant it? Do you just press down seeds or what??? I am a little skeptical that poppies will grow so easy . . . what is your experience?

Poppysue 'Roku Ogi' is just gorgeous, now I have an iris to wish for, I can't seem to find the Eartheart Garden on the web, are they still in business?

Wandasflowers - sorry I went AWOL on you there yesterday. I got sicker and sicker as the day progressed and finally just crashed and slept and slept. Feeling quite a bit better today.
That Raspberry blush is a pretty one!
Alyssum - I agree about that pink peony. It really does set off those irises. I just realized I called it a peony not a poppy. Which is it, Ron? The leaves look like peony, I think.?

Can't fool Kooger! You're right, is is a peony. An old fashioned variety named 'Crusader'. I haven't seen them on the market recently, but then Klehm's Nursery has so many newer ones to drool over. www.klehm.com
The Song Sparrow Nursery is listed in the Garden Watchdog as a pretty good place to do business.

Here is 'Crusader' peony with 'Limited Edition', 'Pagan Dance' and 'Emphasis' tall bearded iris.

Iowaron--your iris garden is stunning! love the open peony with them. What is the name of that lovely rust & gold iris in the foreground?

IowaRon: There looks like five irises in your pix and yet you name only three! Please name and match each to the name! I NEED to know! LOL

;~D

LimeyLisa Kay

OK you guys, here goes. From left to right in the picture:

'Crusader' Peony
'Limited Edition' is blue and white
'Pagan Dance' is pale lavender with deep red wine falls.
'Laced Cotton' is the white in the background
'Olympic Torch' is the bright yellow
'Emphasis' is the gold and rust, and
'Full Tide' is the deep blue on the far right

I've got to go take a nap now, all this remembery work has over worked my brain. (But oh the joy of remembering the tending and weeding and daily dead-heading was worth it:-)
Ron

The blooms look so light and nice, those are the peony's you were talking of that hold their flowers for several weeks? I have a couple similar in color, but their flowers hold up to 2 weeks max if I am lucky and although they are pretty, the flowers are much heavier and floppy than yours.

Yep, good ol' 'Crusader' does well for us. I do use the peony rings to hold the bushes up and together, and that really helps when the rain and wind comes along. This one is planted in open shade, and others (with the iris) are in full sun. Don't seem to matter to these peonies. I know that we get at least 4 weeks of bloom, maybe more from 'Crusader'. I'll pay attention this year.
Ron

I got a good tip from a MG here...if you have lots of peonies and can't afford lots of peony rings, chicken wire works good. I plan to try it this year.

I buy large tomatoe cages & use my bolt cutters to cut them in half--Presto! A really wide ring with good support for peonies & mums. Plus the other 1/2 to support Asian lilies or other tall plants that like tolay all over the place.

Wandasflowers, I think you and I went to the same school. I also use the large tomato cages exactly as you describe! (and here I thought I was so clever to fashion two supports out of each cage) This support system works well for our established clump of 'Autumn Joy' Sedum that likes to fall down late in the season.
Ron

LOL Likewise for my heavy -headed Autumn Joy! If I put the cage on the mums when I clean off the debris in May, they have great support for the whole summer. I pinch them back, but they still get pretty big.

A local charity had a pile of tomato cages donated to them for a community garden and then moved & had no garden. I bought the cages for 50 cents each donation. They're very sturdy & make all the difference when the Peonies are in bloom.

hey, I like that idea better than messing with chicken wire. I have lots of cages!

When we get Iowa heavy winds or rains, your garden will still look great. :) I leave the cages on all year since I do not clear my garden in the fall. (I find I have less winterkill of asters, Lamb's Ear & mums if I just let the snow mound over the dead plants.)Caging also means I have more room for my Irises & daylilies since the 4 foot yarrow & other tall plants won't lay on everything.

Good point, Wanda. I like that.