Inanda asked, so here it is. I visited the Iris Friendship Gardens at Highland Park in Rochester, NY. It is strictly Louisianas, and many were hybridized just for this garden, from Australia, and around the world. I was very disappointed to see the tags were gone this year. I couldn't find anyone to tell me if the gardens were mapped out. I would love to know the names of some of them. I do have the name of a person to contact, who might help.
This is a zone 6 area.
A yellow one I really liked.
A pretty purple.
What a shame that there were no labels. Lovely flowers though. My Megan Victoria is in bloom and it's breath taking.
Their peaceful setting. Highland Park is just a beautiful place. Well known for its lilacs, but has so many collections of other plants.
This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 9:16 PM
Nice cooling photos on a hot and muggy day.
Thanks Pirl!
Can you post a pic of yours?
Then we went to Borglums in Geneva. Dana and Sylvia Borglum are hybridizers, their Seneca series of Siberians is well known, however they also hybridize JI's, species X, versicolors, and peonies, along with bearded iris.
Here's a pic of their farm. It can't get much more rural than this.
Mr. Borglum said he is over 70. But he runs the farm himself. Acres, and acres of plants. He is just the nicest person! And his grandson Hahn greeted us, and told us where to park, what a cutie!
Mr. Borglum has a policy stated of dig your own iris. $7.00 per clump, and there are shovels all over the place. But he came out, and visited with us for hours, and dug all the plants himself.
A really neat thing was how he cares for the iris. He plants them, and except for when he plants them he does not water them. They are in a drought situation there, for the month of May and June it only rained twice, but the plants are thriving.
Here's a new siberian he introduced recently. Seneca Midnight Blues. Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy, but the colors are accurate. It's very tall, and is still blooming in my garden.
This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 11:25 AM
Here's a pic of the size of the clump.
Another clump shot, this is another one he hybridized, a versicolor, Cascade Mist.
The flowers are quite large on this one, and the leaves are very wide. Notice the size of the versicolor leaves next to the siberian iris leaves in the bag to the right.
That concludes my pics. It was a great day. Actually a day sponsored by my daughter as a mothers day present. Mexican food, with Margaritas to end it all.
And, if you iris lovers can believe it, she only bought peonies!
This message was edited Jun 27, 2007 11:39 AM
What a lovely day, Polly, and how nice of your daughter to sponsor it. Sounds like Mr. Borglum would have had a lot in common with Mr. McEwen of Maine iris fame. The property is so beautiful. Hard to match all those rolling hills against other gardens.
Since you specifically asked, here's Megan Victoria.
That's a beautiful LA, Pirl. Do you have any others?
By the way, I knew sponser didn't look right when I typed it, and forgot to go back, going back now, LOL.
Is anyone else growing LAs in the north? Please post some pics. I would love to see pics from north or south. Looking for pictures so I can pick some to add to my collection.
Yes, Polly, I have several but when we had such nice weather, late last year, I did the wrong thing and moved them to make room for other plants. Woe is I. No blooms at all on many of them this year.
YESSSSSSSS..........
One day I'll get there.
Sent LA Society an email asking why no labels this year..........
So many thanks Polly...........
inanda More when I come in when it starts raining.
G
Inanda, please let me know when you hear from the LA society about the labels. That seems such a shame if they were all lost. Thank you.
Last year the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens in New Jersey was vandalized and labels removed and plants destroyed. They did find the people who committed the crime but I haven't heard if they were able to identify all the irises again and get replacements for the destroyed plants.
I asked if anything happened to them, and they said no, they think they were just taken up at the end of the year. That's what leads me to believe (hope) they are mapped.
Am sure they were mapped. No reply yet.
inanda
I've got to believe that too. I contacted the head gardener at Highland Park, but haven't heard back yet.
