Reblooming Iris

too much of a good thing? (c) 2006 RKnow

The irises are in their glory and Marianne is prodding us to edit the garden. "Too much yellow!" she says, and I have to agree, I love the mustardy flowers but they do dominate at the expense of other tones. And they come and go so fast!

Now I am reading up on reblooming irises. They would help fill the late summer gap, as well as keeping us in the iris theme. Does anyone know an especially good source of reblooming and extended blooming irises? Here's the Reblooming Iris Society and its List of Reblooming Iris 01 and another list with detailed reblooming annotations from master purveyors Sutton's Iris Gardens.

Last night I got into the Schreiner's Iris Gardens catalog. Oh my. Drooling all over the keyboard. As the page says, "Hundreds of varieties of radiant irises for your flower garden." And a half-price sale to boot. I picked out a couple of hundred $$s worth, now to trim back to about 6. I am thinking of getting more very dark ones, to echo off the queen of the night tulips that did so well this year.

Here's Nicholls Gardens Plant Nursery specializing in reblooming irises, and local! Anyone want to go to Gainesville, VA? And ohmyohmy check out that (scroll down for it) butterbowl peony!

For more information about history and culture of reblooming irises, see this Royal Horticultural Society article.

all those irises

Click to see a close-up of your favorite iris

average iris

Composite of 23 iris photos! 

Poppies and Columbines

Oh the poppies are so hot and sexy, ruffling their red frills out those hard little pods. Then they open and go blowsy but the pods swell out for another round of interest. The big oriental poppies are hard to beat. Still, I look forward to the lavender ones that reseed themselves, too (shh don't tell but the annuals are likely somniferum, as are peony-flowered and other highly ornamental types). Did anyone plant Iceland poppies--wiry little perennials with a less-tamed purity? I scattered some California poppy seeds that I collected from a roadside in Seattle, but don't know if they'll perform.


Columbines
These are Marianne's favorite flower. They are floral birds. Columbine means doves, while the Latin name--Aquilegia-alludes to flights of eagles. In New England and the Maritimes, they come in shades of white, blue and pink. The Rocky mountain native flower is red and yellow. Giant McKana is my favorite to grow from seed, with mixed colors often two to a flower. There are also double varieties that look like old fashioned ruffs. Columbines seed freely and I plan to get seedlings out of Marianne's bed this fall, with her permission, to set in the shade garden for next spring!

Painting the garden

Flame azalea

Flame orange azalea is almost finished blooming in the shaded end of the garden. This is a garden azalea but its brilliant orange resembles the wild azalea on this region, which has big flowers in shades of orange and yellow.

The National Arboretum azalea collection is not to be missed right now. If you are lucky enough to get a spot you should sign up for an evening guided tour of the collection. There are more than 2,000 different varieties, many as yet unnamed, covering the hill and formal gardens in the azalea section. They bloom at different times over the course of mid-April to Mid-May. Biltmore's one azalea is about done now.

Rhododendrons are the same family. The ones that grow here are commonly magenta or shades of pink and white, althrough there are yellow varieties as well. Mountain laurel is another cousin.