Monday, May 3, 2010

Irises 05/03/10


One of my very favorite things about spring time is watching all the Irises bloom. Each day can hold a new surprise for me when I walk out the door in the morning. Jamie and I are constantly adding to our Iris collection. Here are a few that are blooming in the garden right now.

‘Blueberry Bliss’


Blueberry Bliss


‘Owen’s Yellow’

Owen's Yellow


‘Contraband Girl’

Contraband Girl


This is a beautiful unknown iris that was sent to us by a friend in Michigan. If you think you know the name feel free to shoot us a note.

Polly's


‘Caesar’s Brother’ was a gift from Phillip’s garden. I really want to increase the Siberians and Japanese Irises on our garden.

Caesar's Brother


‘Champagne Waltz’

Champagne Waltz


‘ Not Good Show’ Turns out this is Sentimental Rose- It was marked wrong at the plant show.

Good Show


Marilyn from Wheelchair Gardener sent me a picture of this Iris over a year ago. When we saw it, we thought it was the prettiest thing we had ever seen. Jamie ordered it online as a gift for me and this is the first bloom it’s produced for us. It’s called ‘Starship Enterprise’.

Starship Enterprise


‘Slavok Prince’

Slovak Prince


‘War Chief’

War Chief


‘Spartan’

Spartan


‘Avalon Sunset’

Avalon Sunset


I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Iris ‘Megabucks’ is next on my wish list. Who knows, maybe I’ll order it today!

25 comments:

Roses and Lilacs said...

Blueberry Bliss is fabulous and I really like Starship Enterprise too. You have a wonderful collection.

I used to buy at least one new variety every season but have gotten out of the habit.
Marnie

Les said...

I must get Blueberry Bliss.

I have several rebloomers that I have been waiting to see, and now that they have bloomed I don't care if the have flowers 12 months of the year, I don't like them. A glass of skim milk has more color.

Randy Emmitt said...

Randy and Jamie,
Some collection you have there! I like Starship Enterprise the best too. My grandfather used to have 300 different bearded irises before the state bought his land to make a state park. We just don't have enough sunny spots to plant very many here.

Pam/Digging said...

Wow, you have a big collection. I think you led with my favorite though. 'Blueberry Bliss' is bliss indeed.

sweetbay said...

Starship Enterprise is a real beauty!

Southern Lady said...

They are all beautiful. I don't think I could pick a favorite. Carla

Chandramouli S said...

Good lord! They are so many! I love your Iris posts. Every single one looks gorgeous and unique!

Darla said...

Lovely collection!

Phillip Oliver said...

I like "Owen's Yellow" - what is the rose growing next to it? I need to send you some more of the siberians.

Randy said...

Marnie,
What excellent restraint! I don’t think I could limit myself to just one a season! LOL

Les,
We have some that aren’t as showy as others and more than likely we will start replacing those as we run out of room.

Randy,
One day soon we will have a lot of shade in our garden, but you know, we have some that are planted in full shade already and they do surprisingly well.

Pam,
Blueberry Bliss does seem to be a favorite, it really is such a rich deep blue.

Sweetbay,
Right now ‘Starship Enterprise’ is my favorite!

Carla,
I think each one of them has their own charm. We had another one open last night that’s been in the garden for three years and hasn’t bloomed. The tornado blew away the label so we don’t know what it is, but it’s the most beautiful lavender.

Mouli,
Can you grow Irises there?
Thanks Darla! Your mom’s coneflower is doing GREAT this year! You’ll se pictures soon.

Phillip,
We will be dividing OY very soon if you want some. The rose is an old one that I dug out of my Grandmothers yard. I don’t have any idea what the name of it is, but it certainly has beautiful ivory blooms on it. --Randy

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I love the parade of Irises. Such beautiful colors. I have one similar to the Prince. I have a white siberian iris call Sea Gull. It is gorgeous. How does one ship flowers?

Randy said...

Lisa,
I always just box them up and send them out. I usually send irises bare root. Every now and then I send things wrapped in moist newspaper. -- Randy

Unknown said...

Just beautiful, Randy. You have so many talents and it shows through your gardening and photography.
Starship Enterprise is a favorite of mine too.

Barbarapc said...

Such great iris shots - am in love with the first, Blueberry Bliss. What an amazing colour. Don't grow many iris because their season is so short here - one I do have a special place for is Iris pallida 'Aureo Variegata' because it's not a bad blue and the variegated leaves make it look nice for the whole summer. Thanks for sharing.

tina said...

Coincidentally I'll be posting pics of my irises tomorrow. It has been so fun trying to figure them all out, ok, not really but cataloguing them even if only on the blog is important to me. I think you may have helped me out with some identification. Love that orange one! That is next on my wish list as I do not have an orange one. Now to find a spot...

You guys have a great day today-looks like a super awesome one.

Anonymous said...

You have such a large collection of Irises. I love the Siberians too. Need to remember to add more of next spring. :) I'm partial to that 'Starship Enterprise'.

F Cameron said...

You do have such a fabulous collection!

Last week, a reader of my blog visited my garden. What did she notice? That I have no bearded irises, but plenty of Siberian, Dutch, Flag and Japanese. Couldn't believe she noticed! She offered me a few -- she brought hers up from Atlanta -- must be something about iris collecting down that way. I still declined. I just can't figure out where to plant bearded irises!

Randy said...

Jan, always glad to see you pop in! Hopefully things will slow down some so I can pop back in to Gardener’s Gumbo. We have a lot to catch up on.

Barbara,
We have two types of variegated iris, you’re right they are gorgeous even when they aren’t blooming.

Tina, I’m looking forward to seeing your post!

Racquel,
Pretty soon we will run out of space, but as long as we have room, we are going to keep buying them.

Cameron,
Your garden is so beautiful! I wish I had your discipline when it comes to buying and placing plants. Your garden is put together so well!

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

Yes, I enjoyed your iris show immensely! I love seeing such a variety. That first one was a doozy but I also like especially 'Avalon Sunset'.

I'm so glad you stopped by because I've been meaning to get to your blog for some time now (you know how this season is!). I strolled around all your posts and even though you think you're behind, everything looks lovely.

Jim Longs Garden said...

Ahhh, I LOVE Avalon Sunset! I just wish there was a way to somehow record the fragrances of irises. I try to inhale each one, over and over trying to memorize it, but always fail. Such heavenly smells.

Yes, Randy, I did enjoy my fish in Madison. The scenery helped a lot :-)
Love your postings.

Marilyn Jones said...

Jamie, thanks so much for the beautiful Iris show! I'm so jealous! I had a few blooms this year, but Mobile is just not a good environment for growing iris. I so miss seeing the blooms.

Marilyn Jones said...

Ooops! Sorry. I meant to address my comment to you Randy.

TexasDeb said...

Wow I have iris envy. I have a yellow thumb with them - I get great foliage but few blooms. The blue of that Caesar's Brother is singing to me - I have a weakness for true blues in the garden. Just breathtaking - thanks for sharing these.

serial tiller said...

I'm going to post my irises (most of which are unnamed) I'd love for you to pop over and take a peek! I'm adding myself as a follower to your blog (I found it thru Phillip)
Jennifer

klaraau01 said...

what a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors, textures and scents - thank you very much for sharing!