Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Iris Time

The Dwarf Crested Iris, Iris cristata is really one of my favorite native plants and native wildflowers. It is so care free and multiplies with abandon.



I even wonder if it may have some allelopathic properties. An established patch rarely if ever needs weeding. That is no small feat with so many competitive neighbors. It forms a dense clump of short iris foliage that lasts until frost.



The white form did not get lost during the drilling of the well. In the mad shuffle and dig I lost track of which clump was the white one. Not only is it still here, it has more than doubled in size from the three sprigs I started with. I like the blue one better though



I really like the Dodecatheon meadia too. We need more than just the one.



These are just the early iris. The tall bearded, Siberian, Japanese, Dutch and Louisiana are yet to come.



We have moved on from the small bearded iris to the medium sized ones.



At least I think that is what these are. Some of the iris beds do not appear as robust as last year. It was a rough winter. Varmints could have been eating the rhizomes under all that snow. Not that there is a shortage of iris mind you.



The blue, pink and white bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica are starting to crank out the bloom.



This is an actual blue bluebell.



More of the rhododendron are coming into bloom.



Overnight they seem to burst into full bloom.



This too was yesterday's evening stroll. Today I actually missed out because I was working in the roadside vegetable gardening adding bagged compost/manure to the soil and planting seeds (after work). I think warm is here to stay now. When I find the time I just may risk planting tomatoes, peppers and corn before the 15th.

2 comments:

Lola said...

I like the blue best.
Seems like it ought to be warm enough for some of the plantings you mentioned. I think I may have planted my corn much too late as I saw some that was about waste high to me or maybe even taller.I did get my green bell pepper set out. My red one is blooming, so are the tomatoes. The first bush beans are blooming also. My spinach & lettuce is ready for harvest. Should make a nice salad.

lisa said...

You know there's one thing I have noticed with many plants (daylilies in this instance in my head) which respond VERY well to an "accidental high-mowing" and burst forth with nursery-quality progeny! :)