Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Little Iris, Big Joy

Last spring, I was amazed to discover that certain iris bloom in early spring. I spotted a few of these beauties in Friendship Park and even more in Tim’s paradise. I placed my first bulb order of the (2006) season in June (I know - sick!) and included forty-eight Iris reticulata. They were planted along the street-side entrance to the front path last fall. This week they began blooming. I’m in love.

Not only do I love the petite flowers, the timing of the blooms could not be more perfect. They opened after the crocus, but before the daffodils. (At least, before the daffodils in MY yard. The daffodils at Friendship Park are going nuts.) With these early bloomers, Dutch iris, regular iris, and repeat-blooming iris, I suppose I could have iris in bloom all season!

I’m interested to see how the foliage die-down is. I doubt it will be ugly enough to keep me from ordering at least forty-eight more.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Jenn said...

I love those guys!

12:36 PM  
Blogger Nadja and Sean said...

Oh, so pretty! Jealous am I! Hopefully we will have green living things poking up in our yard soon...
:)

2:05 PM  
Blogger Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

I haven't grown Iris reticulata in many years. They're one of my favorites. I'll add them to my gardens for future Springs.

As I recall, after flowering the skinny pointy leaves keep getting longer and floppier, more grasslike. They're kinda messy, but then other things are usually growing and leafing out by then that I didn't mind them so much. When the foliage got completely brown I pulled it and put it in the compost.

2:44 PM  
Blogger Carol Michel said...

So pretty! My Iris reticulata have not yet bloomed, hopefully they will soon.

7:34 PM  
Blogger Colleen Vanderlinden said...

Absolutely gorgeous! I'm still waiting for my crocuses to bloom...

4:38 AM  
Blogger OldRoses said...

I planted these last fall too! I think the squirrels got all of the bulbs. Glad to hear that yours made it. They're gorgeous.

8:11 AM  
Blogger Sylvana said...

I don't even have any bulbs coming up yet! One of the downfalls of living in the Arctic Circle! ;)

I have some petite irises that I got from my grandmother's garden that I just love - and they multiply like crazy! They are a light purple and white and bloom here about mid-May. I have no idea what kind they are, though.

9:50 PM  

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