Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Bearded Irises. 5.24.17

Sans Souci in front of Indian Chief.  5.23.17

Seedling, Immortality X Sunny Disposition.  5.23.17
 Since the bearded irises are not doing well in their raised beds, I'm going to move them to the edge of the woods and let them live or die as they see fit.  In my neighborhood, there are lots of big clumps of bearded iris, doing very well.  I've stuck some rhizomes in our fence row, and they grow, spread, and bloom in the grass.  I don't know why they don't flourish in the raised beds. 

Interestingly, one of the better bloomers this year is a hybrid I made several years ago from white "Immortality" crossed with yellow "Sunny Disposition".  This came out white with yellow beard, and the petals are more substantial than either parent.  It's fragrant, too.  But the leaves are ugly.

Maybe as long as they have full sun, they can be in the most neglected part of the yard.  We'll see.

Indian Chief.  5.23.17

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:20 PM

    Greetings! And, oh-my-my. Such a magnificent garden, and those bearded irises are the stuff dreams are made of ...

    Hello! It's your Ridgefield beekeeping neighbor here, and i was just wondering how your bees are doing! Thriving, i'm guessing, given all the magnificent forage you've provided them with. Are they doing well? Do you still have your top bar hives?

    Sad news about our nearby beekeeping supply shop. Although hubby and i had an order pending that we obviously never received, it's all turned out fine. The package we ordered turned out to be totally unnecessary since we were able to make splits. And our apiary is treatment-free! Knock wood, both of our gardens, our bees, and of course, ourselves will remain healthy, happy and whole (in these increasingly troubled times).

    Hope all is well!

    Barb

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    1. Thank you Barb. Well, my hives once again lost their populations over the winter, this time before winter was really under way. So I have given up on beekeeping. To much expense for no return, for me. Maybe some day in the future I will again. I have kept two of the beehives, with the not-too-optimistic thought that a feral population might move in.

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    2. Anonymous7:20 PM

      Oh, i'm so sorry to hear that! We experienced some winter losses as well, but knock wood, we're slowly building what i hope will be a sustainable, treatment-free apiary. This year, our wooden-ware to bee ratio is just right, but hubby and i were just saying that it's possible we'll end up with bees to spare next year (again, knock wood). If that happens, i'll definitely drop you a note, and if your hives are still empty, maybe we can fill them up with some treatment-free survivor stock.

      Keep the faith!

      Barb

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  2. Very nice irises. Mine is not as nice this yr. The large clump of purple iris has gotten too big and didn't bloom so I dug it up and gave it away. Then there was too much rain and a nice one got rotted. No blooms yet.

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    1. I'm moving most of them to the edge of the woods. There they get full sun. In the raised bed, maybe they are too close together. I never had trouble growing them until I used the raised beds. So - now it will be survive, or not! I hope they do, but meanwhile the raised bed will be converted to greens.

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