Iris Raised Bed

 Raised bed for heritage irises and herbs.  A couple of irises are currently blooming.  Several more are in bud.  The later ones are from the Spring planted irises from Old House Gardens.

My goal last fall, until now, was for the irises to establish in this location.  They look good.  So now, some minor  maintenance, nurturing, and puttering from time to time, and hope for a more lavish display next year.  I feel fortunate that some of the Spring planted irises did indeed bloom, or will, so I get a taste of things to come.

The little blu-ish iris is Her Majesty.  It's not as blue in person, but bluer than the catalog color.  Effect of soil pH?  Climate?

New raised bed for heritage irises.  Built this past weekend, filled, and moved several irises from places where they had bee stuck due to no good places elsewhere.  The variegated iris is Iris pallida variegata alba.   The other blooming iris is an unnamed Iris I bought from a source in Tennessee last summer.  Slight fragrance.

I also planted herbs from other locations.  Chives, oregano.  Areas the will have irises later, I planted with swiss chard and carrots.  I planted the edges with sweet alyssum seeds.

Helen Collingwood

Night Hawk

Helen Collingwood.  I've been wondering if i would like this one.  I do.  It's handsome and has a mild sweet fragrance.  It has not fallen over in the rain, and the rain has not damaged the flowers, which gives it an advantage over a lot of the fluffy modern varieties.

Night Hawk.  Also a mild sweet fragrance.  Not a heritage variety, but I liked it.  This iris did fall over in the rain.  So I staked it for support.  The color on my computer looks true to the flower.

Bumblebees have been exploring these flowers.  I didn't see any honeybees in them.