Bearded Irises - Fall Cleanup

Bearded Iris Bed #1.  Heritage Varieties.

Bearded Iris Bed #2.  Heritage Varieties.

This weekend I cleaned up the bearded iris beds. 

I've done much of the cleanup over the past few weeks.  So it wasn't that bad this weekend.

The beds are not purely Heritage vs. Modern.  There are a few modern varieties in teh Heritage beds, and a few Heritage varieties in the modern variety bed. I might sort them out.  One day.

Cleanup involved pulling out some companion plants that overgrew.  Pulling out weeds.  Careful cultivation.  With a dinner fork.  Easy with raised bed.

More crushed eggshells scattered on the surface.

Bearded Irist Bed #3.  Modern Varieties.

I did plant one additional variety.  Dried out rhizome.  "Before the Storm".  Near-black, midnight blue.  I didn't need one more.  I get too much enjoyment from growing dried out looking rhizomes.

I trimmed dead and dying leaves from the iris plants.  Inspected about 4 times.  They look a lot more healthy.

Added Sempervivum and some small growing sedum plants, salvaged from previous gardening efforts.  Idea is for growing companion plants among the irises.  Not as rank growing as culinary herbs.  A few might be on top of bulbs I planted earlier, but that's OK.

I need to make space for heritage varieties I ordered from Old House Gardens.  Those arrive in March or April.  Mrs. George Darwin, Frank Adams, Crimson King, Dauntless, Plumeri, Rosy Wings, Wabash.  Plus additional Flavescens and Honorabile / Sans Souci to flesh out the small starts of those I planted this year.  There is room.  I might have to move a few less desirable selections out, which is OK.

Irises. Peppers.

Bearded Iris raised beds.

Not much to see with the irises.  Sweet alyssum, marigolds are taking more space than I expected.  Swiss chard is vigorous.  At this size it's a bit bitter.

The bed behind the front bed is gradually being filled with established clumps of bearded irises from the house in Vancouver.   Those are modern varieties.  It will look nice in the Spring.  There is still a row of chili peppers.  Those will stay until frost. 

Pepper "Hungarian hot wax"

I didn't expect the peppers to grow.  Was not able to keep them weeded.  Some are doing quite well.  This is "Hungarian Hot Wax".

Iris Bed. New additions from Schreiner's.

New Iris Order from Schreiner's

 Iris order from Schreiner's came today.  As in previous years, the rhizomes are very big, firm, clean.  The leaves are green.  The packaging breathes, so they don't start rotting in shipment.  I don't think anyone does as good a job packaging and shipping iris rhizomes.

They sent a bonus rhizome - variety "Red Dirt Road".  Looks like a beautiful variety.  I added it to what will be iris bed #3.

New Irises, Planted.

The new rhizomes are planted.  I removed a large variegated, scented geranium.  Last weekend I moved out two large lemon balm plants.  They went to the orchard, fruit tree surrounds.  Much too big for the iris bed.  The chives may have to go soon too.  Or I can arrange differently.  Oregano also grows too large for this arrangement.

This bed is getting close to capacity.  I might change the arrangement of herbs next year, so they don't crowd the irises.  The big leafy plant is swiss chard.  It will come out soon.  Tasty in stir fry.

The white material is crushed eggshell.  Pacific NW soils are reported to be calcium deficient, so I save eggshells, dry them, crush in a large mortar and pestle, and sprinkle them liberally over the soil.  They will gradually mix into the soil and won't be visible, in a few weeks.

The miniature marigolds grew nicely and are blooming.  They have a nice marigold leaf smell.  Makes me wonder why buy marigold plants, when they do so well from seeds.

Historic Iris & Culinary Herb beds, progress report.

Historic Iris / Culinary Herb bed #2

This weekend I move more irises to the second raised bed.  I learned from last year's experiences.  Moving late Spring / early summer did not result in any negative consequences, and the irises I moved at that time flourished.

The varieties I moved from Vancouver were:  Cherry Garden 1966 (small variety), Pink Bubbles 1980 (small variety), and Gay Parasol 1973 (tall variety).  Any iris more than 30 years post introduction year is considered historic.  That makes me historic too.  I also added Los Coyotes 1992 - not historic.   I planted woolly thyme, which it looks like will stay very close to the ground, which I want.  The marigold sweet alyssum seedlings are about 1 inch tall.

Historic Iris / Culinary Herb bed #1

The first Historic Iris / Culinary herb bed.  Still in Bloom:  Quaker Lady, Iris pallida dalmatica, Shah Jehan, and Iris flavescens.  Iris flavescens is especially florifeorous.

Roman chamomile is too rangy.  After bloom, it will have to go elsewhere.  Greek oregano is also too tall for the small iris plants.  Lime thyme, French thyme, and sweet alyssum are ideal size.

Historic Iris Shah Jehan

Shah Jehan 1932

Described as tall and late.  That is accurate.  Nice fragrance.  Good for back row of heritage iris bed.  Has not flopped over but looks like it could.

Iris Raised Bed, heritage Irises

Heritage iris and culinary herb raised bed

 Heritage iris and culinary herb raised bed.  Now I wish I thought of this before.  They go together very will

Caprice.  The photograph color is not the same as the flower.  In person is is more of a rosy red, not so blue.  Nice sweet fragrance.  In the literature this is described as a grape fragrance.  That is not far off from reality.
Quaker Lady.  Also a nice sweet fragrance, floral.

Pallida dalmatica.  Also, sweet grape - like fragrance.  Sweeter than grapes.

Sold as Honorabile but Historic Iris Preservation Society states most likely Sans Souci.  No fragrance, which I knew when I ordered this variety.  I liked the appearance, and in person it is better than I anticipated.  Ideal little iris for this bed.  I don't know what I should call it, but leaning towards Sans Souci, since that is probably the right name.

Flavescens.  Also unscented, and also ideal for this bed.

Helen Collingwood.  I think I already posted that so will hold off doing so again.  Also nice floral fragrance.

Iris/herb bed #2 is also coming along nicely.  Both got a dusting of crushed eggshells this weekend for calcium.

Caprice 1898

Quaker lady 1909

Pallida dalmatica 1597

Honorabile 1840 (Sans souci? 1854)

Flavescens

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.

Bearded Iris Order

Gingersnap 1965

Gracchus 1884

 It's a rainy day, 4th day in a row.  Chilly, 40s.  Not inspired to work in the rain in the garden.

Even though I'm streamlining in some ways, and giving up some varieties, I ordered these.  Mainly for the heritage varieties and fragrance.

Gingersnap is described as having a root beer scent.

Gracchus is not described as scented.  I saw a bed of this variety at Schreiner's.  It is better in person than in the catalog.

Owyhee Desert is unusual.  The flowers are described as smaller than most.  Good in a rainy climate were the big flowers fall over.

Photos are from Schreiner's.  Since I'm linking to them, I hope it's OK that I'm posting them here.  Every order from them has been excellent.

Owyhee Desert 1997

Irises

Iris and herb bed

Lorelei

Iris germanica

NOID from Tennessee

Los Coyotes

The iris and herb bed.  Most of the newest heritage irises are yet to bloom.  They do have buds.  I think they are later blooming, and smaller, because they were planted this Spring.  Next year they should be a bit bigger.  It's nice to see them blooming the first Spring.

Loreley heritage iris.  1909.  Sweet fragrance.  The flower itself is floppy.  The color pattern on each petal is different.  This was from Iris City Gardens.  Planted last summer.

Iris germanica.  This was planted this spring.  1500.  From Old House Gardens, planted this spring.  Fragrant.

NOID from Iris City Gardens.  Date unknown.  Not fragrant.

I plan to start a second raised bed for heritage irises and favorite ones, especially scented, and herbs.  Then these in mixed beds and the kitchen garden will have a better spot.

Los Coyotes.  Not a heritage variety.  I like the form and colors.  Like many modern irises, it flopped over in the rain.  No fragrance.  I do like the flower but not the flopping.  Haven't decided if it will be in the iris bed or I might give it to Ning for his iris border.

Iris florentina.   1500.   Nice scent.    Smaller than I expected, but it was planted this spring.  Maybe next year it will be larger.  from Old House Gardens.

Iris Florentina

More Heritage Iris

Second order came today from Old House Gardens. Website oldhousegardens.comEleanor Roosevelt. Introduced in 1933. From the Heritage Iris Preservation Society web site, quoting an earlier Cooley's Iris catalog: "From the Cooley's Gardens catalog for 1937: "Deep flourite purple self, with very rich falls". Flourite purple. Cool! This is described in 1937 as the " leading fall-blooming iris in commerce today, because it increases very fast, is most reliable in flowering habit...one of the most beautiful irises in the garden... " Mme. Chereau. 1844. This description, quoted from the Heritage Iris Preservation Society site, hips-roots.com, is great: "From the Cornell Extension Bulletin 112 (1925): "Color effect a lavender-white plicata. S. White bordered hortense violet, beautifully ruffled. F. white, with deeper hortense violet, slightly purplish tinged plications." Who would have thought, "hortense violet"? Mrs. Horace Darwin. 1888. Horace Darwin was a son of Charles Darwin. I guess in those days, some flowers were named for women without actually using the woman's name. In this case, from wikipedia, Mrs. Horace Darwin was " Emma Cecilia "Ida" Farrer (1854–1946), daughter of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer in January 1880, later Lady Ida Darwin". Then again, she got a flower named after her. . Shannopin. 1940. All photos are via the Old House Gardens website, linked above. These went into the iris raised bed. There were other plants occupying the spots where I wanted to place these. Some simple transplanting was done.

Heritage Irises, continued

The bearded iris order did arrive, as I was typing the previous post.

The rhizomes were smaller than previous orders from other sources.

My thinking is these are mostly, or all, diploid. Most modern irises are tetraploid and would have larger rhizomes. In addition, West Coast irises are expected to be larger due to growing season.  I think.  These were from Michigan, and the shorter season may lead to smaller rhizomes.

The important thing for me is they grow and bloom.

Ning planted them for me. A very simple task to plant these small rhizomes. Digging in the raised bed, there was a sizable population of earthworms. They would start coming out of the ground a foot away from each hole.  Add some well aged compost mulch around each.  Ready to settle in.

According to Old House Gardens, these should bloom this year.  Considering the size and need to settle in, if these do bloom this year, that suggests the others,, which are already much bigger, should do the  same.  I would like that.