Garden Updates. 6.26.2020

Miscellaneous notes.

I've been cleaning up my bearded iris bed.  It's kind of embarrassing how weedy and unkempt it became during the rainy season.  There was too much else to do.  Now I have a big cleanup to do.

In addition to weeding and cultivating, I'm cutting back the leaves and letting the rhizomes bask in the sun.  I have not decided yet about mulch, although in my heart of hearts I know it would help a lot with leaf spot and bacterial rot diseases.

I'm also culling,  If I think the flowers are ugly, I'm removing that clump. I'm also removing the ones that seemed highly susceptible to the cool wet season diseases, bacterial rot and leaf spot.  The newest reblooming varieties have been the most susceptible, and I culled most of them.  I kept a couple of the big lush modern non rebloomers for this time around, even though I think a couple of those are also too susceptible.  Next year...

Replacing those, are "rescues" from roadside "Free" rhizomes that I grew in separate nursery beds for a year or two, to see what they look like.  Those are nonlabeled, but one looks like Shah Jehan, another like Wabash, and there is a very nice white one and a plicata type with mauve coloration around the edges of the petals.  None of those seems particularly disease susceptible, and all are nice.  That let me decomission that bed in the easement, which I planted with wildflower mix, grass seed and clover.  I also moved into the iris bed, from a nursery bed in what is now the fenced vegetable garden, Monsignor, an apricot colored iris, and a purple one that is very large and nearly black.

Bearded Iris Bed undergoing cleanup for summer.  6.26.2020.

The chestnut trees are starting to bloom.  It's difficult to see the female flowers.  There are a few.  I'm hoping they will start to appear as the male flowers come into full bloom.

Maraval Chestnut in bloom.  6.26.2020

This is one of the chestnut grafts.  It's interesting that these grafts are blooming in their first year.

Graft of Precose Migoule chestnut on Marissard seedling chestnut tree.  6.26.2020

These are a nice summer squash. They are very good sliced, coated with little olive oil and seasoned salt, and cooked in the air fryer.

Some Ugly Irises. 5.23.2020

I need to do some thinning out of the bearded iris plants.  That's hard to do, they are my favorite flower.  However, some are ugly, and some do poorly.  This season will be when I make some decisions.

The iris garden is getting weedy and the rains and chills have not been kind.

The cultivar "Cheetah Cheese was more oranges and yellows in the photos from the nursery.  This one is mauve-ugly with white.  It's uglier in person than in this photo.  It will go into the trash  The cultivar "Blatant" is sold as a rebloomer.  In the internet photos, the flowers practically glow.  In my garden, they look like the skin of someone with a really bad blood vessel disease.  This one also did not bloom last year, and one of the two plants that I had developed rot.  This one looks like that might happen too.  I think some are over-hybridized and more susceptible to disease compared to some of the oldies.  Blatant will also go.  They probably shouldn't go into compost if they are possibly infected with something.

Bearded Iris "Cheetah Cheese".  5.23.2020

Bearded Iris "Blatant"  5.23.2020

Iris Garden Today. 5.15.2020

Sunny Disposition.  5.15.2020

Bearded Iris Garden.  5.15.2020

Victoria Falls.  5.15.2020

More Bearded Iris Blossoms. 5.14.2020

Here is the white orphaned irise today.  It's nice.  Unlike "Immortality", it doesn't look like wet tissue paper after a rain. 

Here is what that iris rhizome looked like 5.21.2020 after I cleaned it up, after pulling it out of the brush pile.  It's amazing that it bloomed in almost exactly one year.  Irises are rugged.  That blossom was probably from the largest of these rhizome pieces.

Here is a view of the iris garden today.

"Immortality".  It actually does not look like wet tissue paper this time.  5.14.2020

Honorabile or Sans Souci, which may be the same thing.  5.14.2020

"Spiced Custard"  5.14.2020

"Red Dirt Road".  5.14.2020

"Edith Wolford".  5.14.2020

Orphaned Bearded Irises, First Bloom. 5.13.2020

These grew from rhizomes found while walking Rufus.  The white one was in the power company easement where a lot of people walk their dogs, and some dump yard waste, which is probably illegal.  The others were from a curbside "Free Irises" box, just rhizomes.  The sign said "purple and yellow" but that doesn't quite seem accurate.  One is not quite open, looks similar to Shah Jehan.  The last is the variety "Sunny Disposition", which I thought had died and I three the rhizomes into the woodlot, discovering growing rhizomes a year or two later and planting to see what would grow.  At the time, the only yellow that I had was "Sunny Disposition", and this looks exactly like it, so that clinches the ID.

Unknown White Iris from Walking Rufus.  5.12.2020

Unknown Irises From Walking Rufus.  5.13.2020

Iris Sunny Disposition.  5.13.2020

More Bearded Iris Blossoms. 5.11.2020

Bearded irises are my favorite flower.  Here are some more photos, taken today 5.11.2020

This was a "free rhizome" from the curbside while walking Rufus.

I pollinated "Immortality" with "Spiced Custard" and this is what grew.  I call it "Golden Caterpillar Climbing the Snowy Mountain to the Temple".  :-)

"Repeat Performance"

"Zin City"

Not an iris!  I planted this Itoh Peony from Home Depot a few months ago.  It's nice to have a sample flower now.  "Scarlet Heaven", I think.  5.11.2020

Another photo of  curbside rhizome, I think is "Blue Shimmer"  5.11.2020

Bearded Irises. 5.11.2020

Bearded iris "Iris pallida dalmatica"  5.11.2020

 Here are some irises in bloom today.  This is the best they've ever done for me.  Many are recovered from a few years ago when I gave up and deposited the rhizomes in the woodlot, only to find they did well in that situation so I recovered them and replanted.

I think the biggest problem is I'm reluctant to mulch them.  Everything I read says "don't mulch irises" but in reality, I think they do better that way, less fungal and bacterial disease.  Maybe this year I'll do that.

The watermark is my prior blog.  I'll change Picasa so it correctly shows this blog, in the future.

On the left, "Hemstitched" (I think).  Unknown on the right.

Modern bearded iris from Schreiners, "Red Dirt Road".  5.11.2020

The yellow iris is "Sunny Disposition".  I've grown this one for 20 years.

Various historic iris.  5.11.2020

Historic iris "Alcazar".  5.11.2020

"Left on the curb, free!" iris rhizome.  Possibly "Blue Shimmer".  5.11.2020

Iris "Play to Win".  5.11.2020

Iris "Sunny Disposition".  5.11.2020

Iris "Spiced Custard".  5.11.2020

Bearded Iris Summer Care and Planting Some New Ones. 7.21.19

New Bearded Iris Rhizomes.  7.21.19

Bearded Iris Garden.  7.21.19

Bearded Iris Garden.  7.21.19

 Mid summer is a good time for some bearded iris garden maintenance and updating.  I don't think they are completely dormant, because I have kept them watered, as well as gave them a dose of low nitrogen fertilizer after they finished blooming.  Most of the clumps are much more robust than they were this time last year.  The leaves are larger and thicker, and the rhizomes look thick and sturdy.

I certainly don't need more varieties, but it's fun to  test new ones.  Those came in the mail two days ago.  My mistake, two are duplicates of ones I thought were lost, but then found.  So there are only four new ones.  I planted the duplicates next to clumps of the same cultivars.

I discarded several big clumps of varieties I consider underwhelming, or have too many duplicates.  I also moved some clumps to new raised beds in the old Vancouver yard.  I also divided several clumps, and refreshed some overgrown clumps by removing the old dead rhizomes and too-small offshoots, keeping the vigorous young ones. In particular, I divided "Immortality" and wound up with 4 clumps, one of which went to Vancouver and one to an "overstock"bed, to give away if someone wants it.  That bed also ot a big established clump of "Accent" as well as a smaller clump of "Sunny Disposition".

Some clumps were too close together.  I had underestimated their vigor.  I moved them further apart, so now the space that had 12  clumps, only has six, evenly spaced.

In the main iris bed, there are two very big clumps that did not bloom  this Spring.  I left them in place for one final chance next Spring.  For all I know, they may be more uglies, or duplicates of others.  Or they my be something nice.

From the "recovery" beds I discarded clumps of two ugly and one that was too many of that cultivar, and moved 3 clumps that I liked into the main iris garden.

Bearded Iris Garden.  7.21.19

As for cutting back the leaves, for the most part I did not.  I was careful to avoid too much root trauma,  so I didn't think that I needed to remove leaves to balance for root loss.  Leaves mean photosynthesis, which sends sugars for storage to the rhizomes for strong growth and bloom next year.  I am progressively cutting off all old leaves that look dry or very droopy.

Other than minor weeding, cultivating with stirrup hoe (shallow), and removing dead leaves, there isn't much more to do.  I might water the new ones, and the reblooming varieties, once a week until fall.  I'll cut back the leaves in late fall too.

Iris of the day: "Overjoyed." And Others. 5.27.19

Tall Bearded Iris "Overjoyed".  5.27.19

This is the last of the irises to begin blooming.  Many still have many buds remaining to open.

This iris, "Overjoyed" has nice form, ruffled flowers with a nice shade of yellow in the falls and near-white in the standards.  It's a very modern look and they came through the rainy season like a champ. This is also nice for a rhizome that I planted late summer / early fall, yet grew vigorously an give a great bloom.

The others have been posted before.  In the dead of winter, I'll look at these photos many times to recall this season and anticipate next year.

Tall Bearded Iris "Edith Wolford".  5.27.19

Tall Bearded Iris "Gay Parasol" 5.27.19

Bearded Iris Experimental Garden Bed.  5.27.19

Irises of the Day. "Fresh Start". And Others. 5.25.19

Tall Bearded Iris "Fresh Start".  5.25.19

 Today's "Iris of the Day" is "Fresh Start", a newer introduction from Schreiners'.  It's a big flower, tall stem. Fell down in the rains, so I tied it to a bamboo stick.  Nice color and bright appearance.  Not much by way of fragrance  This is not a "me too" iris in my bed.  No others in my garden look like it.

Among the others, "Edith Wolford" lightened up when fully open, so now is the typical appearance.

"Accent" is a blooming machine.  It also held up in the rain.

New, reblooming variety "I'm Back" has a nice flower, but the stems are very short.  I suspect that's because this is it's first year, and the rhizomes have not built up enough power to make a taller stalk.  I hope so, otherwise it would be culled.  One foot is just too short for such a big flower.

Historic Tall Bearded Iris "Accent".  5.25.19

Tall Bearded Iris "Edith Wolford".  5.25.19

 "Padded Shoulders" is also kind of a blooming machine.  Very nice.

Tall Bearded Iris "I'm Back". 5.25.19

Tall Bearded Iris "Padded Shoulders".  5.25.19

Iris Bed.  5.25.19

"Immortality" continues to shine.  It's almost luminescent.

Later Blooming Bearded Irises. 5.23.19

Bearded Iris "Beverly Sills".  5.23.19

Historic Bearded Iris "Mrs. George Darwin".  5.23.19

 Now we are getting to the later blooming irises.  Soon, it will be back to home orchard and kitchen garden, which I've been working on.

With heavy and frequent rains, and chillier temperatures, many of the irises are more bedraggled.  Some of the tallest fell over ("Red Dirt Road" and "Play To Win").  These might benefit from support next year.

None of the pink ones look that great.  This is "Beverly Sills", one of the most promoted and awarded.  It's possible it needs another year, or a more favorable season.

Of the historic irises in the woodlot border, "Mrs. George Darwin" bloomed.  One fall was knocked off by rain, but the identification is obvious, and it is one that I bought from "Old House Gardens" a number of years ago.   According to the Historic Iris Preservation Society,  "Mrs. George Darwin" was developed in 1895 by Sir Michael Foster.  It's a small iris, and one thing is shows is how far irisarians have come in developing larger, more colorful, sturdier, more ruffled cultivars.  Still, it's nice there in the border.  From Wikipedia, George Darwin was the second son and fifth child of Charles Darwin, and was an astronomer and barrister.    Too bad, the iris that honors Maud Darwin doesn't even include her name!  She was Lady Martha Haskins "Maud" du Puy Darwin, an American Socialite who campaigned for women police officers, bore 5 children, and apparently lived the upper crust British life for the times.

The tall bearded "Edith Wolford" is a replacement for one I had earlier and lost.  Maybe it's still among those that did not bloom yet, after moving to better locations from the woodlot?  I don't know.  This has deeper color than previously.  Since this soil was amended with wood ashes over the Winter, and organic slow release bloom food in early Spring, the growth conditions may be responsible.  I've noted that others are also richer in color, larger, and more substance, than in the past (Immortality and the dark blue one that might be Blue Knight).   Who was Edith Wolford?  I don't know.  I found obituaries for four different Edith Wolfords, and a school named for someone with that name, but I don't know who the iris was named for.  If I pick an "Iris of the Day" from today's selections, it would be "Edith Wolford".

Tall Bearded Iris "Edith Wolford".  5.23.19

Tall Bearded Iris "American Classic".  5.23.19

 Now to "American Classic" and the unknown iris that I thought was "American Classic" but is not.  Like "Edith", this has more color and more substantial petals than I recall, which may be due to the gardening  conditions.  Both were planted last summer, and may need more time to establish to become taller and make more flowers, but this is a very good start.  The other, now unidentified variety, is in the general class of "blue plicatas", which describes the white background and blue edges, but there are many such cultivars.  So far I have not found one exactly like this one.  The closest so far is "Blue Shimmer", via Historic Iris Preservation Society, developed in about 1942.  But I'm not sure that is correct.

Tall Bearded Iris, Unknown Name ("No-ID").  Blue Shimmer?  5.23.19