{"id":95,"date":"2008-05-27T06:58:07","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=95"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:02","slug":"the-trouble-with-iris-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/the-trouble-with-iris-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trouble With Iris"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE TROUBLE WITH IRIS
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>There is little that can compare with a well-grown stand of tall, bearded iris in full bloom.\u00a0 Their great big, multi-colored heads stand proudly atop substantial stalks, which are anchored by thick sword-shaped leaves.\u00a0 If the catalogs and websites that I use are any indication, there are at least a million named varieties and a staggering number of them are beautiful.\u00a0 Now that many reblooming iris have found their way into the marketplace, iris lovers can enjoy their favorite bearded beauties twice a year.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They can enjoy them, that is, if it doesn’t rain.\u00a0 In my neighborhood spring so far has been an endless turgid symphony of wind and rain.\u00a0 The weather has also been relatively cool, postponing the blooming season for many flowering plants and lengthening the tree pollen season to torment allergy sufferers.\u00a0 Despite the gloomy weather, the iris in my back garden–tall bearded varieties all–have done their best to raise their stalks towards the sporadic sunshine and put out flower buds.\u00a0 When we had a few reasonably warm, sunny days, those buds enlarged and prepared to open.\u00a0 I hoped for the best.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now a few have burst into bloom and the rain and wind have returned.\u00a0 There is nothing sadder than a drowned bearded iris, except maybe a brown, sodden cabbage rose or a magnolia blossom violated by an unexpected frost.\u00a0 Those gorgeous iris standards and falls attract water like sponges until the flowerheads are so heavy that the stalks can no longer support them.\u00a0 The stalks flop over and sometimes break off, and the pathetic grimy flowers languish in the puddles.\u00a0\u00a0 When this happens in my garden I sometimes rescue the less damaged stalks and bring them into the house.\u00a0\u00a0 I stake the plants that haven’t had time to fall over yet and pray for sunny days.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of my iris were a gift from a friend who was dividing her mother’s plants.\u00a0 My favorites are such a dark shade of purple that they look black from a distance.\u00a0 I have some pale blue ones that are lovely, except when flopped over.\u00a0 I also acquired a variety with purple standards and pale blue falls. \u00a0They are gorgeous and the only bearded variety that reside in my front garden.\u00a0 My least favorite are butterscotch-colored with orange beards.\u00a0 The butterscotch iris are apparently the ducks of the iris world.\u00a0 They never flop over and seem impervious to rain.\u00a0 The dark purple ones look big and strong, but they bend in the breezes and flop when the going gets tough.\u00a0 I have been thinking of buying some of the reblooming types, but I am afraid that to do so would invite a monsoon in August or September.\u00a0 My neighbors would not thank me.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Despite the perils of wind and rain, iris have been cultivated since ancient times and are freighted with all kinds of historical associations.\u00a0 The fleur de lys, a stylized iris design, was long associated with the French monarchy.\u00a0 All of that changed in 1789 when the French Revolution obliterated the monarchy and everything associated with it.\u00a0 Napoleon’s emblematic bees would not deign to pollinate anything as corrupt as a monarchist fleur de lys.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fortunately, we in the United States kept our heads, literally and figuratively, and kept our bearded iris, which came to this country with the first European settlers.\u00a0 Anyone who has ever been to New Orleans knows that the fleur de lys is a historic symbol of that city.\u00a0 The Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, headquartered at Tufton Farms in Virginia, maintains a collection of historic iris from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I persist in growing iris because they are exquisite when they are in bloom.\u00a0 Some of my iris are fragrant and remind me of an old variety that grew in my father’s backyard.\u00a0 The flowers were the palest blue and the fragrance was sweet and intense.\u00a0 My father always said that if you couldn’t smell one of those iris from a short distance away, your allergies were completely out of control.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When spring departs this year, I really have to divide my iris, a chore that has gone neglected for too long.\u00a0 I can already see that the number of blooms will be down from last year because of my dereliction of this duty.\u00a0 Fortunately dividing iris is not hard because the plump rhizomes rest just below the soil.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0If I had a worst enemy I would definitely give him or her all the butterscotch iris.\u00a0 I would tell my enemy in all candor that they are extremely reliable, multiply rapidly and stay upright through the worst weather.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe my worst enemy would be a great fan of butterscotch-colored, orange-bearded iris and the gift would soften his or her feelings towards me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The best iris are usually those given to you by friends.\u00a0 However, for a great selection of interesting varieties try Schreiner’s Iris Gardens, 3625 Quinaby Road N.E.,
\nSalem OR 97303, (800) 525-2367, or www.schreinersgardens.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 The cata<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE TROUBLE WITH IRIS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is little that can compare with a well-grown stand of tall, bearded iris in full bloom.\u00a0 Their great big, multi-colored heads stand proudly atop substantial stalks, which are anchored by thick sword-shaped leaves.\u00a0 If the catalogs and websites that I use are any indication, there are at least a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}