The other day I noticed a bud on one of the Iris that I had moved to inside my pool fence last summer. The spot it had been in was shady for a good part of the afternoon and I had planted all the first Bearded Iris I ever ordered there. One of the orders was from Rainbow Iris Farm. I thought I lost every one of the Iris from them since I only saw one flower on 'Miss Meredith' the spring after planting and then never again. I had also planted some Iris from Schreiner's there all of which have done fine over the years. However I decided to move most of them last summer since the area was being taken over by both an evergreen shrub there and also my 'Crimson Queen' Japanese Maple which ironically is almost completely gone due to losing all it's branches over winter. Now even though I know which one is which when they bloom there are no labels left there so it was a guessing game of what I put where. I even tried examining pictures I had taken to figure out which might be what. The other day, where I thought I had planted my favorite Iris 'Cheyenne Sky', I noticed black buds. At first I was confused and then remembered back in 2010 I had ordered a black Iris from Rainbow Iris Farm. I could not remember which one and although I am usually very good about keeping records I could not find any Iris I had ordered aside from 'Miss Meredith' from Rainbow Farm in my journals. I am pretty sure I had written them off as goners and never bothered. Then when the Iris opened and I could see it was definitely black I really wanted to figure out which one it was. Recently while cleaning out old papers from a drawer I remembered seeing old order slips and went hunting through the pile, low and behold I was able to find the Rainbow Iris Farm order from 2010! Apparently I had ordered 'Before the Storm', 'Ace of Diamonds' along with 'Spiderbaby' and 'Miss Meredith'. I also see they had sent 'Chanted' as a bonus! Mystery solved! Now I can't help but think that it would be so wonderful if 'Ace of Diamonds' decided to show up next! I won't keep my fingers crossed though since I am pretty sure I remember finding one completely rotted at one point after planting.
'Orinoco Flow'
Variegated Iris pallida
Close up of flower
A second bloom on 'Immortality'
Looks as though 'In A Flash' will wait until tomorrow to open...
This evening, I was so sad to find one of my new Iris 'Bowled Over' with most of the rhizome rotted. That was one I was really looking forward to. I am going to try to save it, I read about what to do on the Iris Society website. There isn't much left though.
I'll post pics in a different post because they are on my phone..
Today the following opened...
Tic Tac Toe
Immortality
Looks like a couple may be open tomorrow...
'Orinoco Flow'
'In A Flash'
The bud is black.
5/21/16 Intermediate Iris 'Coral Chimes' First Bloom
5/21/16 Dwarf Iris 'Constant Companion' First Bloom
Tonight is 5/23/16...
It looks like my Iris 'Immortality' I ordered from Garden Crossings in 2014 may open tomorrow!
For some reason I thought I posted this but didn't. It is from around 5/19/16
I seem to get bit by a different plant bug each year and last year it was the Iris bug. I ordered and planted a lot of new Iris last summer. I was out looking around and noticed quite a few have bloom stalks on them! I have read that they usually will not bloom the first year they are planted so this is a pleasant surprise.
The following currently have bloom stalks...
Constant Companion
Orinoco Flow
Holiday Treat
Perfume Counter
White Hot
Ask Alma
Raise the Curtain
Water Waltz
In a Flash has 2
Tic Tac Toe has 4!
I moved a lot of Iris last summer and the labels were all missing. I see some of them have bloom stalks as well as Beverly Sills and what I think is Immortality which I ordered and planted from garden crossings back in 2014 so I am really hoping to see it bloom finally!
