Christmas Notebook

The old old purple irises from DH’s family farm are always the first to bloom in our yard, along with the few early dwarf iris. Those vintage purple ones were blooming well when this picture was taken May 1.

This iris is more purple than the picture shows. We brought this one from our previous home where I had purchased it as part of a six piece collection from one of those generic sort of garden mail-order catalogs. That collection played a big part in sparking my interest in irises. So many colors! Who knew! Trouble is, I don’t remember the name of this one…

This small vintage iris came from the family homestead of DH’s great-aunt Lydia. The house is no longer there, but several years ago, as we drove by, we spotted these little white irises growing among the weeds and we liberated a few to bloom in our own yard.

And then there is ‘Immortality’…one of my very favorite irises. It smells wonderful! It’s beautiful, early, prolific and, as an added bonus, it is a rebloomer, given enough moisture. Because we don’t water the gardens once plants are established, we had no reblooming ‘Immortality’ last year due to the summer drought. I hope that is not the case again this year.

This little brown iris was in the yard when we bought our home in 1994. Planted against a brick wall of similar color, it was lost. We’ve moved it around the yard and appreciate it’s early bloom.

My dear friend Liz gave a bag of irises to me years ago when we lived in our previous home. This is my favorite of those. Because I don’t know its rightful name, I call it “Liz’s big white.” 🙂

The Raspberry Blush are so beautiful this year. I plan to move some to the front yard this summer, as well as a few to the west side of the yard. Spread the wealth. 🙂

In the excitement of the robin rescue, I forgot to get a picture of ‘City Lights’ which also opened today. I’ll snap that one tomorrow.

~~Rhonda