Happy Natives
Last week I gave a tour at the Hortense Miller Garden and was pleasantly surprised to see the grand show being put on by the Douglas Iris! An entire hillside in the native garden was covered in blooms, the most I have ever seen in my ten years of giving tours there! I came home and looked at my Douglas Irises and sure enough they are blooming away too!
These are California natives, also called Pacific Coast Iris, and although very drought tolerant, they seem to be reacting to all the rain we've had this winter and spring with exuberant blooms! How nice!
Last week I gave a tour at the Hortense Miller Garden and was pleasantly surprised to see the grand show being put on by the Douglas Iris! An entire hillside in the native garden was covered in blooms, the most I have ever seen in my ten years of giving tours there! I came home and looked at my Douglas Irises and sure enough they are blooming away too!
These are California natives, also called Pacific Coast Iris, and although very drought tolerant, they seem to be reacting to all the rain we've had this winter and spring with exuberant blooms! How nice!
What a wonderful opportunity you have to be a tour guide at a garden! Thank you for sharing the irises in bloom. It brightens my day!
ReplyDeleteThe first iris is gorgeous. I love irises and your blog is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! They must have heard it's California's first official 'Native Plant Week' this week!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Iris, I do love Iris!
ReplyDeleteBonjour from France, dear Irises' Friend. Thank you so much for all your pictures and comments, or, advices and councils about your beautiful Irises' collection. I had some(much more than that: a lot!). Unfortunatly, a neigthbor of my garden planted a long and consequent hedge, which came up higher and higher each year, plus some trees that came very tall, in sorte all this was making a lot of shade all along my Irises' beds. As elsewhere in my own garden I also had planted some little trees(I didn't think they will grow so much successfully, but it's true it is raining so very much in Normandy!) they growed so tall that they made more and more shade, then: no mores Irises. Along time, I have lost most of them, after they just have been growing about a while of only two years, or so... I'm so sad about that. I frequently buyed new ones, trying different species, to see what would be happening. No more, only even one, had been agreeing to stay alive and bloom. I regret this, as much that as, Irises were my better focal interest and first inspiration for painting. No Irises, no more pleasure to be painting. So sorry, I ask myself if I have to cut my poor trees(a Lilac with exquisite pale lavender/blue color, a Judas Tree flowering dark Indian pink, a delicate Japanese Apple Tree flowering pale pink, a Birch). It's as much surprisin as all of roses I planted since a while, still are successfully growing and blooming. However, anyway, I thank you for all your beautifull images, and the beauty of your blog site: what a splendeur ! Wish you have a great flowers' season. Friendly. katherine
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