A bouquet of irises

Irises are among my favorite spring flowers. They're not doing as well this year as they did last year. I think its because the snow stayed on the ground for too long. They normally produce way more buds than they have produced this year, and the flowers are usually alot bigger than they are this year. By this time last year they were nearly finished blooming, and this year they've only started blooming. I'm sure they'll be back to normal next spring. These ones are ones that Gate's mother had planted on the other side of the house. The area they were planted was a little too shady and they had stopped blooming. They appear to have appreciated the move to a sunnier location.





These were bought at Jardin Hamel in 2006, and this is their first year of bloom. They were on sale because they had no identification tag, so I had to wait till this year to see what color they were. Turns out that they are almost exactly the same color as the ones above, but they have a bit of a ruffle to the lower petal.

This German Iris that I put in last year has only a single flower stalk. It was supposed to be pure white, but it has faint blue-purple marking. When it comes into its own it will be spectacular, especially as a cut flower. As you can see in front of the iris the pink lupin is beginning to bloom. It started as a seedling last spring, so I'd say its comming along well. I think its the only one that is not blue.

This bronze one came from my mother. It had quite a few blooms last year even though I had moved it in the early spring. This year its produced only a single flower stalk. I'm already imagining it in a bouquet with the white one above. They will be spectacular together.