Category: oakland cemetery

From “The Virtuous Plants” in The Origins of Garden Plants by John Fisher: 

“The Iris was said to have been first adopted as an emblem in the sixth century by King Clovis of the Franks, after a clump of Iris pseudacorus, Yellow Water Flag, had shown him where he could ford a river and so escape from a superior force of Goths….

“It was revived as an emblem, the Fleur de Louis, by Louis VII of France in 1147 when he set off on the disastrous second crusade. It figured at one time in our own royal coat-of-arms and still appears on the dials of non-digital compasses to show the way to the north. But the Iris was used in medicine as well as in heraldry. It was said to be a remedy against dropsy, jaundice, the ague, stones in the kidney and a number of less serious though distressing complaints. The blue garden variety, Iris germanica, was cultivated even in the ninth century by Walafrid Strabo, abbot of Reichenau, the famous monastery on Lake Constance, and no doubt soon spread to gardens this side of the channel.”

From “In Dreams” by Dylan Thomas in The Poems of Dylan Thomas:

And in her garden grow the fleur de lys,
    The tall mauve iris of a sleeping clime.
Their pale, ethereal beauty seems to be
    The frail and delicate breath of even-time.
And night, who stooped to kiss the pallid leaves
    To that strange colour, sighing gently, grieves
For her who walks within her garden-close.
    Somehow it seems, amid the evening haze,
That in her garden, rather than the days,
    There should be night for ever, and no rose,
But only iris on their slender stalks
Along the borders of the garden-walks.

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Hello!

This is the second of two posts featuring irises in shades of purple and violet from Oakland Cemetery’s gardens. The first post is Purple and Violet Iris Mix (1 of 2), and my previous iris posts for this season are:

Irises in Pink, Peach, and Splashes of Orange (2 of 2)

Irises in Pink, Peach, and Splashes of Orange (1 of 2)

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (2 of 2)

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (1 of 2)

Black Iris Variations (and Hallucinations)

Thanks for taking a look!

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From “Iris: The Flower of the Rainbow” in Flowers in History by Peter Coats:

“The story of the iris begins many years before the birth of Christ, and it is said that among the spoils of war that the Pharaoh of Egypt, Thutmosis I, brought back from his Syrian wars in 1950 BC, was an important collection of medicinal roots, dried herbs and seeds. Only a few were meant to be grown as flowers, and most of the collection was put at the disposal of the court physicians and sorcerers, for research and the production of love philtres. But Thutmosis thought highly of his botanical booty and had it commemorated on a carved marble panel which can still be seen on the walls of the temple of the Theban Ammon at Karnak. The carving includes several different flowers — among them, Egyptologists claim, a representation of Iris oncocyclus.”

From “Over the Rainbow: Bearded Irises and Your Garden” in A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts by Kelly Norris:

“Purple, almost to annoyance, is the quintessential iris color. Though a rather vernacular word for any number of specific colors between red and blue, including… indigo and violet, it permeates the rainbow in gardeners’ minds when someone utters the word ‘iris.’ Like blue does for delphiniums or gentians, and yellow for sunflowers or daffodils, purple in many ways defines the genus Iris.”

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Hello!

Happy June the First to all those who celebrate!

To mark the occasion — which is also the start of meteorological summer (because weather-people apparently have their own seasons); the beginning of Atlantic Hurricane Season (only good news if you’re a hurricane); and the date of many historical events and holidays — I’ve assembled the first of two posts featuring irises in various shades of purple and violet from Oakland Cemetery’s gardens.

Violet can be difficult to differentiate from purple, especially among flowers that bloom not in single colors but in hues that vary so much depending on the condition of the flower, the light or shadow nearby, and whether or not The Photographer remembers what color they were when he or she photographed them. I had originally thought those flowers in the middle of the images below — those next to a concrete wall — were violet or deep purple in color, but couldn’t seem to get a natural look for them in Lightroom.

So I went back to the gardens to hunt them up again, discovering that, in real life, the ruffled edges and petal undersides were often violet, but the center mass of each flower’s falls was more like fuchsia or magenta in color, rather than violet. Violet doesn’t dominate as a color in most of these photos, but instead is scattered throughout individual flowers wherever purple seems to head in a dark direction. I know this because — color nerd that I’m apparently becoming — I used a color slurping tool to pick out groups of pixels and determine which ones were interpreted as shades of violet versus shades of purple, blue, or magenta. Yes, I actually did that….

My previous iris posts are:

Irises in Pink, Peach, and Splashes of Orange (2 of 2)

Irises in Pink, Peach, and Splashes of Orange (1 of 2)

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (2 of 2)

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (1 of 2)

Black Iris Variations (and Hallucinations)

Thanks for taking a look!

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From “Iris: The Flower of the Rainbow” in Flowers in History by Peter Coats:

“Iris was the Goddess of the Rainbow, and in Greek mythology she is hardly distinguishable from the natural phenomenon itself. On occasions she seems to have acted as messenger from the gods, as a link between Olympus and mortals below, in that she touched both sky and earth….

“Iris, the flower, may surely be said to have borrowed its various colors from the sky. There are few iris in cultivation which are, in color, different to the tints the sky can show, and there are few skies, of untroubled blue, thundery purple, fresh primrose or dying pink, which might not find their colors reflected in the petals of the modern iris….”

From “Over the Rainbow: Bearded Irises and Your Garden” in A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts by Kelly Norris:

“Biologists surmise that elaborate patterning in flowers like the iris probably results in response to pollinators. It’s hard to imagine what iris patterns look like to bees or other insects…. The next time you’re in the garden, just imagine what a bee thinks.”

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Hello!

This is the second of two posts showing irises from Oakland Cemetery’s gardens featuring pink, peach, and orange colors. The first post is Irises in Pink, Peach, and Splashes of Orange (1 of 2).

My previous iris posts for this year are:

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (2 of 2)

Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (1 of 2)

Black Iris Variations (and Hallucinations)

Thanks for taking a look!

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