Tag: irises

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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From Irises: A Gardener’s Encyclopedia by Claire Austin:

“The bearded iris gains its name from the line of thick hairs that emerges from the throat of the flower. These hairs form a long, furry caterpillar towards the back of the falls, and their purpose is to guide insects, such as bees, towards the pollen. Bearded irises are the largest group with the greatest number of cultivated varieties. They are also the most popular group of irises for garden use.

“In the wild, bearded irises grow in an area that stretches from the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia and from the Arabian Peninsula north to southern Russia. They usually are found in a sunny place where the soil is poor and well drained. The flowers, which always have large petals, are borne on stiff stems above broad, sword-like, and usually soft green leaves. These form a handsome clump that is invaluable in a garden.”

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:

“The citrusy range of tones we call orange makes my mouth water. Orange bearded irises sparkle and gleam on warm spring days, the perfect show for a mid-afternoon stroll through the garden with a mimosa….

“The history of orange bearded irises… traces back to breeding efforts with yellows and pinks, work that was by no means easy. Some of the first orange-colored irises, blends of off-colors or faint allusions to orange by present definitions, lacked good floral substance and architecture. Some of the best examples of these new colors came from crosses involving median irises… and early dwarfs… coupled with further line breeding and use of apricot-colored irises that were the by-products of pink breeding. Many breeders have risen to the challenge of developing orange irises with distinctive colors, good form and substance, and sound growing habits.”

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Hello! More irises!

This is the first of two posts featuring irises from Oakland Cemetery’s gardens whose pink, peach, and orange colors caught my eye, so I gathered them together.

Like many irises, these all have beards, but don’t need to shave. I learned recently about the evolution of the iris’s beard from a delightful documentary called Plant Odyssey, which takes you on a tour through the culture and history of four influential flowers: roses, waterlilies, tulips, and irises. The documentary describes how the iris modified its own structure to develop beards in coevolution with pollinating bees, and how the shapes and colors of the beards are visually interesting to the bees, but also help dislodge pollen.

Those irises producing beards that attracted more bees were more frequently pollinated, giving them a selective advantage — and leading them to produce longer and more brightly colored beards, in order to — you guessed it! — attract even more bees. You can read a little about how this process works on Wikipedia (at this link) — but if you have a Discovery Plus subscription (either from Discovery Plus or Amazon Video), the documentary is a very compelling watch.

Nature rocks!

My iris posts for this year (so far) 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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From “Where Iris Is, I’m Smiling” in On Gardening by Henry Mitchell:

“The great season for tall bearded irises begins in late April and early May in places such as northern Mississippi, two weeks later in Washington, and progressively later farther north. Fortunately irises have not lost their fragrance through many generations of breeding, and every iris grower knows and revels in the variety of scents. Some are like sweet peas, some like ripe grapes, and some have an indefinable sweetness not like anything else….

“They like full sun. They bloom magnificently in slight shade, with six hours of sun a day, but not so freely as in full sun. They like rich soil, preferably a sandy loam, though clay loam, even acid clay loam, does perfectly well provided water does not stand on the plants for hours after a rain….

“The spring after planting there will usually be one bloom stalk, and the second year there will be five, say, and in the third year perhaps ten or twelve. They are best dug up after the third year, divided and replanted using three young vigorous rhizomes set a foot apart in a triangle, the fans all pointing the same direction.”

From “Iris Unguicularis” in Some Flowers by Vita Sackville-West:

“Frail and delicate in appearance, the Algerian [iris] is really a tough which flourishes best in a sort of rubbish heap of its own. If you plant it in rich soil, and allow it so much as to catch sight of a lump of manure, its crop of leaves will be indeed extravagant, but blossoms there will be none. But if you plant it in contemptible rubbish such as brick-bats and gravel, with the especial addition of any old mortar rubble which the builders may have left over, and which is rich in lime, you will get a crop of flowers… to fill every glass you may have available.”

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Hello!

This is the second of two posts featuring irises of the blue and purple kind; the previous post is Irises in Blue and Purple Hues (1 of 2), and my first iris post for this year is Black Iris Variations (and Hallucinations).

I’m fairly sure that the last six photos are those of an Algerian Iris (officially, Iris unguicularis), and it was growing in conditions similar to those described by Vita Sackville-West above: next to a crumbly stone wall and rooted in a combination of old wood chips, gravel, grass, and sand. There were only a handful of irises like this in the gardens — and I was glad to have captured them, as they are probably gone by now.

Thanks for taking a look!

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