We had a friend in Merced that used to have an commercial iris garden. It was called "Enchanted April." Each April his acres were a beautiful site to behold. I believe that he had over 150 varieties plus a few that he had developed himself and named after his daughters.
He ended up with bad knees and was forced to move his retail iris garden into a wholesale one. In one of his last years of operation, mom and dad came over with a friend from England. They bought us four different varieties.
The iris business is pretty interesting in that when you see the blossoms you really cannot get the plants you want until later in the year.. about late August or September when they can be separated and moved. The old blossomed spikes are discarded and new shoots are encouraged. My iris garden is ready for such a renewal. The dwarf peach and nectarine trees are impinging upon the light needed for the iris and the weeds are much harder to eliminate because they enter the zone of the trees and are taller than than the iris.
Currently the iris garden is displaying some beautiful fringe benefit iris (orange) and some spuds and butter (yellow fringed with white centers). Later in the season will be the deep purple black Abbey (named after his daughter) and the iris that mom likes, the Beverly Sills (pink). They are the last iris of the season.
: ) Pat
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2 comments:
Love, love, love the iris. My mom's name is iris and she has a yard full of them.
She and my sister go to an iris farm outside of porterville to order new plants for their gardens.
When are you going to upload pics? Would love to them. :)
We had an Great-Aunt named Iris... but her nickname was Peggy
She was my favorite great aunt.
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