I’m not sure whether this was déjà vu, or a Rip Van Winkle moment, but the discovery of this lovely iris growing in a crevice in the rock garden stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps it was the shock of being liberated from its pot and planted outdoors or maybe it is as confused as I am about the weather.
A native of Turkey and the Balkan, this dwarf bearded iris usually flowers in the alpine house in March, so it is probably the experience of a Hebridean summer that has confused its biological clock. It is one of the species which we have managed to propagate so that we could risk a few in the rock garden. It is growing in almost pure sand and grit, with a top dressing of gravel to ensure good drainage.
It will be interesting to see if it survives the winter and flowers again in the spring. It is a tough plant, on the day I took this photograph it was gusting about 40 mph.
What a lovely sight and lovely to hear from you again.
Thank you, it definitely made my day!
Yes, it is indeed good to see you popping up again, as your absence has been noted – but I know the two of you will have been beavering away over the summer and I trust you now have groaning shelves and a bulging freeezer 😉 Your little iris certainly seems a little puzzled out there on its own ina sea of gravel, but no doubt it will has some friends just out of shot. You must have been pleased to successfully propagate it
I’m still just dipping in and outof the blog, but now we’ve returned from our annual autumn jaunt to the big island, there is a possibility that I’ll be catching up with all the garden news.
The iris proved to be capable of withstanding our weather and some of its siblings also decided to flower.
Oh yes of course, The Jaunt. Hope your extended family are all well and that you are now suitably stocked up for whatever the wnter season can throw at you
Sorry, distracted by other things. My apologies for not responding earlier.
Not to worry – I don’t expect replies to every comment and I know you tend to hunker down during the winter anyway, which I gather from glancing at your new post has been a severe one. Will catch up with it and read it thoroughly from beginning to end soon. Hope you are both surviving, anyway…
Thank you, but I feel that if someone has taken the time to comment it is polite to respond.
Winters can be tough here, but I’d rather have the ice storms than the hurricanes.
Trying to emerge from blogging hibernation due to work load, so a flurry of activity which I hope will be sustained.
Well yes, I do too (and that’s why my Mondays are always so busy), but I appreciate that not everyone can
I have a few forced daffodil bulbs that are totally on their own clock now that they are liberated into the ground. Totally confused, they come up in the fall and took two years to bloom… during the winter.
May you have plenty of happy times and serendipity in your new home + garden.
I think most plants need a settling period after moving. I have a large creche of plants are sitting in the fruit cage awaiting some better weather for a move upto the croft house garden.