From Pennsylvania to Georgia

My friend and neighbor Catherine grew up in Pennsylvania, where her mother's green thumb was much in evidence. Now a Southerner, Catherine has planted gardens at all the houses where she and her husband have lived over the past 20+ years - often with cuttings, seeds or fully grown plants from her mother's garden. Her collection of Bearded Irises, many of which have their origins in Pennsylvania, including this one, is stunning and without equal in our neighborhood of some 700 homes.

The Irises Are Here!

The white and yellow Dutch Irises are beginning to bloom (the blue ones have buds, not yet open), the Bearded Irises are also beginning to make an appearance, and then there is the Walking Iris . . . . gorgeous bloom, but an odd plant! Each bloom lasts just a day (a few hours, really), so if you want to see it . . . ., keep a careful eye on the plant several times a day.

Another Bearded Iris

The blue one (all blue) is still not in bloom, but isn't this pink-and-blue one spectacular? I should keep better records of the names of my Bearded Irises. This one, I thought, was "Beverly Sills", but I've just realized that is the all-pink one (see May 3 post). Well, more important than the name is the show they put on in my garden. Imagine - just a few years ago, I thought Bearded Irises were old-fashioned has-beens. Now, I love them!

Bearded Iris

In my garden, unlike the gardens of friends and neighbors I have visited in recent days, the Bearded Irises are late. But now that they are beginning to bloom, they are spectacular. On a warm morning, after a good night's rain, I was thrilled to find these fully opened blooms today. Another variety is doing its best to unfold its blooms as well, so there may be a picture to be taken again tomorrow.