Wednesday, June 27, 2012


IRIS  EXTRAVAGANZA
 
Went all out for 16 German iris last summer and now, of course, this 
new extravaganza has only made me want more – more 
variations – more subtlety – just More!

Purple/blush salmon called 'Secret Service'
against a young Cornus controversa, the very same 
weeping  white-splashed tiered dogwood that
I fell in love with at Rosemary Verey's Barnsley.

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Tear-dropped or rain-splashed…this one, 'Ocelot', 
could make you melt.

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The variations, even in solid colors, are just staggering.

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These 2 are slightly different.

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Perhaps my favorite of the season, called charmingly
'Glamour Pants'
.

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I usually only like yellow in foliage as a variegate or maybe the 
inconsequential little yellow flowers of a groundcover
like Sedum ‘Acre’,
but this I like…

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The pale mustard and white, 'Owyhee Desert', has to-the-real-eye 
purple striations in it and is divine with the pale on vivid.

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But here we are and the Iris and
Peony spectacle has dwindled down to almost nothing:

By mid-June they are all gone save for the still-to-come,
dare I say lovelier, Japanese iris.

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All of the Iris are from the great specialist
Shreiner's Iris Gardens with a great web site.




Thursday, June 7, 2012


PEONY PLETHORA

Breathtaking in its fragility is the woodland Peony japonica.

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See it nestled just under the bird's perch,

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and Tree Peony 'EZRA POUND'.

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I especially love plants and flowers with literary associations.

But this is Heaven, though I have been waiting several years
for these 2 blooms.

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PATIENCE....