Two More Arilbred Iris

Both are gorgeous but only one is unmistakenly an arilbred. 'Suspect' on top shows beautiful color. I thought maybe it would be deep blue from the buds but you can see that the falls are red that is nearly black with maybe a bit of aril shading with a golden apricot color in the upright petals. It has two stalks with two large blooms each (one had three but I foolishly knocked off the top one while planting some bulbs next to it.

The flower on the bottom is 'Oyez ' which is a very popular Arilbred and you can see why from the picture. It has the domed shape of the uprights and the smaller circular falls with both sporting the aril tracings overlaying the basic pick and cream color. This plant, when I received it last fall appeared shriveled and dead with only a patch of green on one leaf. I put it is a pot to nurse it along (spraying it with Ultraboost) until it was big enough to plant just this spring. I didn't expect it to bloom but it put out a stalk with one bud which became the beauty in the picture. I can't wait until next year.

Palms

Blue (top) and Pindo (bottom), the survivors of a collection of babies purchased many years ago, nursed along in Southern California and finally dragged kicking and screaming up north.
They are all hiding from the plant cops because it's illegal to have them anyplace that can be seen from the street. Just one more of my misadventures with the plant cops to be featured in a post as soon as I finish it

The blues are native to Mexico but seem to tolerate cold just fine. The Pindo surprises me. It is a relatively tender palm but seems happy here. I have done nothing to baby it either.

Another Iris

This one in blue. I no longer know its name but it's a standard bearded.

More Irises

The first two pictures are of 'Elegant Lass' a border bearded variety. She definitely deserves the name and is putting on a spectacular display for her first year. My dwarf lemon seems determined to grow sideways and you can see the fruits behind the second picture. Keep in mind that Lass is not much more than one foot high so it is rather unseemly for the lemon to invade her space. It is time to straighten him out.

On the bottom is my dutch iris. He has been with me since the second year and always puts on a good show. For all my complaining about the plants that I can't grow here. I should be fair and point out that iris were something I never considered growing in LA.

Survivor

This handsome little guy has stuck with me from the very first summer. I bought him at a local nursery when I first began looking for perennials to fill my sunbaked and empty beds surrounding the level backyard. I was taken by his golden green color and the promise of blue flowers. Now, I can't recall his name but I could probably find it quickly should it be important.
He isn't a non-stop bloomer but you can see that he is ready to put out some nice blooms now. What I love about him is that he is still with me and putting up a good show despite the scorching summers and the stony soil.
If I see any more like him, I plan to give him some company.

Early This Year

Making an appearance much earlier this year than normal, kniphofia 'Bleached Blonde'. I have enjoyed it because it provides a block of green spiked leaves up my slope. Also it doesn't receive any landsacpe watering, just what naure provides.

This one is supposed to rebloom although it never has for me. Maybe this year with the early start, it will.

The suspense is killing me.

Don't you just hate a tease?

Tiny Bit of Sunshine

Hidden among the dutch iris I found this tiny delight. There are some up the hill also. I don't know what I was thinking when I planted them.

Iris Number 2

Iris number two is also an arilbred and I still have the label, Bagdad's Folly. It has more of the aril shape and more shading but for my money, nameless number one beats it.

Number one pushed out two bloomstalks and boasted four flowers open at one time while Bagdad only managed one bloomstalk and one flower.

I don't remember selecting yellow flowers but so far it's two for two, yellow

Encores

Rosa mutabilis in its final color. I know I called it brick red before and here it is cherry but in actuality, the color is more a blue red. Whatever, it's silky petals are lovely.






My still nameless arilbred iris looking even more lovely with two bloomstalks and four open flowers.

Oh... I looked it up. It's name is Burra Sahib.

Narcissus Malfunction

Normally, narcissus are problem free. I just plant them and they bloom. This clump of doubles is an exception. They grow well and set buds but the buds either dry up in an early stage or develop fat healthy looking buds which are ready to open which stay closed until they rot. I broke these two to get the amount of opening you see but even then, they never opened fully.
The first year this happened, I decided that a rainy spring had hampered their opening but this year was a dry spring and they still don't open.
I don't know of anything to do other than to avoid doubles in the future.

My Slope

This is the slope behind my house. It is filling in but the plants are still growing. The narcissus are pretty much done as are the flowers on the rosemary. You can see the dry creek which runs through the center of the slope. I am getting some ideas for additional plants to add in the fall.

First Iris

My first iris is a new arilbred. I lost the original tag so I don't know what variety. I should be able to look it up. It doesn't have much of the aril shape or shading, just the beautiful blotch on the falls.

The arilbreds are new this year and so far they seem happy. My other iris, planted the first year hear have not been flowering. I blame the fact that I put them on the hill by the dry stream bed but made no provision to give them summer water. I do see some flower stalks this year.

I am hoping that the arils will like our weather without coddling.

First Roses

Rosa mutabilis.

My two bushes have just afew flowers open but are loaded with buds and will soon be covered with flowers.

This is the color of the flower when it opens. It turns a brick red before it matures and the petals fall so the bush appears covered with multicolor butterflies.