Monday, June 26, 2006

The Siren Call Of Japanese Iris

I have decided this year to basically (more or less) call a moratorium on adding new plants to my garden until I have time to do some major garden restructuring; many of my beds are WAY too crowded and overgrown already. I'm to the point where I'm discovering new plants I've never heard of, but they're in my own garden. Of course Liz has heard me declare before that I'm just not going to buy any new plants, so I'll forgive her for rolling her eyes when I said it this time, but this time I really mean it! That's why I'm kind of avoiding one part of the garden... the corner where Iris ensata 'Frilled Elegance' is blooming profusely. It's not planted in an ideal spot, as it likes rich, wet soil, and mine is planted on a well-drained slope, so the flowers are smaller than they could be... but what flowers they are! I do have nice ravines with spring fed seeps in them, which would be perfect for these irises, but that would mean extending my garden fence, and I want to leave the ravines for all the wildlife. There is one lesser ravine inside my fenced garden, site of the planned and often discussed, but never constructed, babbling brook. I COULD clear the brush from the bottom of this area and start planting Japanese iris... Posted by Picasa

Comments:
Do they have any allotments that you could rent in Iowa City? I'm just trying to think how you could expand your gardening area without having to actually puchase land. Take over the neighbour's garden? You would be surprised who will let you do that. That Japanese Iris is a real stunner. I always like picotee blossoms.
 
Peggy... well, you see we have plenty of wooded land, but only one acre of the most level part is fenced in against the deer. The rest is very deeply cut by large ravines, and would be hard to fence in, plus I want to leave most of our land for the critters. I actually (briefly, thank goodness) fantasized about fencing in just one area in the bottom of one of the ravines, where it's wet, just to grow Japanese iris. I have a lot of other irons in the fire, and need to limit myself to a one acre garden; even that's more than I can really take care of.
Don
 
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