Luciana’s Irises

Another friend invited me to see the Irises in her garden.  She has an amazing collection; most have been pass-along plants so I’m afraid there are no names.

If I am lucky she will pass some of them along to me when she divides them.

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New Iris purchases

Yesterday afternoon I went to visit an open garden!  For UK readers it  will seem strange that I put an explanation mark, but here in Italy visiting a private garden is unusual and even it a garden is open it is often a disappointment; yesterday was not a disappointment at all.  The garden was open for Charity (again UK readers will not think this exceptional); the garden is planted in English style but with the addition of many plants that are more adapted to the climate here in central Italy.

When they moved from England they bought many plants with them including some Irises, which have been added to over the years.  Many Irises were also for sale (again the proceeds going to support a dog rescue charity based in the area).

Did I succumb to buying more Irises?  Yes, of course I did!  Because they were lovely and because it was a good cause.

Here’s what I bought.

Iris ‘Hoist the Sails’

Iris ‘Fair Rosalind’

Iris ‘Brassero’ – I think this will be good cut in the sitting room.

unnamed peach, I’m not so sure where I will plant this one but it is so lovely I couldn’t resisit it.

I also bought a dwarf variety that I didn’t photograph because they were flowering in the pot, today the flowers have already dropped but the colour was similar to I. Rustic Jewel that I showed the other day. If it flowers again I’ll post it and ask for an ID.

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White flowers in the garden, May

Although I don’t have a Sissinghurst-type white garden as part of my garden I do love white flowers.  They add pools of light in dark shady areas and are, for me, essential to have on the terrace or near it because they seem to be luminous in the evening as dust and then night arrives.

Here are the white flowers in the garden during the first week in May.

Iris ‘Immortality’, a lovely pure white

The above you’re seen in my post about Irises, but worth seeing again I feel.

Philadephus is filling the garden with its wonderful perfume

Allium Karataviense

Rosa Sally Holmes

Unknown name white Cistus

Aquilegea vulgaris alba

Aquilegea vulgaris alba with Allium Roseum

Convolvulus cneorum

cerastium tomentosum – snow in summer

Cistus

Solomon’s Seal

Photinia flowers, the bees love them

Allium Roseum are actually native here and people are surprised I bought them for the garden

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Iris in the garden

When I lived in the UK I never grew Bearded Irises, now they have become one of my favourite flowers.  Partly because they love the climate here and my very free draining soil in particular, they form clumps of colour very quickly.  I also enjoy the strong form of the foliage, perfectly making a strong full stop when planted next to more softly rounded forms.

This Dutch Iris has been flowering for a while

This is a real beauty, it came from a friend when he thought he was giving me a different variety

I’ve decided on a new place for this clump, I want to put them in the Large Island in front of Phlomis

Looks like velvet in close-up

Pride of Kent came from the same friend when I first had this garden

This was an unknown quantity from a plant swap – rather nice. When it has made a clump I’ll move it from the slope

I bought some new varieties when I visited Courson last autumn and am pleased to see that they are producing strong flower spikes in their first year.

Iris Grand Canari, planted close to Rosa Molineux, almost exactly the same colour

Iris ‘Immortality’, a lovely pure white from a local supplier

Iris Jane Philips – not shown well here, it is a very pure pale blue

It’s now raining too hard to take any more photographs, so I’ll post the rest tomorrow.

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My thoughts – Tulip Jan Reus

I saw Tulip Jan Reus when I visited the Chelsea flower show in May 2010 and just fell in love with the intense red colour.  I was thrilled when I placed my bulb order with Peter Nyssen that they stocked this very special variety which they describe as “chrysanthemum crimson” so really indulged myself with 100 bulbs, not too expensive at £17.

T. Jan Reus, Chelsea flower show 2010

They were planted in Autumn 2010 and flowered well in spring 2011 and most, but not all came back in 2012.

T. Jan Reus April 12th 2011

T. Jan Reus April 5th 2012

This year there has been an explosion, I counted them yesterday and there are now 150!  They are still much the same size as they were in their first year.  So this is one I would strongly recommend if you like red!

T. Jan Reus 11th April 2013

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Tulip time again!

The Tulips are the best ever this year.  I am sure this is due to the long cold (but not very cold winter) we have had.  Tulips need 13 – 15 weeks of cold followed by the soil warming to flower well.  I think newly purchased tulips have had some cold treatment already as new tulips usually flower quite well; although they are often over very quickly.  This year some that were planted in Autumn 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 are all flowering; I didn’t purchase any in 2011.

Many that are several years old have even multiplied and I can see that one original bulb is producing up to 4 stems of flowers.

Given that tulips are one of my favourite flowers I am walking around with a very happy smile playing around my lips as I enjoy the show!

So no more words, or even names for this post – just an orgy of tulips glowing in the spring light (day and at sunset).

  Newly planted Negrita in the foreground with others planted 4 years ago behind

There are others lovelies in the garden too, Clematis armandii is full of deliciously scented flowers, making the pergola look as if it is covered in snow.

Viburnum burkwoodii has grown to be taller than the Photinia hedge and is filling that corner of the garden with such a wonderful perfume I wish I could bottle it.

Viburnum burkwoodii

As guess what?  I can’t resist showing you that Anemone Sylphide is still flowering!

What tulips grow well for you; and which reliably flower in successive years?

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GBFD – Spring has Sprung

So officially spring has sprung; but what tells us that this is true?  What does spring mean to us?  In Italy there is a proverb: “One swallow doesn’t mean it is spring”; in the UK the proverb is almost the same except that the swallows proclaim it to be summer.  The birds take a while to fly north waiting to follow the increasing insect populations that provide the food for their young.

Returning to the idea of spring I was thinking that it was the first appearance of a particular flower that convinced me spring had arrived.  When I lived in the UK is certainly was a flower. To me daffodils WERE spring, but in Italy because of the lack of long cold winters where I live the daffodils often appear at the same time as tulips.

Spring is the moment of rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal, resurrection, and regrowth so I think that for me, now, it isn’t a flower but much more the fact that the garden and the surrounding countryside is becoming freshly green that lifts my spirits and makes me believe that Spring has truly Sprung!

Bright green fields tell me its spring

In winter many of the fields are green but not in a new, bright fresh way they are now.  Everywhere in the garden new shoots are pushing through the soil, new foliage is opening even on evergreen shrubs giving them a new rejuvenated appearance.

There is enough grass for the sheep to be left in the field all day and not just an hour or so

Yes it is FOLIAGE that makes it spring, not a flower at all.  For this Garden Bloggers Foliage Day let me share with you some of the ‘greens’ that make it “spring”!

Bright green foliage on the pillar roses

Even the Acanthus looks different in the spring sunshine

Spring light shining through tulip foliage

Tulips and Hemerocallus – green, green and more green

Green in the garden, green surrounding the garden, glimpses of green – foliage says it all

What makes it spring for you?  Is it flowers?  Is it the Foliage?  Or one particular favourite plant that whispers in your ear that spring has arrived?

…..and if you’re in the southern hemisphere I haven’t forgotten that it isn’t spring where you are but I’m sure you will forgive us longing for longer days and for our gardens to once again begin their cycle!  But we’d still love to know about the foliage in your garden as you slip into autumn.

You are very welcome to join in GBFD, just write your post and link it to your comment here, thank you.

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What’s new today?

In Spring there is something new almost every day.

Today it is Clematis Armandii

Clematis Armandii – first open bud

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Is this a Celandine?

Walking around the garden today after some terrible weather at the weekend I found this.

Is it a Celandine?

It has seeded itself in the shade under the Mulberry, so it has chosen a shady dry spot for itself, although sunny for now, until the Mulbery foliage appears.

I know some gardeners think they are a weed.  What do you think?

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All is Revealed!

I promised not to keep you waiting for the name of the two plants that have been wowing me this winter.

I am surprised none of you guessed as I’ve mentioned the plants over the last couple of months.  Maybe you thought I was implying a shrub, well sadly there isn’t a shrub that flowers all winter here, I really wish there was.  Yes Rosa mutabilis flowers into December and this year actually managed blooms in January but it doesn’t flower in the bleak months of January and February, the months when I want some colour to cheer me.

So first is Iris unguicularis, I wrote about it as a plant of the moment on November 26^th, not expecting that it would flower almost continuously until now March 7^th.  There was only a two week period when there were no flowers; my clump is quite new (three years old) and already it has sent out a new clump about 30cm from the original plant.  This is the first year that it has flowered so much, I knew it would take a while to establish but it has certainly been worth waiting for, a delicate colour but not a delicate plant it has stood through strong winds and 6 weeks of sub-zero night-time temperatures, but it began flowering before any cold weather had arrived so it isn’t dependant on the cold to start it flowering.

Iris unguicularis

I am sure the Iris will continue to spread and flower even more profusely in years to come, I intend leaving the main plant where it is (I couldn’t bear to not have the flowers next year, but I will move the off-shoot and hope to have a few clumps in strategic places in the future.

I hope with my second revelation that I’m not jumping the gun.  I planted Anemone Sylphide for the first time last autumn (at £2.00 for 25 corms from Peter Nyssen not an expensive experiment).

I didn’t soak them before planting although I did soak a different variety that I planted a bit later under the Mulberry; it did rain very heavily soon after planting them so I think I was probably lucky.  The growth appeared after about a month and I was surprised and a little worried that it should appear so early.  I showed the first bud about to open in January’s GBBD and that first flower lasted more than a month!  I call that pretty amazing.  Other buds appeared and the group still has lots of new buds waiting to open, I’ll report when the last bloom fades.  For something that gives such impact through these dull months I think it must be hard to beat.  At the price I paid I would even be willing to consider them an annual.  I will plant more next autumn and I’m looking forward to knowing whether they will return for a second and hopefully more years.

The bud appears with an elegant bent neck

then shyly puts its head up to show the colour of its bud

The colour becomes stronger

and shines in the light

Slowly it opens to reveal the black centre

In the sun it opens fully

I want swathes of this colour to brighten winter days

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