I have been absent without leave from blogland! I needed a little break and life has been very pleasantly busy over the Christmas and New Year period. I have enjoyed reading many of your posts but not commented again through lack of time. So to all of you that I haven’t wished an individual Happy New Year, I send you my very best wishes now.
Until Saturday the house has been full of festive foliage, all of which I have shared with you on previous posts; now it is January and there is very little to pick and put into a vase for Cathy at Rambling in the garden. But the pleasure that even one flower can give should not be underestimated so here is what I found this morning.
In a vase on Monday 8th January 2018
I thought I would be lucky to find enough blooms for one of my little Campari bottles but in the end I was able to fill three.
Iris unguicularis
Iris unguicularis is the most reliable flowering plant in my winter garden. I know many of you complain about its ugly leaves in summer but for me any plant that is completely drought tolerant through even the hottest summer and flowers from November to April is a star. I intend splitting my larger clump in early spring and creating a small drift that I can see from inside the house; there are already four small clumps in the woodland walk and the original large clump under the Mutabilis roses that I see whenever I go out of the house.
The Lavender is an unknown variety that flowers most of the year on and off (more on than off, really); Teucrium is y most reliable shrub, again it flowers from November through to April and is completely drought tolerant. Even the plants that have been pruned into tight spheres have some flowers and those allowed to grow freely are full of flowers.
Macro of the delicate pattern on the petals of the Iris
It is lucky that these three stalwarts of my garden are all a similar tone of blue and complement each other in form in a vase.
With my special thanks to Cathy for creating and encouraging us all with this lovely meme. Do visit to see what she and others have found for their vases today.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
So delicate and delightful.
Yes, the Iris does look delicate but is amazingly tough!
A most beautiful trio and well photographed too. Looks almost as if you’ve used texture, very painterly. I wish you all the best for the new year, Christina, may it bring you lots of happiness 🙂
Thanks Annette; that’s a lovely compliment from you, knowing that you take beautiful photographs.
What a lovely touch of blue…great to get the plans for garden work outlined early in the year.
But will I remember to do it?!
Hi Christina, you’re living my dream having irises in bloom! I must get some of these. They are lovely and so delicately presented.
They take a while to establish and produce a lot of flowers but once they have they really flower prolifically. They should do really well in your garden.
Oh they really do complement each other well, Christina – how fortuitous! I moved the fairly new Iris unguicularis that I had to the shrub border and perhaps need to ferret around to see if they are still in the land of the living! Glad you enjoyed a break away from the computer – I have too! Here’s looking forward to a floriferous 2018 and lots of lovely vases 🙂
The Iris does take a while to settle and likes to be in a reasonably large clump which is why I don’t want to break down my large clump too much. I hope yours is still alive.
It’s SO cold today and having been out this morningI have delayed my ramble while I get up to date with IAMV, but I must venture out soon… certainly not like me to leave it so late and I shall head straight for where I put the iris so I don’t forget by the time I have rambled round the rest of the garden!
Good to here from you! Love these Iris and hope mine will be blooming again soon, but too cold right now! We’ve been below freezing for 7 days!
You’ve convinced me to grow Iris unguicularis in my own garden as winter blooms are so precious! What a joy to see your beautiful blooms on such a gloomy winter day!
The Iris does take a while to establish but it is very tough.
Oh yes any wonderful bloom in winter is special and especially an iris. Love seeing this spring color as all we see is white….it has been arctic here the last few weeks, but hoping for some indoor blooms soon. Wishing you a Happy New Year on your return!
Donna@GardensEyeView
Simply beautiful, Christina. I’ve never grown this Iris species. I wonder if it’d grow for me here? I’ll be looking into that!
It might grow for you Kris, it is very drought tolerant.
How lovely to have three vases. There really is triple the impact.
Groups of small vases can have as much impact as a large bouquet.
I was absent over the holidays too, but it is good to be back and visiting posts full of flowers again! Love those little irises, perfect for your campari vases. How lovely to have lavender flowers in January too. 🙂
The lavender is amazing. It flowers almost all year
Christina the Iris unguicularis “The Lavander” are beautiful. They have a color and some yellow spots and white stripes on the petals that make them wonderful. I like Teucrium a lot. The three vases remain marvellous. Happy 2018 and have a lot of gardening and many flowers! Greetings from Margarita.
Happy New Year Margarita. I hope you have a good year in the garden and in your life.
Beautiful iris, Christina, well complemented by the lavender. I’m glad to hear you had an enjoyable holiday. Happy 2018!
I love these and will search on for this Iris, sounds miraculous. Happy New Year.
Just love your arrangement Christina and how clever to use Campari bottles. Simple but beautiful! Am looking forward to our Iris reticulata coming out next month.
I live I reticulata too, but their flowers last for such a short time, it is easy to completely miss them. I love these because their flowering season is so long.
I will try them. I particularly love irises as I named my first child after them!
That’s nice; I particularly love the bearded Irises as the do really well in my hot, dry Italian garden.
I have a feeling I was inspired by you to
get these iris last Spring but there’s no sign of them thus far. I shall keep looking and post if they reappear. Gorgeous in the Campari bottles.
The foliage of mine are always there; mine didn’t flower much in the first 2 or 3 years but once established they just keep on going.
I love those three irises in their bottles. You are right about the power of a single bloom. I found a solitary fragrant violet yesterday-a great joy in a hard season.
This year has been so cold here, The Irises give great value although as I said many bloggers dislike their summer untidy foliage, I can easily live with that given that they are completely drought tolerant and flower most of the winter.
We can put up with a lot in return for flowers this time of year. This tantalizing threesome is proof of that.
Oh I hope that you are well rested after that break Christina. Such exquisite markings on the iris and as always when I see them I have iwantititis when I see your Campari bottles.
So pretty. I love this little iris, it looks so fragile and delicate for this time of the year.