I have several varieties of iris growing around our house. Like many of my flowers most of them came from Granny. She especially loved the yellow and purple ones.
The bearded iris are really pretty. I have several colors of them. I’ve always liked their sword shaped fronds too.
Siberian iris are also pretty. I never knew that was their name till I researched it one time. They spread much faster than the bearded ones—at least they do in my gardens. In fact they just about take over. I have pale yellow and deep purple. Both shared by Granny.
The first ones that bloom in my garden each spring are wild ones I found growing back of the house along the ridge. As you can see from the photo above they are very low growing dwarf iris.
Dwarf Crested Iris can be found growing in the wild from New York to Florida and as far west as Arkansas. They grow prolifically around my mountain holler.
Their color can vary from pale blue to a deeper purple. Some are even white, although I’ve never seen one.
The beautiful spring wildflower often grows in small clumps. They are like Bloodroot (one of my favorite spring wildflowers) in the sense that by mid summer they completely disappear waiting for next spring to make their presence known again.
Last night’s video: I Planted a TON of Flowers…Hope They Make It!
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
I have Amaryllis that came from my grandma’s house. My irises never bloom because they are in pots. I think they need to be in the ground but I don’t have have a good place to plant them.
My irises are blooming this week, too. I got mine from my Mom. She’s in Heaven, but her flowers are still blooming and remind me of the delight she took in them each year. Much love from SC. Jane
Tipper, that picture makes me want to plant some irises for myself. After watching last night’s video, I was inspired to do some of my own planting today. I even found myself putting a calla lilly in a container I normally wouldn’t have thanks to you! I love how you can see Granny in your flowers. My own love for things that grow came from my Mommaw and now I see her in my flowers too. Specifically, a lovely peony that blooms every year around my birthday that she shared with my mom, who then shared with me.
I made your applesauce pancakes for supper yesterday and my boys couldn’t have been more pleased! I guess they’ll be in our regular rotation from now on. Thanks for the suggestion!
The iris is what I’ve always heard referred to as “flags” here in Western Kentucky. They’re beautiful, Tipper!
I’ve taken to heart your advice about planting in “whatever works” – coffee cans, old janky planters, and they’re all getting hauled out of the basement and filled up this year. I can’t think of a time we’ve needed to be surrounded by growing plants and flowers more than now. On an even happier note, my strawberries just didn’t want to show up for awhile – and today three finally popped up! God Bless you and have a great day, to all!
Kira, I don’t know what “janky” means exactly, but I love it! It sounds like one of those “family adjectives” our bunch comes up with, as in “That poor old dog has a wonky left foreleg.”
The dwarf Irises are my favorite and I’m not sure why I’ve not planted any.
Yet.
Thank you for this photo! I drove past a small patch of these growing on a roadside bank this morning and didn’t know what they were. I’m almost positive now they were wild dwarf iris.
A beautiful breath of spring!
Year after year I can see from my chair the most robust and beautiful potted geranium imaginable. It belongs to a sweet neighbor lady who because of her age and frailty now lives in another state. Her close friend here and her husband used a borrowed hand truck to move the geranium into the lady’s garage for the winter–many of us share our garage door codes around here–which saved it during successive freezes. Now, there it sits for everyone except its owner to enjoy, so my wife sends her pictures occasionally, to her great delight.
Good morning Tipper, I love flowers and have been collecting many different varieties of seeds to start in the house under grow lights. I’ve also been buying different varieties and colors of dahlias and gladiolus, so I especially enjoyed last nights video on you planting your flowers. They’ll be so beautiful when they start blooming. I look forward to getting into our vegetable gardens and flower beds, but I think Spring has forgotten us this year. I pray everyone has a good day!
What a beautiful story, Gene. Thanks for sharing it. So kind of your wife to let her know how her favorite geranium is doing.
Good morning, Tipper and Acorns. I love this Dwarf Iris. I have never seen one in person. I used to have the Bearded Purple Iris, but my sister came and took every one years ago. I have a lot of moles and voles. I leave them alone; they eat the termites in the ground here. I cleaned all the fans in the house yesterday and washed a load of laundry to hang in the living room and bathroom as we slept. It was a pleasure to watch you plant all those bulbs yesterday. TY so much for sharing your life with us and Praise The LORD for letting you make your living at what you love and giving us such joy at the same time. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my prayers. I love y’all.
I worked with Iris for several years. She was as pretty as any of those that grow in gardens. She was a petite demure young lady but she had a secret. She didn’t talk much so I didn’t know much about her until I talked to her father Gerald who also worked with me. Gerald shared their untold family story. You see, Gerald’s father and Iris’s grandfather was none other than Frank Noah Proffitt.
Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley!
How sweet that you have loving reminders of Granny everywhere you look. I enjoyed your video about planting flowers last night. I always learn new things from you.
You sure did plant lots of flowers in your video last evening. I cannot wait to see them all growing and blooming. It will be a while longer before my iris blooms. They are about four inches tall right now. I have lots of marigold seeds saved from my flowers last year. I am going to scatter them around in my flower garden and then, hopefully, get a few flowers to plant later on. It’s still early here and we expect a frost or two. I mostly plant marigolds because the deer don’t like them. Have a wonderful day everyone. It’s gonna be a gorgeous 70 degrees here in WV.
Tipper, your first Iris is beautiful and many more will bloom along side all the flowers you planted.
enjoyed your flower planting video!
My first bloom is getting ready to open. Years ago my Mama told me to dig some of her iris and take to my yard. She had a wide variety of colors, many were specialty bulbs ordered from a catalog. I thought I had dug different areas and hoped to have a variety……next spring….all yellow! I was so disappointed. Last spring my daughter and I attended the herb show in Asheville. What an experience! Herbs and flowers galore. I bought a pot with iris, which looked to be about five plants. When I removed it from the pot and separated the tubers…. I had fourteen tubers. They have all emerged and I am anxious to see them. If anyone is near enough, that show is spectacular. Every herb you can think of…..and mine have all lived and are thriving.
Your iris are lovely and the fact they are dwarf makes them to be more treasured for a rare eye candy than taller ones which are ordinary in size. I often wonder if counting and procuring money and sheckels can give one millionth of the free beauty that somehow lifts the soul to a heavenly place that gazing on God’s beauty brings to the heart, eyes and soul. I’d rather have flowers and lovely things than material possessions. Cars, houses, etc-it’s all for naught and fading away as we speak… I love your TREASURES, Tipper. They reveal beautiful heart. The fact Granny’s flowers are alongside yours, will give you many hours of pleasure and connection to your mother and the beauty she gave this world! What a life well lived in love and beauty-Granny’s beautiful legacy lives on! God bless all of you and comfort all of you this day!!! The little 8 year old precious boy who is my neighbor made me a little wooden cross yesterday and although it looks like a “T” I think my cup runneth over with excellent things I could never buy…it may be one of my most prized possessions because it’s from the heart and being thought of by God’s greatest gift-a precious little child!!! Oh how rich I am as I thank Jesus and little Chase…”I’m rich in faith and hope and love-I got more than my share-I’ll moving to mansion just over in glory where I’m a rightful heir! Hallelujah I’m a millionaire.” The Wilburn’s (at least I think.)
I’m thinking the wild ones from the surrounding woods are spring iris (Iris verna). They do not have the crest and also grow in drier locations, such as the ridge top you mentioned. We have a patch of them in shade on the west side of the house that the previous owner brought in from the woods I think. They have been blooming about 10 days now, a few at a time. They have been spreading very slowly through our nearly 34 years here . I do wish we had the created dwarf iris. It is the one I knew growing up in the Cumberland Plateau of Kentucky. I do have the first common cultivated blue iris blooming and about 10 more buds to bloom soon.
Good morning, Are we in an early blackberry winter? 47 degrees here and the tiniest of blackberry blooms showing.
My aunts called irises flags. They had purple irises that grew almost knee high. Over the years I’ve added other irises, mostly white and different shades of purple. I’ll have to read up on the wild irises.
Everyone enjoy this beautiful Thursday.
I have the Dutch Irises which have come up in clumps and spread in a couple of places in my flower garden. They are a beautiful purple and with the dark pink peonies blooming nearby both are gorgeous and both bloom in May. I also have some Bearded Irises. Spring sure wears some beautiful colors.
Although the death certificate has April 15th, in my mind I lost my wife 5 years ago today when a blood clot formed during heart surgery for blockages. I know we will be together again one day, but after her being my everything for almost 50 years, it is hard for me to go on living without her. On a happier note, today is my oldest grandson’s birthday, he will be 26. I am so proud of him.
Jackie wrote yesterday about putting his okra seed in the freezer for several days before planting them, I know several ones around here that put almost all of their garden seed in a freezer before planting them. They also store any leftover seed in their freezer.
It’s called “Cold stratification.” If your seeds don’t need it but cold doesn’t render them non-viable, no harm done, but if your seeds DO need it and you don’t freeze them, you may not get results from your planting. I’d imagine trial-and-error has taught many a subsistence farmer/market gardener which seeds turn non-viable after freezing.