Welcome to this weeks In A Vase On Monday, when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join her challenge to produce a vase for the house from the garden every week.
Yesterday I promised you something completely different today. After the staged shots of the white ranunculus, I have a very natural arrangement shot outdoors in the wintery sunshine for you. I think that the two series ‘Flowers On Sunday’ and ‘In A Vase On Monday’ really highlight the difference between springtime in the floristry world and what is really happening in the garden. The flowers I buy for my Sunday posts are grown in Holland, where they have made growing out of season flowers into an art form. Every year increasingly unusual and beautiful flowers become available long before it is possible to grow anything like them outside in a British garden. The flowers that I use on Monday are homegrown, scented and exceptionally fresh and seasonal. At this time of year I feel lucky to have the choice of both types of flowers.
I have studied these Iris very carefully to make sure that I have got them right – they are Iris reticulata that I planted in pots in the greenhouse in November. I have reused the base that I made for the Paperwhite arrangement a couple of weeks ago. Inside the container is the floral foam filled with Euonymous ‘Emerald Gaiety’ from the original arrangement. This has stood up surprisingly well to being stored outside throughout the bad wind and rain of the last week.
This week I dried off the container and added the flowering Iris bulbs. The bulbs were dug out of their clay pots in the greenhouse and I used floristry pins to attach the roots to the base of floral foam inside the container. I am hoping that the flowers will last longer with the bulbs attached than if I had cut the flower stems.
As ever I had a little help from my animal friends whilst I took these photos! Above is Ruby the cat.
Nelson and Hardy wanted to prove that they could hold a pose too.
Hardy felt that it was time that I gave him a shot to himself.
-Iris Reticulata from the Sarah Raven catalogue flowering in the garden yesterday.
Finally I have a question. The Iris that I have grown in the greenhouse are labelled Iris reticulata – the photo above is of the Iris that I grew in the greenhouse last year and planted out after flowering – there are just one or two in flower in the garden today. To my eye last years Iris are a much sturdier flower with a greater intensity of colour. I wrote about these Iris last year and clearly also called them Iris reticulata. Last years bulbs came from Sarah Raven and this years were picked up in a garden centre.
-Iris reticulata from the garden centre grown in pots in the greenhouse this year.
Are there any Iris experts reading? Is it possible for reticulata to look so different or have I got different varieties sold under the same name? I would love to find an answer as I like my greenhouse bulbs to pack a punch and am quite disappointed with this years Iris blooms. They will look lovely in the garden I am sure, but to earn a place in the house they need to have a bit more dazzle.
Still they are all have for this year, so I will make the most of them! Please do pop over to Cathy’s blog to have a look at what she and the others have made this week.
I will be back later in the week with the next instalment of Managing An Organic Vegetable Garden. This week I will be looking at planning your crops and the seeds that I will be sowing in February.
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Hi Julie – this is the other option at this time of year, including the bulbs as well as their flowers like my snowdrops last week, meaning that our opportunities, although challenging, are still numerous at this time of year – and just wait till next year!! There are several different named varieties of Iris reticulata which will be why yours are so different (Peter Nyssen lists 12) – have a look at Chloris’ recent post at http://thebloominggarden.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/irresistible-little-irises/ which talks about some of them. The euonymous and zinc planter set yours off perfectly – thanks for joining in.
Thank you Cathy – I suspect you have answered my question. A quick look at The Blooming Garden would suggest that last years Iris was Iris Harmony – a lovely deep blue. Not sure what I had this year, but I will be looking for Harmony next season !!
Hello Julie
These little irises come in various shades of blue and purple. It looks as if your first ones were probably Harmony and the second ones look like Halkis which is sky blue with inky purple falls.
Thank you so much for your help. I think you might be right about Halkis, although I am surprised they were sold as just Iris reticulata. The colour description is spot on. though. I am going to have to go around my garden and study all the little clumps of iris that I have planted in the last 4 years and work out what they all are – I have never paid much attention to these differences until this weekend. Halkis is growing on me though, now that I have got over the surprise!
Oh good I think Halkis is gorgeous. I’ m glad you like her. She is an amazing colour.
Wow, Julie! You really are becoming proficient with that camera. What great shots!
Thank you Hannah – its lovely to see you here!
As Cathy said there are a lot of varieties of Iris reticulata, they often don’t reflower although Chloris also mentions planting them deep to help with this.
I am just beginning to realise how many varieties there are!! I have had mixed luck with replanting iris that I have forced in the greenhouse. The best flowers certainly come from bulbs planted in the ground in autumn and I will be bearing in mind the tip about planting deeply when I plant this years batch of forced bulbs out in a few weeks time. I will save my best spots for autumn planted iris though.
Just love this simple and cheerful arrangement, Julie! They look so elegant in the sea of Euonymus. Your dogs are beautiful too 🙂
Hi Julie,
I just saw this post. Very beautiful. And also the pets.So when does snow melt in London ?
Sajina.
Hi Sajina – that is a very god question. The answer depends upon the year. This year there has been no snow at all – just a mild but very windy and extremely wet winter. Last year there was a lot of snow and I still had snow on the ground until late March. The cold and snow flurries continued until mid April and then we had a long dry and comparatively hot summer. The year before there was snow in February, summer in March and then rain all summer. So you will see that we have no reliable weather pattern here in the UK – that is why the British talk about the weather so much!