The first tall bearded iris opened this morning. Theatre is right next to the back door of my garage. I frequently take a break by sitting on the step that's there. Theatre is right in my face. Not bad!!!
How well an iris blossom is ruffled is one of its qualities and is most likely mentioned in the 'official' description. An extremely ruffled iris, where the ruffles are en masse, smaller and tight, is known as a 'laced' iris. (Smaller ruffles = more ruffles per inch) All of these irises are my favorites. It's one of the things I most love about them.
So, I highly doubt there is an iris named 'Ruffles.' It could be part of the name as in Chiffon Ruffles.
Then of course there's Lay's ruffled potato chips.
Best Bet and Maria Tormena opened a couple hours later. Best Bet is usually the first TB to open the season but Theatre took the lead this time. Maria T is a new iris. This is its first bloom. It's a plicata and has a rich deep magenta/orchid color. Wild Wings wants to open but its a dark afternoon and raining now. I split it a year or two ago and spread it out to give it more space. This is because I want more blooms. It is a smaller deep dark purple flower. The falls are flared and show rusted beards. I love it!
The butterfly bush needs to be moved because it wants to be huge but it will shade the irises. I have no idea where to put it. The butterflies LOVE it and the resulting photo ops are too fabulous.
The small wild Mt. Laurel is going to bloom for the very first time. I am thrilled.
You are in a slightly warmer zone than I am, correct? Because my irises are still tight little buds. The Siberian irises around my neighborhood are starting to bloom, but the tall guys are not quite there yet. I'll post a pic when they pop!
Yes it may be true that it is slightly warmer here than where you are. Another factor is the bloom time of an individual iris. There can be early, midterm or late blooming plants. There's variation right within my own yard. In some cases I have the very same iris planted in both the front and back yards. One of them blooms sooner because of differences with the sunlight. My daughter's irises, which are off shoots from mine, all bloom ahead of mine. They're planted on the very sunny driveway side of her house.
Ruff, check out my irises on FB. The little ones I got from you haven't even budded yet, so I'm thinking they have to "mature" this year. But they did sprout some new plants. I'll take a picture of what they look like and you can give me your expert opinion.
Irises don't like being moved. They often don't bloom after having been moved. If they were going to bloom, you'd know it by now. They need to establish themselves and build up their size.
OK, thanks for the advice. They did grow new little sprouts (it's good they came up at all!), so I'll take that as a good sign. The irises I have out front (in my photos) have been there a good long time and get better every year. I hope the ones from your garden take off as well. They're in the backyard, but it's a nice little spot similar to the conditions in front. I'll keep you posted! It still cheers me up to see them there, even if they're not going to flower this year -- they remind me of you, so when I sit on my deck, I think of you!
