To hold onto these dreams it always helps to have a couple of stunning beauties showing their stuff out in the chilled bare winter garden.
Iris unguicularis, the winter or Algerian iris, has been blooming since early December. The tender beauty of the blooms and the extraordinary markings on their petals can stop you in your tracks. How can this soft tenderness bloom in such cold and wet circumstances? The question becomes mute after a few seasons with this plant in your garden.
As you might suspect, Algerian iris comes from Algeria, as well as Turkey or any other surrounding rocky Mediterranean landscape. There is a variety, Iris cretensis, which is unique to the isle of Crete. What they all have in common is a rocky, not-much-soil environment, no water from April to October, and intense heat. So, how does one replicate this sort of environment in the cool, damp Puget Sound region?
It can be done. Surely you have a very, very sunny dry spot in your garden. Perhaps it is in a part of your garden that you often do not tend, or maybe it is surrounded by yard waste, recycle or other bins. The experts recommend planting against the foundation on the south side of the house. The key element for success is to have the plant in a very sunny and dry situation.
That is a summation of the conventional wisdom. You can spend hours on the web and find all this information and then a lot more, some of which is totally erroneous, a lot of it quite fascinating. So why do I bother to replicate or summarize? A friend called it "filtering literacy." Perhaps that is a bit much, but it does speak to our current, TMI situation. Have you found that you can fill up with a lot of credible information, but the need to have it verified or to be reassured by family or friends is a great necessity?
For years I have grown the Algerian iris in my garden. It is planted on a steep hillside (perfect drainage), nestled in amongst the rocks and rubble next to a dry-laid staircase (lime). The site is facing south, but receives dappled shade from large, overhead tree canopies.
The plants are never watered. I cut back the lush foliage to 6 to 9 inches in late October so that I can see the blooms when they start in early December. Do the plants look hacked at? Yes, but if I don't cut back the exuberant foliage, I cannot see the blooms from my living room windows during the cold, bleak days of December and January. And the new growth that accompanies the blooms soon softens the harsh, late-Fall pruning.
I once saw a sweet crystal vase filled with the iris blooms. It was good to know that someone else had found success with this plant. I did not, however, like the bouquet. I prefer to have a single bloom in a vase. The markings are fascinating to study-and, again, the solitary nature of the display speaks to the beauty that exists within the starkness of this season.
[[In-content Ad]]