Monday, April 29, 2013

Orchid-Colored Irises in My Garden

By Renee Fraser

My garden is filled with hot-colored roses and lilies, and although I love the oranges, yellows, and reds, they can be pretty ovewhelming on a hot Southern Californa day.

My internet gardening buddy Hoovb, who writes the gardening blog  Piece of Eden, suggested some purple or lavendar to cool it down.  Now I know I have strange tastes, but I don't care for purple, and I really don't care much at all for purple-blues with salmon-orange, the dominant color in my garden.  But she was onto something, and I thought about it until one day I saw Persian Berry in bloom at a nursery. What color is that? Using the most universally recognized color chart in the western world, the Crayola 64 Count Crayons, I decided the color was ORCHID. Cool pink, warm lavendar, that color.  Orchid to tame my hot colors.

Fortunately, there are a multitude of orchid-colored irises and each is more beautiful than the last.  Soon I was on the hunt for 'Jennifer Rebecca', which reblooms here in Southern California.  It took a long time to become established in my garden, and it has been moved from spot to spot, mercilessly, until it finally found its home right between two screaming salmon-orange roses.
'Jennifer Rebecca' Zurbrigg 1984,  reblooming iris with 'Marmalade Skies' floribunda rose

'Jennifer's' beard is the same color as the rose.  What a stroke of luck!











And here is the inspiration iris, 'Persian Berry'.  It looks very nice with yellow, and like 'Jennifer', it has a nice orange beard.  

'Persian Berry' Gaulter 1976











I have 'Persian Berry' in a bed with the pale yellow David Austin rose 'Allux Symphony' (aka Symphony), foxgloves, and dark reddish-violet violas.  I await 'Storm Rider' from Rick Tasco at Superstition Iris Gardens to center between the two roses.



















'Storm Rider' Tasco 2013

To the right of 'Allux Symphony' I have 'Plum Pretty Whiskers', which reblooms for me.  It's a lovely shorter iris, perfect for the front of the bed.  The deep color in its falls was the inspiration for the dark violas and 'Storm Rider'.
'Plum Pretty Whiskers' Spoon 2003





Late-bloomer 'Rhinelander' is the latest-blooming of my orchid-colored irises.  It has yet to bloom this year, so this photo is from last year.
'Rhinelander' Schreiner 2006



I just couldn't help myself, so last season I got two more orchid-colored irises, even though (as usual) I didn't have good spots for them.  I ordered 'Orchid Pinstripe' because it is so unusual, and Randy Squires of the San Fernando Valley Iris Society gave me 'Enchanter', a huge iris that towers over the others.  I am anxiously awaiting their first blooms.  This year, however, I resisted buying any new orchid-colored irises, even though there were a few that sorely tempted me.

Do you grow any orchid-colored irises?  Or is there another color that you just cannot resist, regardless of how many you already have?  Let us know which you love best in the comments section.