Iris in bloom in February!

Last week we were hiking and saw our first iris in bloom in 2017 in Florida.  You will notice that the stalk has 3 bud positions, the terminal is in full bloom and the lower positions show blooms in progressive stages of deterioration.  Not bad for a wild iris!  The plant carpeting the background is water lettuce, a floating aquatic plant, which is still green even though the retention pond is almost dry because of the drought we are experiencing.

An added bonus for the day was seeing a Roseate Spoonbill on the edge of a nearby pond.  They are beautiful in flight against a blue sky.

Think Spring!

Bob Bauer and John Coble of Ensata Gardens have listed new introductions http://ensata.com/HTML/GeneralPages/new_2017.htm for 2017 of beardless iris on their website ensata.com that you may find interesting.  There are 2 Siberians and a Species Cross involving two Siberian species from Bob Hollingworth and two Louisiana iris and a Pseudata from Jill Copeland.  Check them out along with all the other beardless iris they list.

Another sign of spring!

Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks at Joe Pye Weed's Garden have posted their 2017 Siberian iris introductions and a list of bearded iris they are offering this year on their website.  Check it out at jpwflowers.com and enjoy pictures of their beardless iris.

Greetings from Florida!  I took this picture last year of a wild iris blooming in a retention pond.  Think spring!