Already Time for Irises

THis first of the irises to bloom this year are the reblooming white irises we have in the Japanese maple garden. It’s a small garden just to one side of our patio that ,of course, has a Japanese maple! It was a gift a few years ago to me for Father’s Day. The reblooming white irises came home with me from a plant swap last two falls ago and bloomed again in the fall last year. White is nice but with all of the other iris colors that exist I wonder what potential hybrids could be made? That’s one experiment that is on my list to try this year – hybridize my irises. I’ll talk about the other (more colorful) irises I have in my garden later but for today we’ll gawk at my white irises!

The white iris works very well when planted against this backdrop of Japanese maple leaves. The leaves on the Japanese maple have only been growing for a short time but once they fill in the combination should achieve its full effect. Many more white iris blooms are on the way.

Here is the garden from the other side. Not all the foliage is iris foliage. I’ve found that hiding spent daffodil foliage in and among the irises is a good way to disguise the fading daffodil foliage while allowing them to still gather energy from the sun.

Do you have reblooming irises in your garden? What do you use to hide the foliage of spring blooming bulb flowers?

6 thoughts on “Already Time for Irises”

  1. I absolutely love white irises. How nice that you already have some blooming! Our Irises are growing but we are a month away from blooming!

  2. The white is beautiful against the J. maple. Your maple is happy as it has grown a lot. I use hostas and daylilies to hide bulb foliage.

  3. Hi! I just moved to TN from the upstate SC, and was excited to come across your blog. You have a new follower!! The climates are very similiar, I've moved from Zone 7b to 7a, but its the little differences that make or break a garden. I'm in the planning stages this summer, and will begin planting late next fall. I'm looking forward to hearing about your garden, and learning what works & what doesn't!

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