Now you've gone and done it, I thought I was over my iris addiction Ha!!! There's a gal north of me that made me fall off the wagon last year :) and, now your gorgeous collection, I'm afraid I'm a goner.
I so love 'Gypsy Romance' such a vibrant color, I'll have to see if it's available up my way. Last year I bought a few in the blue tones and thanks to a certain enabler, fellow addictee, I now have quite a few dwarf varieties.

Too bad that little cutie in the last picture is one of a kind I wouldn't mind a few like her scampering through my garden.

Thanks for posting these, it has really brightened up my morning.

Annette

Oh lord! What a fest this drab and brown spring day your summer pictures make. I like them all, but especially the pictures were you can see not only the lovely TB iris blooms, but the other plants in your lovely garden.

Beautiful! Love the Samurai Warrior and the Gypsy Romance just glows!

Wets my appetite for more Iris,too. You sure have the knack for planting companion plants for the Iris, colors are gorgeous and compliment each other wonderfully. I might have to steal that idea of planting a red Iris in front of Barberry - gorgeous.

You have a lot of iris's. They are beautiful.

I don't even know what to say. Your photos always blow me away but this extensive collection of iris is just so impressive. You have such an amazing talent.
The Samurai Warrior and the barberry is just brilliant.
Do you share the long peony bed with iris on the other side? Is that what I am seeing. I'm not sure I ever realized that before from your pictures if that is the case.

Absolutely breath-taking! I lov3e your combos, and Gypsy Queen is a must have. You need to post these beauties everywhere.
kay

Brenda, beautiful as always. Love those purples! I think I have Gypsy Romance somewhere in my garden but right now it's buried somewhere under the weeds. Regina

WOW, oh my goodness I need IRISES!!! I adore these, so beautiful....

Oh my goodness...you are truly the queen of painting a beautiful scene gottagarden! You seem to have an uncanny sense of color themes and plant companions. I too love that Samurai Warrior and barberry pairing, and the black iris and 'Patty's Plum' Papaver. Also like that one on your album with the pink dwarf iris, Persicaria bistorta, and pink forget me nots. I've often admired that Persicaria, but have always worried it would be invasive here. Do you find it so in your garden?

Do you like to cut your iris back after they bloom? Or does the foliage stay nice enough in your garden that it can be left up? Do you divide them every few years to keep them so healthy looking and floriferous?
Thanks so much for the pics. Seeing your gardens is always such a treat for me!
CMK

Thanks everyone

I've only had that persicaria bistorta for one year, so it's not a problem, yet . . . Other persicarias have behaved well, so I am keeping my eye on it.

I usually only cut the iris foliage back after they start looking bad - mid summer. Sometimes I never get around to it. Most are crowded and most need dividing, the hardest part is finding new homes for them. No one wants them out of bloom - they assume they are the plain purple type.

Thyme2dig - yes, the peony bed has iris on the backside. The advantage of this is that after the iris are done blooming and looking boring, they are hidden by all the healthy peony foliage.

wow, SO GORGEOUS. You're right Gypsy Romance is really stunning!

I had to do a doubletake for a second though looking at your location and these photos. I was like... "How come my irises are only barely peaking out and she lives in NY!! I must have killed them! AGH!" haha. then I saw that these were from last year.

Anyway, GORGEOUS photos. your garden is amazing.

You KNOW I love your gardens and flowers, especially that little towheaded one n the last photo. She is a rare beauty.

If you ever need a home for your thinnings, I will take them and pay the postage. I still want a start of your Ravenswing. That just adds something very special to your garden.

Spring came early this year. It's still cool at night, and we've had a few chilly nights down in the 30s, but mostly a very mild spring thus far.
My spring vegetable garden is looking good and there are already lots of spring flowers. The tulips are no going to be fooled by this early spring though. They resisted all the warmer than usual weather and just came up this past week. (lol) I am sure enjoying it.

Most of my irises are up and some have started to thicken, an indication they are preparing to make bloom buds. Way too early. They usually don't bloom until early May. Many things are up that shouldn't be and many things are blooming that normally don't bloom until April. I just hope we don't get some weird blue northern and kill everything back. I'm not setting any of the greenhouse plants outside until the night temps are stable in the 50s.

Always love looking at your beautiful flowers and garden. You are such an artist! Wish I had your talent.

~Annie

Too gorgeous for words! Iris heaven. Sigh.

Cameron

Wonderful combinations!

Last photo is by far my favorite!

Just gourgeous! I copy all the name of your irises, I want them too!
Thank you for sharing your pictures!

beautiful gardens

Fabulous as always, Brenda!

MeMo

Absolutely gorgeous!! Now I REALLY can't wait for mine to bloom! Once they are done this year I will have to divide them and spread them out through the beds a bit more. Mine are rather clumped together right now! Thanks so much for sharing and brightening up this 'cold snap' we are experiencing here right now.

OH my.....oh MY.....oooohhhh.....so pretty......I have garden envy...badly! LOL

I tell you what, anytime you want to dispose of extra plants, just let me know. I have 3 acres here to fill up! I will pay shipping, and extra if you want.

I think I need to start an inspiration album, I can never remember what I was going for, when planting time comes. Using the peony iris combination is genius!

Jenny P

Iris and peonies...oh my! Iris and Allium ... oh, Oh my!!

Absolutely, handsdown, perfection!

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!

I am curious, I love the peony/iris bed combo, do you have anything else in there, for a bloom when these are done?

Jenny P

Now you did it :) Love your pictures. They are so pretty, had to go to my favorite Iris vendor, The Iris Farm in Mt. Vernon IL and order Gypsy Romance and also Newlywed!

Back for another look and I love the pink combination in the 12th photo. Is that 'Pink Horizon' and another?

Just, WOW. I spent all day yesterday afternoon looking at iris pictures after seeing your beautiful garden. I love your planting choices too...the Samurai W next to barberry, the pink next to a pink with rose...very nice. Your little girl and flowers is a lovely picture. Walking through my garden today I see new places for irises!
Thanks,
Linda

The bicolored pink is Camelot Rose. The light pink is pink horizon.

I used to have impatiens at the front of the bed, but now I just keep peonies and iris and alliums. When they are done, the shows over and I have a nice green peony hedge.

This is a low maintenance garden, actually. In the spring I weed and mulch. In the fall I go through with a weedwacker and cut the whole bed down in an hour. Hauling away the leaves is another couple of hours. That's it. No staking, no chemicals, no cutting back, no weeding during the season, truly almost care free.

Incredible!!! Thanks so much, I'm bookmarking this thread so I can enjoy it again. I love irises, every one.

Brenda, you take a weedwacker to your iris as well as your peonies? If so how low do you wack them off? I just came back for another look, absolutely gorgeous.

Annette

I know it's heresy, but my time is limited, so yes, I weedwhack them all, even the iris. I take everything down to about 2 inches. They pop back in the spring ready to go.

Not so strange a thing to do, there's a rose grower up our way who uses an electric hedge trimmer to prune his roses back. He was giving a talk at one of our garden club meetings, you should have seen the looks on people's faces, a lot of jaws hitting the floor. He said it worked for him, he had too many to prune by hand. Now if I did that my roses would probably turn their toes up and die.

Annette

You have such a beautiful garden - I always love seeing your pictures, the irises are just gorgeous and one of my favorites too. I planted a false indigo (quite accidentally) with my stellar lights iris - I hope they look half as good as yours...

What a gorgeous hedge of peonies and irises!! How close did you plant the peonies? I´ve read somewhere that they need a good air circulation between them. So do you have just a green hedge when both peonies and irises have finished blooming?

I love to look at these photos again and agian.
kay

My peonies are on 30 inch centers. That was fine when they were young, but they're a bit crowded now. Still, good airflow on front and back. When they finish blooming I have an easy to maintain hedge.

Thank you, Gottagarden! Your pictures have given me an idea to try a peony hedge. :)