with Bronwyn Jameson
Are you a keen gardener? I would like to be, and at least four times a year (once per season sounds about right...or perhaps never in winter and twice every spring) I throw myself into gardening with keen enthusiasm. I enjoy being outside when the weather is Just So. I love the damp-earth smell, the satisfaction of new buds on something I've planted, of nipping out from the kitchen to collect herbs when I'm cooking. Which is my preferred domestic activity on a more regular basis than gardening.
But it is spring and so I'm on a gardening jag. This week, at least. There are weeds to pull, and annuals to plant and others to be replaced, the ones which didn't make it though the winter of my neglect. This makes me sad and regretful and, as I dig and plant and water and mulch, I vow to do better with the replacements.
One of my replenishment tasks is a bed of irises -- tall and bearded, which sounds fashionably hipster -- many of which were planted by my mum. She dug them up before leaving the farm where she raised us. She called them hardy. She believed even I couldn't kill them.
She was wrong.
This past weekend I visited an iris farm and chose my replacements. With hundreds to choose from this was quite a task. My garden is largely white and blue...or various shades of lilac and lavender and purple. I managed to stick with this palette despite the lure of bright gold and salmon pink and rich burgundy.
I took many, MANY photos to keep track of those I chose versus those I wanted to choose but which didn't make the final cut. They will be dug and sent in March and this time next spring I will know if I did, indeed, choose these. There may be a few surprises, but that will be fun, right?
 |
| Arctic Express |
 |
| Queen's Circle |
 |
| Fair Dinkum |
 |
| Tia Rose |
 |
| Momentum |
 |
| Fiesta in Blue |
 |
| Got the Blues |
 |
| Triple Delight |
 |
| Swing Dancing |
 |
| Rippling River |
 |
| Stygian Night |
What have you been planning or planting in your garden?
Do you have a favourite flower, or perhaps a planting which has special meaning?
Hi Bronwyn
ReplyDeleteI am not a gardener at all although I do love looking at people's gardens and being jealous of them LOL. I do love those Irises they are gorgeous they remind me of my Nana's garden she was a great gardener unfortunately I didn't get her genes. For me I love roses and carnations flowers with lots of colour :) Enjoy the garden
Have Fun
Helen
Oh, Helen, I know just how you feel. My mum was the keenest of keen gardeners -- she had a way with roses and as well as the irises she also had an amazing gladioli garden at our farm -- but I did not inherit her genes. Now she is gone I am doing my best to honour her legacy but it does not come naturally. I much prefer sitting in the garden with a book on a perfect spring day.
DeleteOh, aren't those irises gorgeous! What a lovely selection you've chosen too, Bron. You'll have to update us when they come into bloom. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am SO not a gardener, but the same bug that has recently bitten you bit us last weekend. We bought four new plants -- three for our front veranda and one just inside the front door -- as the previous ones have all gone to plant heaven. I have my fingers crossed for them. :-)
Funny how the spring brings on these bursts of enthusiasm. I can't promise an update next spring; I may or may not be still enthused. Possibly depending on the results.
ReplyDeleteNice to know that my plants are in good company in plant heaven. :-)
Also putting my hand up as not a gardener but very much in awe of people who are and fresh flowers in a vase is one of my favourite things to look at - and smell!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of havving a garden but am too lazy to make one or keep up with the basics like watering etc!
Oh, yes, I LOVE a vase of flowers as well and there is nothing more perfect than when they're picked from your own garden, or from that of a loved one.
DeleteBeautiful pictures! I really wish I was one of those people...but I managed to kill a succulent and they're supposed to be very hardy. The most I've done is have a few pots of herbs on my balcony. That's enough for me!
ReplyDeleteGrowing your own herbs is such a satisfying way of gardening. I heartily approve, Stefanie. (I'm sure the succulent must have had issues unconnected to your care. I'm saying it died of natural causes.)
DeleteBron, what beautiful irises! I hope they all flourish in your garden. I adore them and have them in my farm garden. They are blooming now and gorgeous. Your post makes me want to get onto a catalogue and order more!
ReplyDeleteIt's another form of shopping, right, and one which is so much easier to justify than, for example, shoe shopping. I say go for it. Buy a few more to enjoy next spring.
DeleteBron, I love the sound of hipster irises! And your photos are marvellous. I hope these ones do wonderfully for you.
ReplyDeleteWe always had what I think of as old fashioned flag irises at home - a deep blue purple with a yellow stripe. I'm not much of a gardener but I dabble. I'm the daughter of gardeners and some of it rubs off. Sadly right now what I'm mainly growing are weeds!
That sounds so like me, Annie, the daughter of gardeners who so wants to carry on that legacy. Which I am sure you are doing. I know v little about irises but wonder if the ones you describe are perhaps Dutch Irises?
DeleteHI Bron,
ReplyDeleteI used to be an avid gardener but several back operations later I have to pay someone to do it for me now. I love being able to pick fresh flowers from the garden. Roses and sweet peas are some of my favourites, but I have irises as well as many cottage flowers. I miss the thinking time gardening gave me. It was fun getting my hands dirty and then coming in for a long hot bath once my work was done.
Thanks for sharing the lovely photos.
I'm so sorry that your back no longer allows you to dig and dirty in the garden but am sure you gain a lot of joy from the fruits of your earlier work. I do love cottage gardens and can picture you in yours. It is a beautiful picture.
DeleteBeautiful pictures, Bron.
ReplyDeleteI'm am trying to be a keen gardener. Previously I fell into 'brown thumb' category, but I have to become 'green' as we have purchased five acres with a beautiful garden. I've planted some flowers (which are still alive) but it's the weeds that I'm battling. Although I do get quite a bit of satisfaction in pulling them out.
There is much satisfaction in attacking the weeds, isn't there? And yay on taking up gardening. It is so satisfying to planting, tending and watching those flowers bloom.
DeleteI am absolutely NOT a gardener, but that doesn't preclude me from enjoying other people's hard work, LOL! Those irises look absolutely stunning, Bron. I'm sure your mum would thoroughly approve. I especially love that Triple Delight and Fiesta in Blue. For our eldest's wedding in September I asked Mr Fix-it to tidy up a small garden beside our front path. It had been an awful weed patch for years. We chose beautiful blue and purple pansies and planted them in a row along the garden and also put some in a large blue pot at the front door with a bright pink Mandevilla (sp?) in the middle of the pot. They've all survived so far (probably more due to the amount of rain we've had than our care) and they always make me smile when I go past them.
ReplyDeleteI'm smiling at your smile, Yvonne. There is something happy about flowers, isn't there, and pansies are definitely one of the happiest. I have a couple of barrows which I need to replant with annuals. I have a yen for pansies!
Delete