A Must-See Iris Garden

I meant to post what I have accomplished for the rest of my week off last week, but I am so excited to share these photos with everybody! You see, my friend, Judy, who is also into gardening, took me to an Iris farm this afternoon. We took off one hour early from work and drove about half an hour to arrive at what I call ... an Iris Museum! ha! ha!

From the road, this is what you will see, show-stopping colors! ... four acres of Iris, Peonies, Lupines, Daylilies, Clematis, etc. It's owned and operated by the Borglum family whom I understand are a retired couple who enjoy gardening.
(all photos can be enlarged by clicking)


Iris as far as your eyes can see! I definitely give the owners two exciting green thumbs up! lol I was so thrilled and excited I felt like a little kid! ... I could hardly believe what I was seeing, a rainbow of colors!



... a few close ups.






... many varieties of lupines, hundreds of them with a kaleidoscope of hues, and such elegance! Judy said, she's contemplating on starting a lupine garden bed for next year. Last year, we were both into daylilies, this year, iris, so maybe next year it will be lupines? nah, not for me, my garden is getting hard to manage. ;)


... these are just a few of the peonies, there were too many varieties to photograph. Aren't they gorgeous? I've never seen a two toned peonies before! ... and a yellow one? wow, how cool is that!
I was so excited that I called another friend, Josie (she helped me put up my garden wall) and asked if she will be busy this weekend. I want to bring her to that place because I'm pretty sure she'll enjoy it. Maybe I will take more photos then.






I already have a few iris in my yard, they are all pictured below. Iris are very self-sufficient, they multiply annually and most important, they are fuss-free! They grow in full sun or partial shade. They are also an excellent cut flowers, and smell so sweet.








This is one of my newer collections. I think it is called Royal Blue Batik Iris and it is a re-bloomer, meaning it will bloom in the spring, summer and again in the fall. Too bad the rest of my newer ones are still tight buds so I can't show you.


The farm owners are selling their iris for $7.00 per clump but if you buy 10 clumps, you get 2 clumps for free. Judy and I decided to go for the 10 + 2 and divided it among ourselves. It was really a bargain because one clump consisted of about 6 to 12 rhizomes. It was fun because you dig your own, so we tried to look for bigger clumps for more rhizomes, and more rhizomes mean more plants, right?

And these are my share after Judy and I split the clumps. Twelve bags, each bag is one variety and contained about 3-6 rhizomes. If you enlarge, try to notice the lightest purple on top, somewhere in the middle, it is speckled, and we've never seen another clump of that kind in the farm (the worm on one of the bags is free) lol. I always receive garden catalogs in the mail and they are selling 7 plants for $30.00 plus shipping and handling, so I think Judy and I got a real bargain.
Now, my problem is, where in the heck will I plant these?! I promised myself not to start another garden bed anymore because it's getting unmanageable ... hmmmm, maybe I will just intermingle them with my other plants. Sounds good, eh?