Tags
bearded iris, epimedium, fatsia japonica, generous gardeners, in a vase on Monday, philadelphus, Spring flowers
It has been said before that gardeners are generous. I think all my friends are generally generous whether they are gardeners or not but when a gardening friend came for dinner she arrived with an especially generous armful from her garden. To have cut her bearded iris is so generous as they last for such a short time in the garden. 
To these bearded beauties, sorry the variety is not known, she had added the white flowering, highly scented Philadelphus. (these have not liked standing in water) 
Such a fresh green although it does not seem yellow enough to be P aureus in this picture.
Other foliage included a few Fatsia japonica leaves. Alchemilla mollis and an inspired addition of Epemedium. 
I like how they look against the sides of the Suffolk earthenware jug, a gift from mother and father Dorris. Thanks folks.
So if you are sheltering from the steamy heat or a storm, click on the link : Rambling Cathy to see some of the other vases from around the world. D.
Generous? Perhaps we just need to get rid of the debris our gardens generate. (You know, when I grew rhododendrons, there were certain minor crops that we had to cut the flower buds off of to promote vegetative shoots growth for cuttings. One of my jobs was to pluck the bloom from daphne. My neighbor put it in a big pewter bowl for the fragrance.) Anyway, those monochromatic blue iris look quite old fashioned. I have many iris but none like that one. I do not purchase any, so I only grow what friends and neighbors get rid of. Mock orange is rad too. Ours ran out a while ago. It grows wild.
No I prefer to believe it is generosity rather than prunings. I should think your iris are lovely
All of them are lovely, but there are a few that I would like to grow that never seem to show up. One of my rules about iris is that they must come from ‘someplace’. No purchases. They must be like the ones I have, from someone else’s garden, an important landscape, or you know, something important. I want to get a nice red one, and a navy or gray blue one, but can only do so if I find it is another garden.
Good luck with your search Tony.
Thank you, but luck is not important. There are a few that I want, but they are all good.
Philadelphus is rarely used in vase but is so very pretty, and looks wonderful supporting the irises. Nice vase too. I am sheltering indoors from the heat, but the scent of peonies is wafting in through the patio door. 🙂
Heat, wafting scent, patio doors, aahhh. Such a memory as it is awful here very heavy rain, flooding, thunder.
Oh dear. Hope it improves soon!
A lull before the storm I fear
A very beautiful Iris and as you say a very generous friend! I’ve also fund that Philadelphus looks very miserable very quickly in a vase but I like to use it once or twice.
About 36 hours Christina, was all it managed before it looked droopy. I find the scent too sweet in the house but love to catch it wafting in the garden
Yes, me too. The Madonna Lily is also very strong but nice.