Purple Blooms and Blue Skies

I have several different kinds of irises in my garden. Iris are in the same family as crocuses, gladiolas and freesias. Their roots are usually a bulb or corm. The leaves are long and slender and pointed at the end. Irises were never a favourite flower of mine until recently. Now I think I want to study them a bit better and maybe buy a few new ones. I think I would love to have a yellow or peach coloured one. (or two)

The first photo is of a bulb type of iris. It is called, Iris Reticulata. I planted these irises many years ago. It was spring time and I bought a couple of flowering pots in a small store in the Beach Area of Toronto. I had never seen anything like them before. They were breathtaking as they sat on my kitchen table for a couple of weeks! After they finished blooming, I planted them in my garden and promptly forgot about them. Imagine my surprise and joy the following spring when these wonderful irises came up and bloomed long before anything else was even alive in the garden. Just to show you how early these things are, this photo was taken on April 15th of this year.




The next irises are dwarf irises. They were in the yard when we moved into this house. I have moved them about many times and by the look of things, they will probably have to be moved again as other plants have taken over their space. I have no idea what variety I have. They are just pretty irises to me. I also have a tall iris, but it is not in bloom yet.

Family: Iridaceae. Genus: Iris

Common name: Iris.

This one is sort of a medium tall iris. I don't remember the variety, but it is very beautiful too!

And now a sky photo. I have noticed several blogs with sky pictures on them. I love sky photos! They are never the same twice! Our weather has been strange lately. On the weekend we still had night frost. Today was a nice, sunny springlike day. But the next few days are going to be hot and humid. Temperatures of 29C are expected. From frost to a humidex in one week!