Image of the day

[Weiser]

PK
Great shots of the Frits and Iris.
I have never tried Junos. I guess, I didn't research them enough and have never seen them growing in anyones garden. I will just have to add it to my fall list of bulbs. Sounds like they would do well for me.

[Kelaidis]

My garden is going crazy: since there haven't been any images of the day for much of the past week, I suspect the same is true for everyone else...we are all on tenterhooks in Denver because of the consistently mild weather. It's wonderful! But snows will come again and our last frost date (average) is still 3 weeks away. How luxurious it is to watch Magnolias and forsythias bloom unfrosted for weeks and weeks...aaaah!

The following picture says it all: It's that Dutch selection of Tulipa humilis with the interminable name and outrageous prices (which have been coming down). I've grown it here and there, but finally found a spot where they seem to like it....

[Weiser]

PK
Lovely.

 They are beautiful!! I have never seem a tulip with a purple center before!
They must really catch your eye when you pass.

[McDonough]

Panayoti, nice Iris zenaidae 

Also nice pic of Tulipa humila alba (or as so well established in Hort: Tulipa humilis 'alba coerulea oculata'), it is a such an unusual color form as dwarf species tulipa goes, a beautiful flower.  Yes, I paid a stupid amount for a couple bulbs about 7-8 years ago.  It would come up and flower, but as I was a working man with long daily commute, I'd never see the dang thing open.  How sad is this:  I would actually go outside at night when I got home from work, and with flashlight in hand, gingerly peel open the flower to see the famous blue center   Pathetic!

One year, at long last, I finally did see a single bloom open in daylight. And that's the last I've seen of it since. 

Went looking for some more pics of this tulip, here's a stunner:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GBrtC5njfhk/Su_MQjyLdZI/AAAAAAAAJ-w/aUL3BCpQE3E/s1600-h/Tulipa+humilis+alba+coerulea+oculata.jpg

[Hoy]

I have always wanted to grow more Irises and not just the common garden types. When I see your plant, Panayoti, the lust overwhelms me! I have grown several cultivars of Tulipa humilis but they are shortlived acquaintances.

[Kelaidis]

Here's something entirely different: how about a cormous plant in the Barberry family? I believe this is a Leontice. It was originally brought to me as a gift by a well known Czech collector, probably originating in one of the stans. There are a half dozen species kicking around there, so I am not sure which one this is (any guesses I would be grateful for). I grew it for fifteen years or so at my Eudora garden where it did nothing. I moved it to Quince three years ago and it has finally (probably nearly 20 years later) decided to bloom. I'm tickled pink (or yellow). Now let's hope it's self fertile...

[McDonough]

Congratulations Panayoti!  And only 20 years to bloom 

It looks similar to Leontice leontopetalum in this link:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5044.0

I like the look of these strange plants, and the closely allied genus Gymnospermium:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5235.0

[Weiser]

 Mark
Looks like you nailed that ID down. Good job!

[McDonough]

Last year, my fat luxuriant clumps of Juno Iris were eaten by deer, sheared off to the base of the clasping leaves.  After growing these outside for nearly a decade, this is the first time deer ate them, deer only rarely come through, and of course they eat the most treasured items.  Subsequently, rain water got into the severed leaf bases and rotted them.  I feared all would be lost.  Of the 8 species or varieties I had, there is no sign of 3, 3 others only show only a few small non-flowering plants coming up, and two others are flowering, albeit the quantity of bulbs cut way back.

So here is the brave 'Warlsind' flowering this year, a mere remnant of the big clumps of previous years.  Has anyone noticed how perfumed the flowers are, one of the few junos with a good fragrance.

Image of the Day:  Iris 'Warlsind'

[Todd Boland]

Stunning iris Mark!  Wish I could grow the junos but they just don't like our moisture levels.

[McDonough]

Stunning iris Mark!  Wish I could grow the junos but they just don't like our moisture levels.

Try planting in pure sand (raised bank of pure sand), that's the only trick necessary.

[RickR]

What a spectacular cultivar, and how well it is grown!

[Hoy]

Kelaidis, well done waiting 20 years for flowers! I have sown some trees and hope I shall have flowers while I am still alive but herbs....
Mark, Juno irises are out of question for me but I not for you!

[McDonough]

The Juno irises are unnecessarily shrouded in my mystique; many are dirt easy to grow.  John Lonsdale, plantsman extraordinaire and horticultural myth buster, grows these outdoors without any problems.  He gave me my start with some of the easy species like I. vicaria, graeberiana, magnifica, and a few hybrid selections... he told me, just grow them in sand.  I created a sand bed bermed up about 12", without any hard edges to the bed, and planted the forked carrot-like rhizomes in the sand.  Reliably each spring the "corn patch" sprang to life, and after a few years, put on an amazing show.  Here are 4 photos taken early May 2007 and 2008. I think Iris vicaria must have had 100 stems, absolutely gorgeous, and 'Warlsind' had about 16 stems.  In 2009, imagine this scene as a deer salad bar >

The last few years I had intended to divide the plants up, so crowded had they become, but never got around to it.

[Hoy]

You know, Mark, deer (and slugs) always know what are good!