Irises

Arcoiris is the word for rainbow in Spanish and Portuguese, which is that big colorful arch across the sky that we see after it rains.

And when talking about flowers, there is a plant that comes in many colors. That is why it is called Iris. When planted different colors together, they will look like a rainbow! Irises bloom sometime after the Tulips. By now their flowers are way gone, but I want to show off the flowers that I had last month.

These are Dutch Irises. I don't get to many of them any more. I need to plant more bulbs in the fall. And I only have one that blooms white.
All of the following pictures are of German bearded Irises.

They look beautiful in groups. But I like to have them here, and there, throughout my garden, mixed with the other spring blooming plants. Here is a close look of a Iris flower. That spiky part in the middle, is what made people call them bearded irises. That is Mr. Iris's beard!



I like all of them, but this purple or blue is my favorite.

This is a short type of iris. I love it's dark color among the pastel colors of the spring blooming plants.
And here is a very light pink Iris. I only have one plant of it. I grow these plants for their beautiful flowers, and then I could cut them down to the ground, and wait for them to bloom next spring. But there are people that grow them not for their flowers, they grow them for their leaves!

I Cut off dead blossoms and dead bloom stalks when the iris has stopped blossoming. I don't cut back the leaves until they begin to turn brown in the fall because the leaves are needed to produce next year's blooms!