The garden is bursting with bloom now, with promise of even more flowers as the irises come into their own. I have half a dozen or so historic irises which are sending up bloom stalks for the first time this year, so I’ve been excitedly chattering to them as I walk round the garden. Fortunately they seem to be entirely happy about my eagerness.
However, it is the stalwart “Indian Chief” (Ayres 1929) that has once again been the first of the tall bearded irises to flower, and it was one of these blooms that inspired my choices for this week’s In a Vase on Monday.
The smoky pink-lavender and wine flowers are as beautiful as the plant is robust and floriferous.
There is still plenty of Aloe vera in flower so I added some bloom stalks to fill out the warm hues of the iris.
For greenery to fill the vase I cut some foliage from our mandarin orange tree. One of the stems has a few buds; the tree is just beginning to bloom also.
Lastly I decided that the smoky hues of the iris would blend well with some lavender, so Lavandula dentata (also in full flower right now) supplied quite a few stalks as well.
I needed something fairly large, so I used this stoneware vase with an iron-rich glaze—similar to, but not the same as—last week’s vase.
I then had quite a bit of trouble finding a good place to photograph everything because this particular vase is just a little too big to be propped on the rock I usually use. Instead I placed the bouquet in front of another rock on the north side of the little pond. There was enough shade there to allow for fair photography; after all, there is no shortage of rocks in this garden!
I certainly hope my readers are happy with seeing pictures of irises. There are likely to be quite a few in the near future.
Many thanks to Cathy for hosting this inspiring theme at Rambling in the Garden. Do check the other vases linked to her post!
Happy Monday!
Oh I can just imagine why you were so excited about the irises if it was the first time they had bloomed for you - and I am sure they enjoyed the conversation! Curiously, although the bloom you picked does not hugely stand out in the vase, it subtly pulls in all the other blooms and foliage and is very much an integral part of the it. Setting the vase off against the pebbles and rocks is really effective too - thanks for sharing it, and the excitement of your garden and its increasing number of blooms
The light of your photos is magical, and the elements and your arrangement are dreamy. Iris time...now that is exciting!