Laughing Ravens

  'Pelican Island' ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2019)  Not quite the end of Louisiana iris season... but I dont expect many more to open this week. Things have shifted over to the pseudatas and the ensatas. Even the pseudocorus have passed their prime. That's unfortunate this year, because I was hoping to make a few more crosses between the ensatas and Gubijin... but I think the last Gubijin flower might open tomorrow. We'll see.    'Furui Shiro' ( Carol S. Warner , R. 2016) SPEC-X  'Furui Shiro' is one of the tallest pseudatas in the garden. The flowers are easily the largest. Pseudatas are touted as a sterile cross between an ensata (Japanese) iris and a pseudocorus (invasive yellow flag). Leto and I have been checking for pollen on each opening variety of pseudata, just to test this sterility. Sure enough, none of them have pollen in the stamens. In fact, most of the stamens are tiny, misshapen things. It did however make me wonder about the stigma. Hard...

iris versicolor (not sure which SIGNA seedling) iris brevicaulis, donated by a friend in Michigan 'Byakuya No Kuni' ( Hiroshi Shimizu by Carol Warner, R. 2005)  'Labrador Hollow' - ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2017) 'Mama Janice' ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2019) 'Percy Viosca' ( Patrick O'Connor , R. 2014) 'Annette Brown' ( Harry Wolford , R. 2013). 'Brown Recluse' ( Walter Moores , R. 2011) first year bloom, species iris ensata, from seed from SIGNA.org 'Acadian Sky' - ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2017)    The weather has transitioned from over a month of nearly daily rain (42 days in two months) to suddenly being humid and oppressively hot. Dangerous heat warnings started this weekend. Stepping out the door this morning, I was met with the same wall of hot/wet that I associate with getting off the plane in Miami.  Part of that transition is the change in iris season: from Siberian iris season (with iris versicolor sprinkled in fo...

red peony  Everyone has an idea what red looks like. Most men see far fewer shades of red than the average woman. But at the end of the day, most people (who aren't color blind) can distinguish red from orange and red from purple. Somewhere in the middle is true red.   red poppy Red poppies are glorious when they open up in early summer. I used to go to great lengths to plant seeds early, expecting that my transplants would bloom successfully. I learned pretty quickly that annual poppies like being sown into the snow in late winter. It seems frivolous to plant them so callously onto melting snow... but if the last few years have taught me much, it's to watch what the plant does on its own. Poppy seedpods shatter but there are always a few stuck in the pod. That pod doesn't really soak up enough water until it has frozen and thawed a few times. Then those seeds germinate beautifully. In my experience, the most successful poppies have happened about two feet (or the height of...