Laughing Ravens

 I have been struggling to figure out how to begin this. What is a long cross? Who cares about weird inter-species cross breeding of irises? Why do I care? And what does this have to do with a TET talk?  Five years ago, when we restarted the garden, I stumbled onto the local rock garden group (NARGS is the national org)... and folks quickly pointed me in the direction of the annual seed exchange . It didnt take five minutes on the SeedEx page before I was lost like a kid in a candy store. I mean, read through the list! It's exhaustive! And someone collected those seeds and donated them to the SeedEx.  Seeds are magical. Every bit of hope and wonder are encapsulated in every single seed. When those seeds have even the tiniest pedigree, there's a story. The seeds came from somewhere. Someone grew them, collected them in the wild, shared them from a family member's garden... on and on. There's a story.  I was hooked. The first year I ordered seeds from NARGS, it was pri...

  This year's iris seedlings have reached the point where it is time to move them from the seedling trays and into the new beds. Last year, we planted them far too close. As a result, this spring it was apparent that they were so close it was going to be difficult to distinguish one plant from another. Some irises were easy enough to lift early in the spring, while we were getting rain nearly every day. Other irises will just have to wait a few more weeks to be moved. Normally, I would wait until late summer to move an iris... but this year we need the bed space. For some of the larger irises, there might be some transplant shock. I plan on moving them right before a long rain, but that's never a guarantee. One of the other things I anticipate making use of this year: Miracle-Gro Quick Start (4-12-4). I started using it on my seedlings last year as a way to help build strong roots mid-summer.    One of the things we discovered last winter/early this spring is that critter...

'Mardi Gras Mambo' ( Joseph Musacchia , R. 2013) Seedling 08-10-01. LA, 36 (91 cm), Early to midseason bloom. Dark purple self; orange-gold spear signal; slight recurve. 'Red Velvet Elvis' X 'Hush Money' . Purple in the garden isnt hard to come by. Sometimes it leans towards red, other times more towards blue. Purple, when rich and pure, can become almost black in its purple-ness. In the garden setting, against green sword-like leaves, the purple of the Louisiana iris 'Mardi Gras Mambo' can almost appear like ink, until the bright yellow signal in the throat pops right out. That contrast in color   Perennial lupine  When set against the wine pink flowers of the weigela behind it, the perennial lupine's purple comes through as a soft purple. The bi-color of the pea flowers keeps it interesting! I have spent so many late afternoons in the early summer, trying to capture macro photographs of lupine flowers. The many shades of purple is simply enchan...

And just what are we starting again? Everything, I suppose.  I decided to start writing again, after a lengthy hiatus. In the past, I would write about goings on in the pottery studio or in the photography studio. With both of those endeavors in the rear view mirror now, it felt like a good time to turn my eyes forward to what we are exploring in the garden. I always love reading garden blogs, especially those written by those actually understand the value of good writing. All too often nowadays, "content" boils down to whatever can be monetized or will increase readership. I would wager that a year from now, the majority of those sites will be entirely written by AI. For all I know, it might even result in better writing.  Which begs the question: Why return to writing now? I would argue that it is a sign of defiance. After the election, I fell into an abyss of angst and despair. Rather than give in to the feelings of helplessness and desperation, I thought about the nature ...

 And this is how we start. Just a simple iris pseudata. Great starting place. Nothing else needed.