Category: gardening

What makes an iris an iris?

October 8, 2020

Theses are bearded irises.

Do you know why these are called bearded irises? It’s because these plants have beards. The beards are the hairy bits on the falls. On the irises below they are yellow colored.

What are the falls? They falls are the three petals that fall downwards from the centre of the flower. The three petals standing up are called standards.

Only bearded iris have beards. There are other types of iris. Crested iris, for example, have crests. Not to be confused with beards, crests are hairless raised ridges. Irises without beards or crests are called beardless irises.

This one looks menacing!!!

For Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.

Echiums in bloom

October 2, 2020

I love these strange blooms. This white one is lovely at the moment.

I’d love to grow a red one. Maybe next year.

These green blooms haven’t burst into color yet.

Sometimes they grow in some really weird shapes. It’s called fasciation. I had a very odd blue stem last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of it. It can produce some bizarre stems.

These blue flowers just have a bit of a bend in them.

Love the white ones!

Odd Coronas

October 1, 2020

Did you know the trumpet part of a daffodil is also known as the corona? These poor daffodils might have a corona problem!

I like these even though they haven’t got the traditional trumpet shape associated with daffodils. The yellow ‘bits’, the coronas, are very disheveled. For more of my daffodils, click here.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day (FOTD) challenge