We visited the Merian Gardens in Basel today which is home to one of the largest collections of bearded iris in Europe. It was an overwhelming experience seeing so many iris in bloom! We spent 4 hours in the iris garden and I took hundreds of photographs but there were just too many to get all of them.
The last three weeks have been extremely busy at work and I didn’t get that much done in the garden but I did take pictures nearly every day while I did my rounds.
The iris started blooming on 12 May this year - in spite of the heavy frost. However, the damage caused by the frost is evident on many of the buds which have managed to open.
Edit May 27 - not Blue Suede Shoes but Sapphire Hills (received from cliftoncat - Mika in 2016)
No aphids on the iris (yet) but I have had snail damage and, new in our garden this year, the iris weevil.
I managed to start planting out my iris seedlings from my first hybridizing attempts last year.
The roses in the garden are slowly recovering from the frost damage at the end of April. I had to re-prune most of them. Double the effort this year and hopefully double the reward – just a little later than usual.
The first rose to bloom in the garden this year is Rosa Canina on 16 May.
The rose seedlings have been moved outside now and continue to bloom.
‘Black Baccara X Little Artist’ – a cross which has produced all sorts – this picture shows what can come from the same cross. The red in the comparison is far too red! I have great difficulty getting the balance right.
Here I got the colour right!
The last two pics above are from the same cross ‘Indian Summer X Huddersfield’ and couldn’t be more different. The first is still in a 2dl cup and only about 8cm high. The second had to be transplanted to a pot in is now about 50cm high.
Never a dull moment when hybridizing roses – you never know what you are going to get.
I believe the same goes for hybridizing iris only you have to wait a little longer for them to bloom – hopefully next season.
Patience is a virtue they say .........
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