May Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

The smaller perennials are still growing, while some of the larger ones are blooming.

Siberian Iris are in full bloom. I picked these multipliers up at a master gardener plant swap, and now have 3 stands with 100 blooms.

Columbine Aquilegia from my mom's garden years ago.

Pea blossom. Hey, veggies have blooms, too.

Mountain Laurel Kamlia latifolia. A very red 'Sarah' cultivar.

White camassia -- not as popular as the blue.

Bearded Iris. This reblooming cultivar 'Clarence' was purchased from Walmart many years ago.

Geranium sanguineum close up.

I don't know the name of my black bearded iris. It's really hard to get the color right, when taken with a cell phone camera.

Spiderwort grows well although in a sunty location.

The white ruffled bearded iris came from another plant swap.

The tree peony 'Garden Treasure' that closes up at night.

Find other garden bloggers' posts at May Dream Gardens

Now Returning

About a half dozen Dutch Iris 'Discovery' bulbs were purchsed years ago and they brought great pleasure in the late spring when they bloomed. They first showed up on my blog back in 2008. After that, they brought great heartache. They did not want to bloom again. I did not think they were in the tulip mode of blooming great one year, and then disappoointment in following years.

I kept them, and every year they might knock out one or two blooms each spring. I changed their location to give them more sunlight. I gave them fertilizer. I gave them more attention and care than other plants who were becoming jealous, but every year it was the same: very few booms.

This year I am please to report that I have 7 blooms. I also have about a dozen new bulbs that will hopefully be blooming in following years. They are not fast multiplying, so maybe they require several years of coddling before they grow enough to produce a bloom.

I really appreciate the irridescent blue, espeically when the sunlight hits them from behind. The contrast with the yellow is striking.

For The Record:   • Well-drained soil with organic amendments   • Full sun   • Generous fertilizer   • No disease