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Monday, June 16, 2008

Iris mystery

This morning I found a mystery waiting for me in my garden. This Iris ensata (Japanese Iris) was in bloom. The mystery? I know for sure I didn't plant it in this spot. It was right against the Belgium block of my driveway.

As I looked around, I remembered that in the past few years I've been lax in removing spent pods on some of my Iris. Could they have seeded?

Suddenly my eyes spied this small group of Iris ensata about to come into bloom. Ok, now I was sure that these weren't planted by me. Why would I plant an Iris in the middle of a daylily clump? Not only are these two plants conjoined at the base but I know I've never had a Japanese Iris growing in this spot before.

This is quite a surprise to me. Neither of these photos do justice to the colors in the garden. Even tweaking isn't getting me the color I'd like to see.

As the light conditions change through the day I'll try again to capture what is here. Apparently, there are some new Iris in my garden but I'm not complaining.

Has this ever happened to you?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have three mystery roses. They are climbers and appeared where I had planted two rose trees. They look nothing like the original roses and appeared a few years after the rose trees died. So strange!

Thistlebrooms said...

Do you think they were among your daylillys when you planted them???Sometimes there are VERY small bits of mystery roots in the pots I get from the garden stores...Not complaining though...Always wonder what they'll be when they grow up...
Best...Marilyn

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

I bet they were with the daylilies you bought at one time. Unless the daylilies have been there forever then maybe they did reseed. That is awesome though. I love to have mystery plants show up out of the blue!

Hoot Owl Hollow Nursery said...

For Nichole - roses are often grafted on different roots, often roots of climbers so when the tops of the originals died, the rootstock took over.
As far as iris seeding, yes they do it all the time. I have quite a few Siberian Iris in my daylily beds, at least 25 feet away from any iris, that just appear in the rows or between them. Nothing fancy, but pretty nonetheless.
Jane

garden girl said...

Very cool Melanie! I just love volunteers! Hopefully the daylilies won't be bothered sharing their space with the iris.