Containing Continued

I first planted this container in early June.  Now it's overflowing - just the way I thought it would!

It really didn't look like much - sure, it had potential and gave a hint of what was to come, but seeing it all in bloom now.  Cool.

This is what it looked like when it was first planted.  The colors were kind of washed out.  There certainly wasn't any fullness to it (to be expected).  And it was more of a concept than a reality.

But now - 8 weeks later - it is dripping with gorgeousness.  You have to love it when things work out like that.

Contain Yourself

I took a break from the weeds today to get our window boxes done.  Of course, after I finished them, I had some leftovers - so I tossed them together into a container.  I followed no "rules of gardening" for this container - I just had fun with what was lying around, playing with the plants.

I put a dracaena in the middle, some geraniums around the edges and tucked in orange mosaic impatiens under the geraniums for a splash of color, then finished it off with common vinca.  I like it!

The "sun" window boxes came out alright.  Again, the dracaena in the middle, calibrachoa on the "inside" edge, sweet potato vine on the outside, and 2 coleus in the background.

Usually I just put in a ton of impatiens for the "shade" boxes.  This year I thought I'd try something a little different.  Dracaena in the middle again, sweet potato vines on the corners, bacopa in the center and then a hosta and heucharella in the background.  It really brightens up the shady windows - even if it is mostly bright green - the bacopa flowers are white and they'll stand out in a week or two.  I think it came out great and I can put the hosta and heucharella in the ground once the season is over.

Perennials in the containers - it's too exciting!!

The Big Show - part II

After the grooming was done, I moved my iris to the display table - the card was filled out and I still had 13 minutes to spare before the deadline for entry closed.  No problems, everything was going along smoothly and my Caesar's Brother was sitting in the Siberian section ready to be judged.

I closed up my grooming kit and went to take a look at the rest of "the competition".  The tables were getting full with all types of irises.

The bearded iris were most impressive with their tall stalks and ruffles.  The shades of blues went from dark navy to the lightest sky blue possible.  Each flower was perky and looking its' best.

I spent a few minutes chatting with the president of the club.  He had emphasized at our last meeting that you could be disqualified if you were missing even a "." in the name of the iris.  Did it matter if I used the American spelling for Caesar's Brother?  He suggested I look it up.  9 minutes.

The iris registration reference books had Caesar's Brother listed, but there was no registration after the name, it referred me to Caezars Brother - and Caezars Brother did have the registration information listed.  I needed to change my card!  4 minutes.

I rushed back to the table, pulled my card, got a new card and went to fill it out - no pen! Wait! Got the pen from my grooming kit and filled out the card.  Siberian Iris Caezars Brother.  Z, not S and no apostrophe.  Okay.  Good to go. 2 minutes.

I looked over at the president's iris.  Stunning, gorgeous...siberian.  My little Bob didn't have a chance.  I quickly scanned the categories....dwarf - nope, miniature - no way, bulbous - I don't remember what that even is!  Historic - maybe Bob has a chance.  It's a 1932 registered iris and the cutoff for historic is...1983.  I rushed back to the table, grabbed my card, swapped out the section to historic and placed Bob over in that category.  Time's up - let the game begin!

The judges went through each and every flower, peering intently at every single leaf, petal and scathe.  They were very detailed and extremely knowledgable about - well, about everything that had anything to do with irises.  Each flower was first judged against the standard - was it what the registration said it should be?  And everyone that qualified was awarded a ribbon.  Pink - thank you for coming. White - it  was a bit messy.  Red - it could have been groomed better.  Blue - perfection!

Bob won blue!  He moves on to the next judging phase - rosettes.

All of the blues were gathered together for each section.  Sure, they were all perfect in their own right, but which one was the most perfect.  No pink, white or red here - just "you are" or "you aren't".

Bob won the rosette!  (Seriously? Yes, seriously.)  He moves on to the next judging phase - best in show.

All of the rosettes were gathered together.  The judges conferred, they peered some more, they conferred even longer.

The bearded, 'Going Home' won Queen of the Show - 1st place.  It's okay though - she's a bearded, they're flashy and tough to beat.  The judges narrowed it down to 2 - my Bob, a siberian historic and the club president's siberian.  There was no way Bob could beat her.

1st runner up - 'Sugar Rush' and she sure was a sweet little siberian.  Well done!

That meant that Bob was 2nd runner up!  He placed 3rd in show!! I was stunned.

Bob looked a little knocked off his axis as well.  Great job, Bob!  Even though you had to suffer the indignities of a sponge bath in public, you pulled through and brought home the prize.

So there they are - the winners of the 16th Annual Iris Show in all of their beribboned glory.

Of course, just like a flowers bloom, glory is fleeting as well.  Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head on home - back to our bucolic manor.

We passed out Bob II and Bob III to folks stopping by to see the show, but I held on to Bob I so I could show him to my DH.

Back in the crate and off we went - me knowing a lot more about irises than I ever knew before, and Bob?

I think he was happy to just be outside again.  He's not used to air conditioning - and I think the muzak music was starting to get to him.

The Big Show - part I

The flower show was today.  I brought my Siberian iris 'Caezars Brother' (1932, F. Cleveland Morgan).  It was the 16th Annual Hudson Valley Iris and Daylily Society American Iris Society Iris Show.  This is a  big day for the iris grower's in the Hudson Valley and it is taken quite seriously.

Personally, I'm more of a daylily gardener, but they asked that everyone participate - bring whatever they could - because this was not a very good year for irises in our area.  I spent the last few weeks looking over my small collection of irises (less than a dozen types) and found nothing in bloom.  

None of my bearded irises even had he courtesy to put up a single stalk with even one pathetic bud on it - let alone a full blossom.  The closer it got to the show, the more sure I was that I wouldn't be able to bring anything.

Then it rained all week.  Things were looking really bad.  Until Wednesday.  On Wednesday I found one of my Siberian irises had a few dozen buds.  If they opened in time, I could get a few flowers for the show.  Whew!

I borrowed some books about irises and siberian irises from L- (thanks!) and read through them.  I wanted to be able to understand what they were talking about at the show!  They covered everything from the genetic makeup of the flowers, to color, height, placement in the garden, thickness of the petals.  I felt ready to go.

Then I found out that not only do you have to bring a flower, you have to "groom" it before you place it into the competition.  This is the part where you clean the flower, get rid of any bugs, dirt, cobwebs, and trim off any nastiness.  All of this grooming is specifically outlined and quite detailed.  So I read up on that and started to get my tools together.

Okay - don't laugh, because they actually do this to the flowers.  (I couldn't believe it at first either!)

Here's what you need to groom an iris.

A good sharp knife and some sharp pointed scissors.  Fortunately I have a set of bonsai tools that were perfect for this job complements of my DH a few years back.  (The bonsai is long dead, but the tools live on!)  Thanks honey!

These are for cutting the stem to the right height, cutting off any spent buds and trimming burnt edges off of the leaves (up to 1/4-inch, max).

Then you have to have some paint brushes.  There was some white stuff in the purple on the petals, so I used the foam one to hold the petal while I brushed each one off with the square camel haired brushes.  Then I used the small paintbrush to clean off the inside of the flower.

Water, or course, for the flower.  It's a flower show, so naturally it had to be bottled water.  I also used this to give the flower a "sponge bath".

Tweezers with a magnifier for pulling off stuck on bits of cobweb, cotton and a teenie tiny bug that simply refused to get off my flower.  And a "Leatherman" tool for prepping the specialized carry crate - no handheld bouquets, please.

Floral wire and scissors for the crate, and a measuring tape for checking the height of the flower as well as the trimming of the leaves and such.

The cotton balls, cotton pads and cotton swabs for cleaning off the flower.  Paper towels for cleaning up all the water I spilled.  I didn't spill a lot of water, but there was a drop of water that fell on one of the petals as I was washing it and I quickly soaked it up with a paper towel before the petal absorbed it. It was a close call!  The water would have definitely left a mark on the petal.

Water picks for the flowers in case they were out of vases for extended periods of time, cotton gloves to handle the flowers - minimizing fingerprints, duct tape for the crate and baby powder for... Actually, I don't know what the powder is for.  I saw it listed on the West Texas Iris Society site as one of the things you should bring to groom your flower, but I never did figure out what to do with it.  

So you take all of that stuff and put it in a tool case.  I also tossed in some cleaning wipes for my hands and a pen for filling out the forms.  Even though I already have the forms filled out, you never know when you're going to need a pen.

So I finished putting together the "grooming kit" Friday night and went and picked out the blooms I was going to take with me.  I figured I'd take 3, then choose the best one once I got to the show.  One could break while I was going over, I could accidentally slice one in half when I was grooming it.  It was good to have a backup plan and anything that was half decent could go into the display (non-judged) part of the show.

Before even God woke up this morning, I had my toolkit out on the porch and my carrying crate assembled.  (3 2-liter soda bottles cushioned with paper bags in a crate with duct tape reinforcing the seams and a bamboo stake in the bottle for "stage 1" of the crate).

Out at my siberian iris (they look blue, but they are purple in person - it's a lighting thing).  I've already decided which ones to take, but I checked them over again just to be sure.

First up is Bob I.  He's 42-inches tall and looks nice and perky.  I call all of my plants "Bob".  I just like sayin' it.  (B-ahhhhhh-b - it's a good name!)

Next up is Bob II.  He's 37-inches tall, a little bit more delicate looking than Bob I, but he should do nicely.

Finally, Bob III.  At 32-inches he is a bit stockier than Bob I or Bob II, and he has a slight tear on one of his leaves, but he'll do okay in a pinch.

The directions say to cut the flower at the base of the plant, just where it emerges.  I don't know if you've ever tried to find the base of a siberian iris, but it's really crowded and hard to get just the right stalk.  There were casualties.

I managed to get down to the very bottom, though, and got the leaf and flower stem at the very base - still attached to each other.  Nice.

I put a paper towel tube on top of the soda bottle, stuck the irises and bamboo stakes in and used a bit of floral wire to make a little loop to hold the flowers steady, but not touching the stem because wherever you touch, you leave a mark.  The stakes were a little taller than the flowers to stop them from hitting the top of the car and breaking off.

You should have seen my friend's face when she came to pick my up for the show with my 4-foot tall crate and toolkit.  She thinks I'm nuts.  But then I explained what all the stuff was for... Well, then she really thought I was nuts.  We had a good laugh and we were off to Poughkeepise for the show.

3 mountains and an hour later, we arrived at the Poughkeepsie Galleria.  The parking lot was empty and not a soul in sight.  I found a shopping cart to carry my stuff and went inside.

It's a little strange to be in a mall when there is no one else there.  All the shops were closed, but they still had the muzak music playing.  Very surreal.  The Bob's and I did a bit of window shopping.  I think they like the tea sets.

After a while, the flowers started coming in and it was time to help set up the show.  We moved the tables around, put together the display vases, everybody pitched in and got it done.  Then it was time for me to groom Bob.

I followed the directions and suggestions as best as I could and Bob was cleaned up and ready for the show...

Part II tomorrow!

Prepping For the Show

Tomorrow morning at an ungodly hour I will be traveling over to Poughkeepsie for the Iris Show.

Mind you, none of my fancy irises are in bloom. I only have some 1932 F. Cleveland Munroe Siberian 'Caesar's Brother' irises in bloom now. At least that's what I think they are - as near as I can tell after pouring through thousands of photos of irises.

Tonight I went out and selected my blooms but did not cut them. I'll do that first thing in the morning. I also put together a "grooming kit" with all of the tools that the West Texas Iris Society says that I need to make my flowers look their best. Apparently having fingerprints showing on your stalk is a big no-no.

It should be a fun day with lots of beautiful flowers - and I get to help judge so I should learn a lot about irises. Maybe I should wear gloves to hide my fingerprints? Or I'll just clean them off with Q-Tips. (not kidding, they actually recommend it) I don't think I'll be bringing home Best In Show, but maybe I'll get an honorable mention or some such thing.

 Wish me luck!

edited for line spacing because apparently the ipad browser doesn't put those in - argh!

Flower Show

Even this little sparrow isn't buying the freshly blooming daffodils competing with tulips at the end of their bloom.  It is backwards!  But flower shows are a great opportunity to see different species of blooms and fantastic color combinations as well as suspend belief in what nature will actually let you do in the garden.  

Although the cyclamen and viola are put together for the show, the bright green of the viola leaves dulls out the cyclamen leaves and the pink blooms are forgotten in the blues and yellows of the violas.  But - if you look at the cyclamen with the white impatiens you see the balance in the height and tone.  A much better combination, I think.

Can you ever go wrong with the brilliant yellow gold of forsythia skirted by bold red tulips?  I don't think so.  The only question is - plain red? parrot red with white? frosted pinks? deep purples?  So many choices - but this year I think the frosted pink calls out the loudest.  Is there time to rip out all of my tulips and replant?  (uh, no way is that going to happen)

This one just made me laugh so hard.  There is no possible way I could get these all in bloom at the same time in the gardens unless I built tiny little hothouses over each individual little plant.  It's better to just look at how the foliage goes together and ignore the blossoms - because it is not going to happen.

Ranunculus.  Why don't I grow these?  They are so lovely.  There must be a reason.  I'll have to do some research on these beauties.

Gorgeous, right?  That creamy white with just a tinge of pink.  Really spectacular.

Very alpine.   Very simple. Very perfect. Very doable. Very nice.

I just love flower shows.

Flower Time in the City

Yesterday being Valentine's Day and all was *the* day for flower sales in Manhattan - and if there's one thing I love, it's flowers.  There are a few different levels of flowers I have gotten over the years.  There are the delivered FTD bouquets that come to the office, the custom florist bouquets for office or home and then the pre-packaged bouquets.

These are the florists prepackaged bouquets.  Very traditional roses with baby's breath.   These are the roses that the florist is trying to salvage from his flower order.  The good ones with lots of petals are inside in the refrigerator.  For these ones, he has stripped off the dying outer petals and added baby's breath.  They are quite lovely and have a lot of petals still left on them so you can get about 3-5 days worth of life out of them.  The problem is, they are sold in bunches of 6.  6 roses is not a dozen.  

These are the deli roses - the ones sold in the buckets outside of the corner deli.  Pick up a sandwich, 6-pack and a bunch of roses - perfect!  These are fun bouquets because they have a mix of flowers.  You get a few of your basic roses, but they also add in any other red or white flower.  You won't see much baby's breath here (it's actually kind of expensive), but you will see lilies, gerbera daisys and those red berries left over from the Christmas wreaths.  These bouquets usually will last 7-10 days because of the lilies and the berries and I actually like them a lot.  I would split up the bouquet and put little bud vases around the house with different flowers in them.

These are my personal favorites - the flower cart roses.  You will find this woman (or her sister) at each and every subway and train station entrance just as rush hour begins on Valentine's day.  She has standard carnation mixes, roses with baby's breath and single roses individually wrapped at a really good price.  It's perfect!  Her flower distributor gets whatever the other guys didn't get from the flower district and she cleans them up and wraps them up for sale.

Maybe I like her best because she is out there "working it", really pushing (literally) her wares to the consumer.  I know that she's probably been up since well before dawn to get the flowers, prepare the flowers and then get her cart from all the way down in the flower district (28th Street) up to the station (125th Street).  And yet she's cheery and bright.  She must really love her family to be out here selling no matter what the weather.  

Some years her daughter sits with her.  During the summer she sells ices (rainbow, coconut, cherry and lemon-lime).  Her daughter is with her most of the time in the summer and her mom is teaching her business, encouraging her reading and summer studies.  They're pretty close.  For New Year's she sells funny glasses and noisemakers.  Whatever the holiday, she has the appropriate accessories for sale - and she loves to bargain the price.

To me, this woman really captured the heart of Valentine's Day with her steadfast, happy and hope-filled attitude.  It's not a flash-in-the-pan, it's her working and caring for family that matters.  It's what keeps her going.

I think that, more than anything, is a really good message for Valentine's Day.  (The love part - not the commerce!)