Let's Step Back A Bit.............

The next several posts we'll be a stepping back into May and early June on my garden progression.

 

This week I will be talking with you about my Iris bed.  This bed was the first to be completed and I was transplanting Siberian Irises and wanted to get them into the ground first. 

 

In my Iris bed I have Bearded Irises, Siberian Irises, 2 Tree Peonies, a Peony and a intersectional Peony as well as 3 Balloon flowers, 2 Lamb's ear and 2 Euphorbia "First Blush", also known as the cushion spurge.

 In this photo I've just transplanted. From the foreground to the background Balloon flowers, Lamb's ear (on the corners), Euphorbia (middle), and the Siberian Irises, and behind them are the Bearded Irises, which were originally there.  The Lamb's ear looks a little weak here, but has improved greatly.  When I transplant I make sure to add some composted manure to help feed the plants and the soil.

This is the back side of the Iris bed which here you see the Bearded Irises and one of the Tree Peonies.  This Tree Peony was just planted and is yellow and probably won't see any blooms til next year.

 

In this photo You can see the other Tree Peony (the dark pink flower) which has been there a few years too.  I've also started mulching at this point, which will help keep down the weeds and retain moisture.

My goal was to get all the transplanting done first then work on mulching.

 

In the above photo you can see the finished Iris bed.

 

 

This photo shows my Bearded Irises blooming as well as the Tree Peony.

 

To tell you a little bit about the Peonies I have in this bed.  Tree Peonies are grown on wood, like a tree, but only get between 3 to 5 feet tall and the woody stems don't die back in the winter.  But the blooms are as large as your hand.  About 5-6" in diameter.  Gorgeous, gorgeous blooms!  The shrub Peony is just that a shrub and does not have any wooden branches and are also known as herbaceous Peonies which do die back to the ground in the winter.  Which are also the most common Peony.  The intersectional Peony (also know as Itoh Hybrids) is a cross between the Tree Peony and the Herbaceous Peony.  The Itoh Hybrids produce a Tree Peony flower and leaves while having many of the same characteristics of a Herbaceous Peony.  This is my first Itoh Hybrid Peony.  It's suppose to have a yellow blossoms.  When it blooms I will show and tell......

 

  Everyday for the first couple of weeks I watered to make sure that these plants get a good head start.  This should be done will all transplants. 

 

As of today all the transplants are doing well.