CULT:Our Garden on Earth Day--Long

Greetings, and Happy Earth Day to you! 

Things looked lovely in the garden of Chateau Whitehall this fine morning! The
temperature was hovering in the mid-sixies, the clouds were rolling along, and
the breeze was crisp as I waddled outside with my tea to see what had
eventuated during the night. I love that moment. This is a very small urban
garden with a lot of brickwork and dark ivy and so forth. A a bit dank, but
our own.  

The species irises were showing well today. The white tectorums were open and
looked very elegant with the blue hostas and ferns and the white clematis
montana on the brick wall. Great foliage! The slugs had been at the crestata
leaves--they always are, the wretches--but still the tiny blue and white
blooms greeted me with that touching charm no other iris can match. In my
pots, I had first bloom ever on two white setosa seedlings. One was very pure
and clean with good form, but one which had showed an intriguing dull lavender
in the bud was a poor thing with very narrow hafts and uninteresting veins.
More seedlings are coming along. Lots of SIGNA seeds are germinating now and
Invictus my now-retired feral tomcat and I examined each little pot with the
magnifying glass to see what was what. Lots of white tridentatas! Lots of new
setosasl And some nice white turtlehead seedlings as well. 

In the long border the deep violet pansies and the lavender and white violas
looked very fine with the fresh foliage of the variegated ensata--such a good
plant!--and the remains of the white tree peony. The fluffy artemisia survived
the cruel late freeze, but  the white bletillas got very badly burned. Now
they have buds, which is a great joy.

In the historic bearded iris border little GOLD FISH (Wareham, 1925) had
opened two blooms on each of two stalks. This is an odd little primitive and
one of my very favorites. It is flesh-apricot with pronounced but regular wine
veining and bright orange beards. Good plant habits, interesting violet
spathes, and no sign of freeze damage this year. It looks wonderful with the
old rose SAFRANO. Next to GOLD FISH, MA MIE (Cayeux, 1906) was superb. This is
a blue and white plicatata with especially nice form. I prefer it to
MME.CHEREAU. Two Cayeux pink pallidas were also in bloom, THAIS (1926) and the
very delicate FRIVOLITE (1929). They were hit by the freeze, but lost only the
first bud. PLUMERI, an old nineteenth century variety, bloomed today also. It
is hard to beat that saturated rich magenta with the coppery overlay and the
well formed crisp little blooms. Many other things are showing buds now and
DRADY,a striking and mysterious little historic iris whose origins are
unknown, will bloom tomorrow. And over there, like a gunshot in the night,
stands a golden yellow self with flared falls that is an UNKNOWN, but a
magnificent thing! I wished you could see it. Toward the back of the border
SHINING WATERS (Essig, 1933), a splendid heart-stopping tall light blue shows
no freeze damage, surprisingly, but BRONZE BROCADE (Nesmith, 1948) has a
skinny bloom stalk waving around like a tulip. I need to cut that off, I
think. There have been several of these this year, and some crooking, and
other anomalies. Whether it is the cold or the excess water and warmth making
too-rapid growth too early, I cannot say. 

Did I mention that SHAKER'S PRAYER, Carol Warner's lovely traditional
Siberian, is in bloom? It is, and SUMMER SKIES, an endearing historic SIB are
close behind. No sign of buds on LITTLE WHITE yet again this year. Costive
plant, in my opinion.

In the modern bed there were a lot of buds, and some treasures already open.
OBLIGATO (Stahley'88)--a really splendid little orange IB-- has two blooms
today. Cute, cute! ABRIDGED VERSION (Hager '83) a MTB, is one of the lovliest
irises I know, period. It was standing there with a perfect lilac pink bloom
of impeccable form and substance. The spathes are jade green and look like
katydids. Tasco's SONORAN SANDS is in bloom now too! This is a deep gold,
ruffled, IB with cinnamon sprinkles on the hafts which has cought everyone's
attention. Very floriferous, lovely form, and excellent proportions. A fine
iris! Walter Moore's LEMON CHESS is also showing color and we are all eagerly
waiting to see it. But today it must be said that the shocker was ELECTRIQUE
(Blyth,'93). My word! Quelle posey!  Tasco sent me the Magna Mater of all
rhizomes last year and it has four stalks on it!  It was five, but one keeled
over, probably from exhaustion.Yes, the bloom is as sophisticated and
beautiful as one has heard. A cool grey blue above, with deep slate rose
falls. Velvety. Simply astonishing! 

Completing the tour, the roses are budding up with SHAILER"S PROVENCE set to
pop and SOMBREUIL and JAUNE DESPREZ showing color. The bi-colored birdfoot
violets are wonderful, the lavenders are in active growth, the ferns continue
to unfurl, and the velvet sheaths are falling off of the buds on the great
magnolia, telling us that she, too, will soon be in bloom. 

Anner Whitehead, Richmond,VA  USDA Zone 7
Henry Hall Henryanner@aol.com
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