paper flowers

lasso your grass

changing things around

keeping a log

daffodil arrangements

labeling seed flats

cedar pavilion

tools

'white splendor'

help planning

'Aureo-variegata'


Showing off Planting Iris pallida `Aureo-variegata' so that the light glows through the leaves turns them into sharp pieces of stained glass. This Iris is hardy in Zones 4-8 and does best in full sun and well-drained soil. It has lavender flowers in early summer that Bill says smell like, "cheap grape candy" but it is the leaves that contribute the most. The foliage comes up with the earliest bulbs and keeps its good looks all season long. Using this energetic plant in combination with other plants enhances the qualities of each. The sword like leaves of the Iris get sharper next to the soft atmospheric Baby's Breath, Gypsophlia `Compacta Plena'. The Ladies Mantle, Alchemilla mollis seems to foam up, and the heads of the yarrow seem flatter and more vividly yellow in contrast to the vertical stripes of the Iris leaves.

Other kinds of Iris pallida available are the species, dalmatica, which the books say (and now I want) has the best glaucous foliage and larger leaves and `Albo-variegata' with striking cream and blue-green leaves which we grow and would use even more if it were happier here.