I visited the Albuquerque rose garden, where the rose club was doing some rose maintenance. The roses were coming into full bloom, and despite the wind, the fragrance was delicious. Most of the flowers were displayed to perfection with amazingly very little wind burn.
Which made me feel all the worse about the miserable performance of my roses. I planted a couple of own-root roses last year: Madame Isaac Pereire, and the David Austin rose Winchester Cathedral. I also had some cuttings of Heritage that rooted last year. This year, they put out a few very small leaves when spring arrived. Then stopped. Nothing. Not growth, no blooms. Nothing. I'm blaming the weather, since I've planted them the same as I've planted roses in previous years (I had to take the Madame Isaac out since it was located badly against a west facing wall which fried the flowers every year), but of course there is the possibility that I've done something wrong. I guess I'll just have to wait. I'm still going to blame the weather, since that stalwart Dr. Huey that has been in my yard since I moved in seven years ago has had sluggish growth this year as well.
Alchemist
The Albuquerque Iris society had their show yesterday, and continues today. Dozens of varieties of mostly bearded irises were on display, and it was easy to get that kid-in-a-candy store excitement. You know what I mean, where the kid gets so excited that he starts crying. Of course I would never go that far.
Going to shows like this, of course, makes me want more of whatever is in the show, in my garden. Hmm, maybe I should take out the blue garden, and just have irises... I managed to escape with just one purchase: the reblooming bearded iris 'Immortality' which may bloom for me this fall if cared for properly.
Visitors were asked to vote on their favorite iris of the show. Here's mine, Iris 'Lancet', obviously an Arilbred. This photograph is awful, missing the soft flush of lavender contrasting with the maroon blaze. In reality it is luminous. Bummer, I missed the arilbred iris show last week.
This iris started blooming a couple of days ago, just as Iris missouriensis is finishing. It's the only iris blooming in my yard right now. It is Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother' which a woman at the garden show was "complaining" about since it grows so vigorously in her yard, getting to be a yard across, and dying out in the center. In the poor soil where mine is planted, that may never happen, but its vigor is an asset here. Sure there are many more recent hybrids with better form than this old variety, but it's still a joy. It makes me laugh at the many recommendations that I read that siberian irises won't grow in the desert southwest.
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