Last week I received a very special gift in the mail. Fellow blogger, Becky, had a contest on her blog for giving away her newly divided iris rhizomes and I was a lucky winner. In fact, we were all lucky winners! You see, Becky’s iris are special. Many of them have been handed down from her mother. They are part of her familial heritage; family heirlooms. Please take the time to read her background story on the iris, it’s time well spent.

We had such hard rains I decided to wait until after all that was over with before planting them. All that rain helped to facilitate the necessary clearing out and pulling of weeds in what had become a neglected part of my flower bed. I thought the spot would be perfect for them as it’s sunny for much of the day and on a slope. (Becky tells me that iris don’t tolerate weeds very well so I will now have an excuse for keeping this part of the bed weed-free.)

The soil here is rich and dark. I kept unearthing these as I pulled up grass that had sown itself in the bed.

The iris have luscious and mysterious names: Hot Dogs & Mustards; Zandria; Alabaster Unicorn; Nigerian Raspberry; Whipped Honey; Silverado; Saharan Sun.

Soon the planting was finished.

I took a piece of paper outside with me and sketched in where I had planted each variety. Then I came inside and made this, just so I won’t forget. I color-coded the numbers with what I remembered their colors to be (sort of) from seeing them in bloom on Becky’s blog.

There were a few with no names, so when they bloom I will take a photo and Becky can identify them for me. Just like having a surprise package!

Here is where they are planted, in the big bed next to the pool.

I hope they like it here in New Jersey—after all they are all from the Midwest and West. And, I certainly hope they like worms as we seem to have an abundance of them! Thank you, Becky! Can’t wait until next year to see them bloom.