Irises

This yellow Japanese Iris showed up mysteriously after a couple of years with no blooms. It is very delicate, with tall, slender leaves. (Click images to enlarge.)

I was entranced by this dark purple Iris.

It has a lot more ruffles than some of the other Irises.

Gorgeous!

Here's a more conventional Iris.

The setting isn't so great, with an old tomato plant bag at the left, but look how tall these blue Irises grew next to a compost bin.

We had some other Irises, though many fell to a string weeder that was used indiscriminately to clean up a large plot that got very weedy last year while I was unable to garden after surgery. I was trying this year to get rid of the Field Garlic, Mugwort and Cleavers, but a landscaping crew clear-cut nearly the whole plot, including the triple red Daylilies and most of the Irises. Thank heavens the Butterfly Bush was spared, because it becomes a late-summer hangout for the Praying Mantises. I'm afraid the weeders and blowers may have done some of them in as well, but I will keep looking.

--Bernice