
There are many iris rhizomes that I inherited with this house. They are in every area that one could consider a flower bed. I love iris and I happily anticipated what might bloom from this seemingly large collection — perhaps another wonderful gift from the previous gardener?

The first group bloomed in the backyard. White. Not my favorite color, but certainly pretty especially with ivy as a backdrop.

I began to worry that they might all be white. Or not bloom at all!

Then another backyard group budded. Surely, they'll be a different color, I thought, since they have a different bloom time. Nope. More white.

Apparently over time, if an iris bed is not maintained, the stronger white flowers can dominate and choke out other colors. From my understanding, it has been many years since my landlord's gardening mother lived in the house so the white clumps seem to have taken over. Or perhaps she loved white... ?

A big group bloomed a little later in a front yard bed. Arg! More white!

Finally a large separate group in the front yard long border bloomed — yellow!
Two more, which I neglected to photograph, bloomed purple in the backyard. This fall I'm going to move them to a sunnier spot in hopes that they will become more vigorous. Some of the whites might get moved to my mother's garden.