Black Iris-A Garden Surprise

I had wanted a black Iris for my garden for a while now but every time I bought one it turned out to be a color other than the "black" was looking for in the garden. I eventually gave up on trying to find this color flower and one day found a boxed rhizome of an Iris that was suppose to bloom brown. Well a year after I planted it the first blooms have emerged and I see that I didn't get the brown flower I purchased-instead it is "black."

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Last year my Allium 'Schubertii' blooms were the talk of the neighborhood and I was glad that people appreciated them as much as I did. I decided that I would add more Alliums since everyone enjoyed their shape and color, this year I added 'Purple Sensation' to the garden and while the flowers are smaller (than 'Schubertii') and right now only being appreciated by me and a couple of bees I'm pretty pleased with them.

 

Columbine Blooms

I got Columbine seeds from a seed trade last year and sowed them in the garden and had great germination success with them. Even though they germinated with ease all I got last year was foliage but this year they have really exploded and have put on quite a show in the garden.

 

Cotyledon schaeferana

This is another African succulent that I found a local Home Depot greenhouse. This caudiciform in the Crassulaceae family and is native to Namibia. This succulent likes very well draining soil and watering it has been a little tricky for me but so far I think I've done pretty good.
 

Direct Sowing In The Garden

This week many seedlings have been popping up in the garden. Most of them are from seeds that I sowed directly either over the winter or late March and early April. If you're a somewhat lazy gardener like myself direct sowing has to be the easiest method of germinating seeds for your garden.
 

Oxalis 'Iron cross'

I acquired a few bulbs of Oxalis 'Iron cross' from a garden center a few weeks ago and sort of laughed at myself for buying what is a weed for a lot of gardeners. But I wanted to add something new to my tender bulb collection and they seemed the right size for a small pot I had laying around.
 

Tulip 'Queen of Night'

Most of the Tulips in my garden are already blooming but 'Queen of Night' is stealing the show. It has grayish leaves and flowers on stems about 28"-30" tall and dark maroon almost black petals. I was extremely surprised to see it bloom because this is the third year it was planted and the first time it didn't turn out to be a yellow or red bloom.