Sunday, June 8, 2008

Garden Heritage


Spuria irises grow well in this area; so well, that they often outlast the houses they were originally planted with. They were typical of homes, cabins, and stagecoach stops more than one hundred years ago, so clumps of these graceful flowers can sometimes be found near meadows and fields where buildings once stood. They also persist in town by some of the older homes, and along with flowering quince and climbing roses, Greening apple orchards and mock orange bowers, they hark back to an earlier time in garden fashion. A few more images are in my Overflow blog, linked here.

10 comments:

TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO said...

Some lovely shots here. Thanks so much for visiting TORUŃ DAILY PHOTO and leaving some messages!

Louis la Vache said...

"Louis" did not know the history of these irises. Very interesting. They are found in older places around the Bay Area as well.

Grand Life said...

Thanks for your comment on my blog the other day. Also thanks for your post on the Free Audio Book site. My husband once ask me how many hours it took me to drive to Denver and I said "2 book tapes". It's amazing how time flies in the car. We never travel without them now. I love your blog and visit often. I'm on dial-up Internet for the summer and it's hard to leave comments but I try to keep on top of it by coming into town to the library. Have a great week.
Judy

Halcyon said...

Beautiful flowers! And I love the bee. I can't wait for something to come up in my garden.

Petrea Burchard said...

They attract bees! Considering the worldwide bee problem, this makes those flowers precious indeed.

Gorgeous photo and nice commentary, too. I like learnin'.

USelaine said...

Thanks Petrea. I don't know if the same flowers were planted down in Southern California, but it makes sense that Louis would see them.

Dina said...

Such graceful flowers. And your history lesson is an eye-opener too.

Ming the Merciless said...

That photo of the bee buzzing around the lilies is simply awesome. Brilliantly captured.

USelaine said...

Thanks Ming - I was surprised it turned out so well when I got it home and onto my computer, because they were as busy as, uh, bees!

raf said...

Wow, Elaine, that macro is about as good as it gets. Incredible! Thanks too for the history!