Perennial Iris's

Iris Pumila Smart

The Smart Iris pictured above is a Dwarf German Iris.  It grows 10-12" tall and is a red violet with dark purple on the falls.  It blooms very early Spring, earlier than the tall bearded types.  Prefers full sun and is hardy to zone 3.  Some of the plants are blooming right now in our greenhouse adding a burst of colour to the green of the other plants.  

Iris Germanica Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven is a Tall Bearded Iris, hardy to Zone 3.  It grows to 39" tall and requires full sun.  Perfectly arching, near white standards and round flaring medium blue falls with ruffles. Strong stems with good bud count.  Blooms early to mid Spring and is a Dykes Award winner.  

We will have both of these Iris's available at the Saskatoon Farmer's Market in May.  You must plant the rhizomes of these plants near the surface, and once established are drought tolerant, a great choice for our prairie summers.

We are busy planting and transplanting in the greenhouse at this time of year.  Everything is looking great.  In the gardens there are a few things that are showing green.  The Angelica, Yarrow, Fern Leaf Peony, Karl Forester Grass, and lots of ground covers in the rock garden are coming to life, along with the Hens & Chicks.   We had seeded a few cold loving vegetables, radish & lettuce, in front of our house foundation in the fall, and they have sprouted nicely.  The last few cold nights have kept them at a standstill, but they will go about their business again once the air warms.  We are starting to do more preparation to the beds to ready them for this Spring's planting.  I already seeded Bell's of Ireland and Larkspur, as they do best planted in cool soil.  The Sweet Pea seeds are planted in the garden, and I planted the extra seeds in bedding plant containers.  Sweet Peas like a cold period to get them flowering early, so they really need to be planted in the cold soil or if you plant them in containers place them outside so they are exposed to very cold temperatures.  I set out the containers I planted with Sweet Peas, into the cold frames. Well we  have a squirrel that has set up residence in the quonset which is right beside the greenhouse and cold frames.  Squirrels love pea seeds, so you can imagine what happened to my flats of Sweet Peas.  It looks like she may have eaten almost all of the seeds, so I quickly called T&T Seeds and ordered more seeds this morning.
Gggrrrr, when they do things like this, they don't seem so cute anymore.  Oh well, I should have known better, as this is not the first time this has happened, in one circumstance or another.  I am hoping it will not dig up my seeds which are planted in the Sweet Pea garden.
The battle between gardener and critters continues.