Finally after, at least 25 years of trying, I have achieved the reblooming Iris. I have purchased countless Iris that are said to be consistent rebloomers and have always been disappointed. There is one at the front corner of the yard that has put up a bloom stalk the last couple of years but it has always been to late and gets frozen before it ever opens. I was walking in the garden this week and went around behind the garage and stopped in my tracks to admire the two stalks, both of which had open blooms on them. I quickly cut them and brought them into the house to see if the Assistant Gardener would share my surprise and delight. She allowed as how they were very nice. They had escaped my attention because I had been away from the garden for a week. It was sunny and warm on the west coast and the three granddaughters were a delight to spend time with. The Assistant Gardener do did an admirable job of keeping things watered and now the cuttings in the basement propagation bed are already rooted and I’ll try to find time this week to pot them up.



It’s going to grow at least 15 M (50ft) tall and have a spread approaching 10 M (32 ft.) If it is going to cover that much area, how can we spend an hour or more deciding on where to plant it. It’s our new tree and we know it’s going behind the berm to provide deep shade to that newly renovated space. The silly decision process was not about its general location, that’s why we bought it but rather, should it be 30 cm that way maybe the other way. The London Plane Tree, Platanus acerifolia has now been planted and it looks lovely and its final location was determined by where I could easily dig a hole, avoiding the large roots left behind by the recently departed Manitoba Maple, a weed tree if there ever was one. It has interesting light gray bark that peels off in thin layers giving it a most interesting mottled appearance. The leaves look somewhat like Maple leaves and it is very tolerant of pollution and compacted soil making it a great city street tree. It shouldn’t have to put up with much of that in our location. Even at the bottom of the planting hole there was lovely rich soil, the result of years of leaves and other vegetation piling up and decomposing there. I hope to turn the space underneath it into a woodland garden with Trillium and similar native species and minimal maintenance.

Now it’s time to answer a few of my reader’s questions. Don’t forget to check the front page of the Website for frequent short ideas for current gardening activities.