TALL BEARDED IRISES and ITOH PEONIES -- Never-ending floral arrangement possibilities

After the tree peonies bloom, and before the herbaceous peonies bloom, another variety of peony, Itoh (e' toe) peonies, make their appearance in the garden. These stunning flowers combine the best of tree peonies and herbaceous ones, having magnificent big blooms, and an easy growth and care feature.  Pictured here is "Hawaiian Pink Coral" peony. Paired with it are Tall Bearded Iris 'Eagle's Flight," and three different purple globe alliums in various sizes. I like the coral pink color combined with the lavender of the alliums.

Alliums are best planted in the fall. They come in all sorts of shapes, colors and sizes, as you can see in the picture. They dry beautifully and add a nice interest in the fall garden.

The lupine is just starting to bloom, and it also comes in a myriad of colors and combination colors. An interesting thing about lupine is that they readily self sow, but are not true to the parent plant, so you don't know what you're getting until they bloom, They are easy to transplant when young seedlings, but have a 95% failure rate when transplanted when they're a young full plant or older plant. Lupine are great combination plants for tall bearded irises, peonies, and poppies. Their tall spikes withstand high winds and they do relatively well in both full sun and part shade.

When cutting for a floral arrangement, cut in the bud stage, Lupine start to bloom from the bottom up, so lower ones can be in bloom, but give the top a good measure of buds for long-lasting blooms in your arrangement. By the 2nd or 3rd day, the buds should be in bloom, as you can see by the photos below. I always use a floral preservative for maximum vase life.

Because peonies and irises come in so many colors, the composition of your arrangements can be endless!

GIANT ALLIUMS, ROSES AND LILIES IN JUNE

By June, the huge globe alliums are in bloom. Some, like long-lasting Globemaster, reach 10" across, with hundreds of blue-violet florets. Alliums have foliage that emerges early in the spring, and Globemaster's leaves remain green longer than other varieties. Violet Gladiator and white White Empress, with 6-8" spheres, are also reliable and beautiful varieties that grow well in my zone 6 garden.  The first flush of hybrid tea roses are still in bloom, and a favorite, long-stemmed Brandy, is a luscious color of soft apricot-peach. Tree lily Conca d' Or, with its 6-feet tall stems, grows more beautiful each year. Lilies are exceptionally long-lasting in the vase, especially if the pollen ends of the anthers are snipped off. Alliums are also long-lasting in the vase.This June 14th arrangement will last well over a week with proper cutting--early in the morning or after dusk--using a floral preservative and keeping it out of direct sunlight or drafts.

TALL BEARDED IRISES IN SHADES OF PURPLE - Arrangements with purple spring blooms - 2015

The weekly arrangement for May 3 highlighted the beautiful shades of purple. Two early blooming irises, plicata's "Eagle's Flight" and "Ascii Art" accent this arrangement with the stunning rosy purple blooms of tree peony "Kamata-Nishiki," white vibernum, commonly known as a "snowball" bush, and 4 varieties of allium--purples "Beau Regard, Globe Master, Purple Sensation," and white "White Empress" with bi-tone purple lupine make this "shades of purple" floral bouquet a favorite.

Snowballs aren't as long-lived in the vase because of their woody stems. To help this problem, cut the smallest branches, and split the branch up the woody stem with small slits to about 1 inch long. Cut all blooms early in the morning or after the sun has set in the evening. Immediately plunge cut stems in water. When ready to arrange, cut stem again, under water, and arrange, using a floral preservative. Keep out of bright sunlight or drafts for longer arrangements.