Varieties of Iris 2018

Some pictures about the different colours of the blossoming iris during this very rainy May 2018

Iris Pallida: blossoming May 2018

Finally the iris pallida, after the long-rainy period started to blossom; the scent in the air was amazing and the colours too.

We are happy to see that all the roots we planted last year grew and are unbelievably high.

(bottom: on the left you can also see the fading iris germanica)

Bottom: a still to be "Black Suited" iris: petals like silk!

Still fields of iris pallida in May

Rosa Damascena

As said, I planted also some Roses Damascenae in the variety Kazanlik and Ispahan. With them I am going to prepare a barrier all around the fields in order to create also a protection against wild animals and a very impressive visual impact (and maybe one day also essential oil)

As always to keep it clean I used my foil to cover the land and the results are quite impressive. This Rosa Damascena (this is a Ispahan) grew very fast - it was planted in December 2017) and it's going to blossom in the next days. (actually the month of May is considered to be the month of the roses but this year it is raining all the time and blossoming is delayed).

De Historia Stirpum - Leonhard Fuchs A.D. 1542

I always liked nature and books. So the good combination between this two passions is becoming my personal collection of herbals of the past.
As you can understand, it would be almost impossible to buy the original ones (and sincerly for me over my possibilities) and therefore I opted for the facsimle versions of herbals.

I don't want here to write any history of the evolution of the herbals, but simply point out the single volumes I am going to put together in order to build my personal herbal library.

This is the Aboca facsimile "De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes" published in Basilea in 1542. It is a real huge volume with a lot of picture and description of herbs and plants.

I chose between those - obviously - the Iris in the Latin text

Iryssima vs Messer Tulipano or Iris vs Tulips

This blog trats of a wonderful fair that every year is held in Pralormo (Turin), Piedmont, close to my cultivations. Usually I find a lot of cars slowing down my way to Govone and my curiosity grew, also because all Turin is covered with reclames for this unique exposition of around 80.000 colorfull tulips

This fantastic exposition is held in the gardens of the Castle of Pralormo, with quite a perfect match of ancient beauty and new nobility.

So on 23th April 2018 I went to visit it and it was time. The numbers are impressive but the total surface - for my eyes - quite reduced. The colours are quite amazing and the effect unique. Well "unique"... I would say almost unique, considering the iris cultivations of Iryssima.

In fact, having in mind the records of the images of Messer Tulipano (Mr. Tulip, but "Messer" is very old Italian) I went to Govone to see the Iris and their monotone colours.

I compare the pictures here underneath 1 tulips vs 1 iris:

Messer Tulipano

Iryssima

Messer Tulipano

Iryssima

Messer Tulipano

Iryssima

Messer Tulipano

Iryssima

Iryssima

Flowers vs flowers: what a beautiful and colourful fight!

Messer Tulipano

Well, one (Messer Tulipano of Pralormo)  is a real garden the other (Iryssima in Govone) a simple fields. But I liked this little comparision.

I hope you enjoed the beauty of the nature: nothing is so elegant and unique like this.

Fields of Iris Germanica & Pallida 2018

Dear all,

after a quite long winter, with very low temperatures in December 2017 (till - 11°  C) and a lot of snow and an unbelievable quantity of water - well I would say a real long lasting shower - starting from February 2018 till April 2018, the Spring has come!

Temperatures over 26° C: in one week we passed from 5° C to a full summer day.

The iris that were sleeping till beginning of April 2018 started to blossom with a 15 days delay.

Top: the situation of the iris fields on 15th April 2018! Note how nude are the trees and the fields full of water while the sky is somehow winterish. Real cold. No flowers at all!


But after a few days the magic of the warmth of the nature made possible that everything awakes like in a sort of dance of colours and harmony.

The vision is quite impressive, I would say: the iris Germanica's are going to blossom!!

An almost total vision of the fields:

and here - bottom -  a picture with a close view: amazing colours!

Magical Manuscript about Narcissus (Daffodil) - XXI Century

My passion for flowers lays not only in the real flowers but also in their meaning through myths and magical spells. In this world where internet dominates our lives, I go back to recreating a magical manuscript about the flowers.

After the Iris (see my previous post) this time I drew a Daffodil, or Narcissus, with a magical text next.

This is a Narcissus Poeticus, i.e. the most parfumed kind of Daffodil, usually cultivated in France and now also in Piedmont (see my previous blogs)

Here I reproduced this flower, that represents the meaning of death and resurrection together. In magic this flower is deeply linked to the Iris, because their similar magical meaning and their fantastic scent.

The Narcissus was also a very beloved flowers of Marie Antoinette of France. In the book "L'Herbier de Maire- Antoinette de Elisabeth de Feydeau this flower is depicted in this way:

She writes: "On cultivait à l'époque de très nombreuses veriétés de narcisses pour orner les parterres et habiller les plates-bandes au printemps. LE narcisse des poètes (Narcissus Poeticus), appellé aussi Herbe à la Vierge, était très apprecié pour sa belle fleur blanche parfumée, dotée de son centre d'une couronne jaume soufre marginée de rouge."