About 20 years ago I bought 3 potted Alaska Iris Setosa at a local garden plant show and put them in my yard. These hardy perennials do very well in Alaska and produce very beautiful flowers in our long Alaska Summer days.
I soon learned that Iris would multiply and needed to be dug up and have the roots divided every few years. I also added more flower beds to replant the divided iris and added more perennial flowers.
To add some variety to my perennial Iris I started a wide variety of Lily bulbs early this year. Potted Lily plants for sale in the summer can be expensive but bulbs are much les expensive and are available much earlier in most garden centers. They do seem to sell out fast as the weather warms up so I bought some very early and kept them in my refrigerator until the weather started warming. I gave them a head start inside my tomato greenhouse. They seemed to do pretty well and I am anxious to see how hardy they are in my Alaska climate.
I also learned about flower bed design and my original bed with a rock boarder was just too wide for easy maintenance or weeding. The rock boarder was also impossible to keep weed free and trimmed. It was time for a complete design change.
This meant removing the rock boarder, digging all of the Iris, and dividing the roots for replanting in a new smaller bed design. The bed was very overgrown with weeds and grass so this sod layer had to be completely removed and the subsoil tilled with extra compost added.
The new bed design was smaller and this left an area that needed new grass seeding. The soil was tilled and sifted with some compost added. The pile of rocks from the boarder also needed to be moved.
This left a lot of divided Iris plants that I really did not need so they were offered for sale and I sold 50-60 potted Iris to other local gardeners.
I also had other areas that needed help and more Iris that needed to be divided. So I dug up and redesigned another bed as well.
Instead of making this bed smaller, I divided it into two beds with a paver walkway in between for easy access.
I purchased a flat of petunias for some color while the other plants become established.
I still had extra potted flowers so I decided to make a new flower bed. Digging out the sod and tilling the subsoil.
My second flowerbed is all planted with Iris and Lilies and watered in. I still have a few plants left to decide where they might go? So I might as well add some more perennials …cuz why not? I have no master plan and my design will change almost every day. It is a learning experience and I continue to learn what works and what fails.
I came up with an idea to use some more of my paver bricks to make individual plantings with room to run my lawn mower in between. I removed the sod again and dug out the soil removing rocks and roots and adding compost. I did make a run to Home Depot just to check their garden center and since this is the end of our planting season there were some discounts that were to good to pass up - Ha!
Columbine - (Kirigami Rose & Pink)
Veronica Spicata (spike speedwell)
White Peonies - Paeonia Lactiflora (Duchesse de Nemours)
Rose - rosa rugosa (Foxi Pavement)
My newest planting were finally finished and watered in about 9 PM. Our long summer daylight allows me to work later and it was not beginning to fade yet …but I was fading and ready for supper - Ha! Nobody promised gardening would be easy - but I think it is worth it!
My new Lilies are in full bloom and I had no idea that they would smell so good! ...I am amazed at the wonderful scents every morning with the fresh breeze when I open my windows! Starting my new Lily bulbs indoors in March seemed to work very well and should add a nice color variety along with my Alaska Iris.