After a couple of indifferent seasonal performances by the Lucas County Historical Society Museum iris, they're back in full force this spring, marching along the south side of the A.J. Stephens House.
There's still a lot of work to do in that big flower bed, but the ground was too wet to work on Sunday so I crawled around among the iris for a while, and here some of them are.
These are hybrid, larger and more elaborate than our gardening ancestors would have known.
But we do have some of the old-fashioned ones, too.
One task I did accomplish on Saturday involved rooting out "naked lady" or "surprise" lilies (Lycoris squamigera) that had invaded the iris bed over the course of several years.
I do not like these lilies --- called "surprise" because the bulbs throw up lush foliage in the spring that dies back, then the flowering stalks pop up unexpectedly several weeks later. If left unattended, the bulbs reproduce enthusiastically and form a thick underground mat. Meanwhile, the foliage --- until it dies back --- shades out other plants trying to grow nearby, including iris.
So now another bushel of those bloody bulbs has been rooted out and disposed of.
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