The Iris Nursery and Gardens at Plantas Distintas
Spring Update - March 2009
GARDEN NEWS 18th March, 2009: The green iris fans are pushing up vigorously and some early varieties are showing their flower stems and throwing us into a panic. The weeds too are flourishing and the garden looking pretty with species tulips, spring bulbs and little dwarf iris in flower.
After all the frosts and rain, we are hoping for an A1 blooming this year!
However, the flowers could be a little early (more panic) please ring for an update after 7pm on 965973520.
We have had a busy autumn/winter with new projects. The labyrinth has been completely replanted with blues and whites to calm it down as it had too many colours and was too busy. Please take the time to walk it and tell us what you think.
We have also created a bog garden and planted it with damp loving Louisiana irises, hopefully some will flower this year.
There will be lots of new irises to see as a result of our trip to Oregon last May - who said we were just going to look and not buy?
Our message for 2009 is: Take your money out of the bank and invest it in the ground where it will be safe, give pleasure and multiply!
Enjoy your gardens and visit our bloomtime if you can.
Our iris gardens and nursery first opened in April 2006, but we have been growing irises for many years both in the garden and along our olive and almond terraces. At the backbone of our collection is a wide selection of wonderful garden-worthy colours. We are now concentrating on building stocks of 21st century irises from top international hybridisers.
Choose from American, Australian, French, Italian or eastern European! These are the products of more than 50 years of selection for vigour, health and flowering. They are bred for their exciting colour combinations, huge ruffled and lacy flowers and vivid contrasting beards.
We believe we are the only specialist iris nursery in Spain, and our mission is to offer a truly international selection of irises which may not be readily available elsewhere in Europe. We will supply top quality bare-rooted rhizomes that are guaranteed registered named varieties by mail order in the autumn. Iris in pots are also available for collection only at other times of the year. If you are searching for a particular iris, please ask as we may well have it in the pipeline.
Marnes really is an iris mecca, the growing conditions are perfect for this undemanding plant. In 2006 we had more than five months of summer drought, but the irises enjoy a long hot summer baking and go dormant in winter when they even like a frost. As we do not have irrigation water, we NEVER water. We only water the new plantings in September/October if there is no autumn rain and this involves buying water by the truck load!
Plantas Distintas is not just an iris garden as we have planted over the years a drought tolerant 'secret garden' hidden in the olive groves with collections of salvias, buddlejas and species pelargoniums. Many of these may be available as potted plants to take away or can be propagated to order.
Marnes is our little bit of paradise on earth and we invite you to come and enjoy the panorama of the mountain landscape, the peaceful gardens and the iris blooming season. We look forward to sharing this with you.
Christine Lomer and Nick Brown
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