Heirloom Iris, A History Exposed

Garden Iris, Exposed

Garden Iris, Exposed © 2008 Bo Mackison

A yellow iris from stock that my grandfather grew when I was a young child, nearly 50 years ago. It is a deep golden yellow and it’s mahogany markings are stunning. This photo shows the very depths of the iris flower, at it’s very core.

This view is fitting – it represents the origins of my love of gardening and nature. My grandfather and I spent hours together each day from early spring to late fall out in his gardens. There I learned to tell the difference between a flower and a weed, to plant a seed and transplant a plant, and to care for a garden and then reap its rewards – beautiful flowers, luscious vegetables, and deep satisfaction and joy sharing in the beauty of nature and her gifts.

More Door County Wildflowers

Three more wildflowers that I photographed last weekend in Door County.

Gaywings

Gaywings © 2008 Bo Mackison

This little wildflower is Gaywings, also called Fringed Polygala, and it looks to me like a miniature airplane, grounded after a thunderstorm. It closely resembles an orchid, but is a member of the milkwort family. Folklore has it that if a tea made from the plant was consumed by nursing mothers or the plant was fed to cows, it would increase milk production. Found in northeast to north-central US and eastern Canada, it blooms in May and June.

Small-Flowered Crowfoot

Small-Flowered Crowfoot © 2008 Bo Mackison

The Small-Flowered Crowfoot is a buttercup, but doesn’t much look like one except that it has many separate stamens and pistils. It is poisonous, though some Native American tribes pulverized the root and soaked it in water to make an antiseptic to cleanse wounds. The greenish flower is less than an inch in diameter and grows near the ground, so it is easy to miss. It blooms May through early June.

Marsh Marigold

Marsh Marigold © 2008 Bo Mackison

The Marsh Marigold is one of only a few wildflowers that can grow in the middle of a stream. It has been known to grow so profusely as to give the water a yellowish glow. It was used medicinally to cure colds, anemia and convulsions, though the plant contains toxic glycosides which are only made harmless upon cooking. The flower blossoms make a sweet wine and they can also be used as a yellow dye. It blooms from late April through June.

 

 


Door County Wildflowers

Watercress

Watercress © 2008 Bo Mackison

Watercress (nasturtium officinale) is an aquatic plant, this one found near the shores of Lake Michigan. It is edible – the leaves are high in Vitamins A and C and iron, and was a popular plant with the early settlers of North America as it was a successful treatment and preventative of scurvy. The ancient Greeks and Romans thought eating the plant increased mental functions. It is still widely used in cooking – added to salads and sandwiches for a spicy and tangy flavor and also made into watercress soup. The flowers are savory and used as edible garnishes.

Dwarf Lake Iris

Dwarf Lake Iris © 2008 Bo Mackison

This 3 to 4 inch high Dwarf Lake Iris (iris lacustris) is found near the northern shores of The Great Lakes where it grows in the limey soil and in the cool climate. It only grows in the states of Wisconsin and Michigan. I probably saw a thousand of these flowers on my recent visit to Door County in northern Wisconsin, but the flowers are actually rare and on the threatened list of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It has a very limited habitat and that is shrinking because of shoreline development and the use of off-road vehicle and chemical pesticides.

Wild Strawberry

Wild Strawberry © 2013 Bo Mackison

This is Wild or Common Strawberry (fragaria virginiana) a variety of the plant which produces the familiar bright red strawberry. The cultivated plant is a hybrid of this native plant and the South American variety. Native Americans used the juice of the strawberry for an eye remedy, and herbalists still use the roots to treat kidney stones and gonorrhea. It is a common plant in Door County, flowering in May and June in meadows, fields, woodlands and setting its berries in June.

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay Magnolia

Sweetbay Magnolia © 2008 Bo Mackison

Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison Wisconsin

Scallops of Pink Lupine

Scallops of Pink

Scallops of Pink © 2008 Bo Mackison

Does anyone remember reading the book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney? It is a children’s book written in the early 1980s, popular when my children were little. Miss Rumphius was a woman who wanted to do three things in her life – travel the world, live by the sea when she grew older, and make the world a better place. She easily accomplished the first two, but was a little stumped on how to accomplish her third goal until she hit upon the idea of scattering lupine seeds wherever she went. Wow! She must have made her part of the world really beautiful. Certainly a better place, too.

I think these flowers are pretty spectacular, standing about 3 feet high. This is an eastern Lupine, grows east of the Mississippi River. There are about 200 lupines in the family, and many of them are strictly West Coast plants. Many more are native only to California. This sweetie blooms from now until early June, though if the plant is dead-headed it will send up a second, though less spectacular, blossom.