For some reason, this morning the late garden writer Henry Mitchell came to mind.
Henry Mitchell used to write columns for the Washington Post. One of his columns was the 'Earthman', which was basically about gardens and gardening, his in particular. He would talk about his plants (he passionately loved irises, which he called the 'Queen of the Garden', and waterlilies), he would talk about his "crackpot" garden projects (he had a marvelous (and sometimes wicked) sense of humor), he would sometimes talk about other gardeners, and about his beloved dogs.
He was not politically correct; were he writing garden essays in this snowflake social era, many of them would never see the light of day.
*I* found his writing refreshing, and have yet to find a garden writer that I like more. If I have a model for garden writing (I can't say that I consciously do, or not), his style lurks in the back of my mind. I suppose you could say that he has had a lasting effect on me, both on my garden writing, and as a gardener.
All of this is a long-winded introduction to where my thoughts this morning were leading me.
I have a lot of white irises (because of the Moon Garden). I have a lot of purple irises (because DH). I have lavenders, blues, some oranges, some pinks, and despite my dissing them, I have been adding more and more yellow irises.
This brought to mind one particular essay (I'm trying to find it again) that Henry wrote about the irises in HIS garden. The thrust of it, as I recall, was that he wasn't satisified with the overall effect. Some grand dame fellow iris lover visited his garden during the iris season, and pronounced that he needed more of such-and-such a color. He immediately rejected the idea ("over my dead body") but came around, and added such. The next season his iris garden came to life and sparkled.
The food for thought here, now that we are past mid-summer, but still have a last chance to add more irises to our gardens, is this: What color might we have overlooked (or underrepresented) in our garden, and would that color bring the irises to life? (Arguably, the same might be true for what color pattern... I am still thinking that one over.)
I guess that's justification enough for more yellow irises.
(For those who like to read garden essays, Henry Mitchell's were collected into three books (all of which I have in hardbound): THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN, ONE MAN'S GARDEN, HENRY MITCHELL ON GARDENING. All are available on Amazon, and from other book sellers.)
