Hello Darkness my old friend

This dramatic bearded iris is called Hello Darkness. Not everyone likes black flowers, but they can make an interesting contrast. John took these pictures on an overcast day, but in bright sun it has a glowing purple tinge. I like the way the iris breeders give their plants fanciful names. There are other black iris varieties called Ghost Train and Midnight Oil, but I think Hello Darkness might be the blackest of the black. We have a multi-colored iris called Stitch Witchery, and it looks like it has a purple blanket stitch around the white edges. They are all gaudy and beautiful.

About 10 years ago, we went on a serious binge at a dangerous place called the Walsterway Iris Farm. At the peak of bloom in June, you walk through their fields with an order sheet in your hand making check-marks next to what you like (la-de-da.) In the fall, they send you the rhizomes you ordered, and you have to figure out where on earth to plant them in your crowded beds. The down side to growing iris is they take up lots of space, and are fairly ugly 50 weeks of the year.

As years went by, I got annoyed and dug some out. Being fickle, now I like them again. I'm glad Hello Darkness survived the purge because I see on the Internet it's a hard variety to find, not to mention expensive. In 1999, it won the Van Dyke's Medal, which is apparently the highest award for an iris.