My farm is at the end of a long dirt road called Wild Iris Lane. It meanders through rolling hills of farmland and trees of pine, and in the summer, patches of wild iris in a wild array of lavender-tinted hues.
Laurie Dimino 
Joan 
Teri Brian 
Meagan Brockway 
Wyo Di 
Deanna 
Heidi Bee 
Kathryn 
Ellen 
Joy 
Cathy 
Jennifer 
JJ Sommerville 
Nina 
Kathryn Hanson 
Heidi Morris 
Talia Brooks 
cheri 
Raynita 
Doris Campbell 
Lise Rousseau Silva 
Candace (sweettea) 
Steffenie 
Caron VanSlyke 
Chrissy 
Cheryl Nolan 
Lorie 
Debbi Downs 
Eileen Widman 
Mandy Horr 
Bunny St. Clair 
Jean 
beth 
Cathy R 
Turtle 
Teri Brian 
Ashley 
Linda 
Rebecca Walsh 
Gayle J 
Evelyn Dalton 
Sara Thompson 
Betty Shreve 
Jennifer Venable 
Jenny Pipes 
kristen stone 
Pat Lacy 
Colette 
Debra L 
Janice Aisquith 
BONNIE 
Jenny Rummel 
GrandmaLen 
Majal 
MaryJane 
Susie 
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
MaryJane,
I love Iris because they totally remind me of my dear grandma. She used to have the most amazing gardens, and her iris were simply beautiful. She had mainly “blue” iris, but a few yellow scattered about as well. She was very proud of them, and I think they must have felt the same way about her, for they grew very well for her and stood so regal and tall. There is nothing shy about an iris. What other flower could have “a beard” yet still be so pretty and dainty?
Would love to have the iris dish in my home! Thank you for the opportunity to win it.
Farmgirl Hugs,
Laurie
I love iris because they catch my eye when I am in the woods. The dark purple is a welcome surprise among the greens and browns of Spring forests. I don’t grow iris but they bloom prolifically in the area I live. I see dark purple, golden yellow, cream, pale lavender and red-purple blossoms when I am in the woods. They brighten the day and make me smile.
PS–I drive by a Wild Iris Lane when I go to town!
Iris are beautiful ~ so delicate ~ awesome colors ~ and deer leave them alone! My Mom loved iris ~ they remind me of her inter beauty and love! And I have a neice who collects iris treasures ~ if I’m the lucky winner will probably give it to her with the promise of a picture! Thanks for your generousity and delightful daily journal! Blessings, Cathy
I am a botanist. I named my daughter after the dwarf lake iris, an plant endemic to the shores of my home state – Michigan. A beautiful little iris. Iris came into the world May 29th of last year. We didn’t think about the timing, but when I brought her home from the hospital, every iris in my neighborhood was in full, glorious bloom. It was a good sign.
Iris plants mean that Spring is finally here!
hmmm, what is it that brough such delight every June in that backyard of my memory? I love IRIS because they are the epitome of summer in our backyard growing up. Easy, breezy, laid back and over-the-top elegant at the same time. The spoke to me of the beauty of nature renewing itself with reckless abandon, heedless of February’s drifts of snow just 4 months before. They take the muck and the mud, the rocks and grit in the dappled border rock garden– what was just a place to discard the rocks that grew out of the lawn every spring– they take all that is unwanted and cast aside and THRIVE and SHINE amidst everything taken for granted in their quiet corner.
Not having found a cultivar to take in the sandy soil of a Carolina barrier island as they did in the wet clay of Central New York, I have tried to recapture a smidgen of the effect with irises in our garden ponds… It’s not Monet’s Garden or my childhood backyard, by any means, but that won’t stop me from trying to recapture the Irises of Summer!!
I love Iris because their old fashion. My Mom had them, my Aunt had them. Everybody had them when I was going up. They seemed to be the flower at the time! Bring back good memories.
Iris, wild and oh so blue take me home to the Camas Prairie of Idaho. Those few select sites, the kind you wanted to keep a secret, along the country back roads is where they’d grow. Most likely, around old homesteads. Such a treat to find them on a Spring day traveling to the mountains! I was thrilled when I discovered them blooming our our property in western Wyoming; that site took me “home” to my childhood memories of sighting them on the Camas.
My Dutch Iris welcome Spring. Then in April Louisiana Iris begin to bloom. These are particularly special to me because one of my great aunts gave me a “start” of these purple iris about 25 years ago. I love the stories of pass along plants!
I grow the Iris for three reasons: 1) It’s beauty
2) My Mom gave me my first plant
3) It’s the symbol for NAMI(National Alliance on Mental Illness) I have known many people who struggle with different mental illness. The Iris was choosen because of a painting by Vincent Van Gogh and it symbolizes strength.
In Central Oregon, winter is all about brown with Junipers thrown in the mix. Not much else for color if the sun refuses to show itself for days. Just as the world is coming back to life and the sun is shining again, the wild iris starts to bloom. As we enter our 3/4 mile driveway, standing along the way are these beautiful purple flags, as we call them. It just is always a reminder of the life that is lying just below the surface waiting to reappear and another chance to begin the circle of planting and harvest.
I Love Iris! They grace all of my gardens because of their uncompromising beauty and the fragrance that wafts across the breeze to bless my nostrils with the sweetest scent in all of the world! I love iris because they provide lovely green backdrop for many of my summer annuals and they always come back again. They have a never say die attitude. I have seen them growing along the roadside ditches where excess tubers have been dumped by gardeners that could not bear to compost them. I can’t wait for my first cuttings of them to come into my home to scent my indoor world.
I only grow two iris’ – Sweet Lena that I got from you several years ago and the herbal Iris – orris root. Fragrant Iris’ both. Love them!
As a botanist/plant person the simple yet elegant beauty of the flower appeals most to me. I love them. I have even transplanted some of their beauty to our “seasona” (& overflowing this year) creek by our house in Colton.
Iris’ happen to be my favorite flower and also my grandma’s favorite flower. My grandma always grew iris’ and loved to share the flowers with anyone who stopped by. She gave me my first and instilled the love of gardening I have today. What a wonderful give-away. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures, Mary Jane!
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