Rainbows and Irises
In My Garden

Irises and rainbows have a longstanding relationship! Here's how they're connected.

Iris was an ancient Greek goddess. She delivered messages between the gods in heaven and men on earth. Think of her as the internet of old!

Some say she was a young maiden with wings on her shoulders and she rode the rainbows between heaven and earth. Others say she was the rainbow!

Whichever it was, when ancient Greeks saw a rainbow in the sky, they knew the goddess was delivering a message from the Gods on Mount Olympus. So you see, Iris and rainbows are inseparable!

Rainbows are fleeting, colorful, iridescent...

Just like the irises in my garden! And ideal subjects for passionate artists and flower photographers like us!

Take two minutes to enjoy this iris video. Spring color, a few busy insects, some cheery birds - a couple of creative effects!

Are you familiar with Monet and his garden home at Giverny? If you've seen his paintings, you know how much he loved color, light and his fabulous iris collections.

Yellow flag and white and yellow spuria plants still grow at the pond. Do you remember his most famous paintings of the water lilies at Giverny?

Monet loved the spectacular bearded specimens. He planted masses of them - all shades of lavender, mauve, blue and purple. They were his inspiration for many of his stunning paintings.

But his iris collection expanded to include more than just the colors of the sea and sky. He continually experimented with new varieties that reflected the countless colors of the rainbow. White, orange, yellow, rust, pinks, brilliant reds, burgundies and “almost” black...

There are no perfectly black flowers but if there were, artists wouldn't paint them. That's because true black has no light quality and art, photography included, is entirely dependent on the light.

This is my attempt at a Monet style photograph using a blurring tool in Photoshop. I wanted to give the effect of a painting rather than a sharply focused photo.

I usually use special filters on my lens for creating various types of blur. I can tell you about different types of filters and how to make some creative filters in your home.

	This is my first good picture of an iris. I use it a lot for note cards. It's soft and sensual - the lavendar color is not the typical shade of iris purple and the three small splashes of brilliant yellow make this picture “sparkle”. Nature's color pallette is perfect.
	Look at the light falling on this beardless bloom - it's gorgeous! Be patient and wait for a cloud to cover the sun. If you're really lucky, you'll have a bright, beautiful day with light cloud cover. I'll show you the huge difference in bright sunlight.
	Do you agree that some flowers have their own personalities? A friend pointed out this flower's embarrassing gesture. She noticed it was "giving us the finger"! I'd totally missed it - the cheeky thing! Now I can't get the gesture out of my mind.
	A good example of a “webbed” Japanese ensata bloom - a rich blue with gold complement on the petals! Ensatas are beardless and can have double or single flowers. They like boggy soil in the spring and summer but they like drier feet in the winter.

A stunning color combination. Talk about petal power! This picture is shot with 35 mm slide film and the color is right on! Color film or digital won't replicate color as you see it. When you have your film printed, the technician adjusts the color to his liking or his own past experience.

If you shoot RAW in digital, you can adjust the color temperature in your photo editor. You can also make other adjustements to color. If you shoot JPG then your ability to make any adjustments is restricted.

If you're shooting JPG, its very important to set your white balance correctly or do a white balance shot before you take your picture.

Another 35 mm slide. First I straightened it 1° and cropped it slightly. Photoshop is for creative purposes and slight tweeking - not for fixing a basically bad photo! Your goal is - always take your very best shot every time you “click”.

This is a gigantic Japanese ensata bloom! The bloom is “netted” meaning its variegated. Ensatas are divided into 3 groups according to where they're found in Japan. They love to summer in bog but need drier “feet” through the winter.

If you live in Vancouver, you can find a lively family of ensatas at VanDusen Botanical Garden. But this particular specimen, a huge fellow, lives in South Korea, in Yeomiji Botanical Garden on Jeju Island. Find it outddors, right beside the Japanese Garden.

A strange name, blood iris!

I opened up the lens to 4.0 so that the background would be blurred. The result... the violet-blue flowers in the background make for some interesting color but no detail. So, the background doesn't take your attention away from the iris.

This photograph is beside me on my mousepad. I like to have all my pretty photographs around me while I work. It really brightens up the office and keeps my spirits sunny even in a Vancouver rainy winter!

There are lots of ways to put your photos to work, instead of throwing them in a drawer! Use them as screen savers, buy a digital frame and load your best photos on the card - great way to show off your creative genius to company.

And I'll share my monthly wallpaper with you. Each one has a calendar to keep you on the right day!

I. sibirica - a delicate, beardless flower in shades from violet-blue and purple to yellow and white. The browns, greens and blues blur and blend together to reflect the colors in the flower. The colors are so rich. I shot this at about a 45° angle.

There are lots of hybrid species... they grow anywhere from 50 to 120 cm tall. So they are quite a diverse bunch. They aren't native to North America. They originated in Northern Asia, eastern and central Europe.

Once they were introduced to Canada and the US they got to be quite popular. Hybrids have wonderful variety of shades in the blues and purples... they usually flower in the late spring or early summer. So get out with your camera and enjoy them!

The blue flag, I. versicolor, is a beautiful wild plant. There are lots of interesting facts about it so here's a little trivia:

• Ancients considered it to be a symbol of power and majesty and the deep purple color is associated with royalty. In 1147, these irises were on Louis VII's banner during the Second French Crusade. They were called the Fleurs de Louis - now they're called the fleur-de-lis.

• The ancient Greeks called the root “machaironium”. They ground it and mixed it with flour to make a pasta - today's macaroni!

• The blue flag has a history rich in naturopathic medicine. American Indians used the root as a laxative and to treat all manner of stomach problems. Also as a poultice and a treatment for snake bite.

• But it also goes by the name “poison flag” so be warned. Don't ingest the resin from its rhizome. It has to be used in very controlled doses to treat heartburn, sinusitis, colic, gastritus, enteritis and a lot more.

• The rhizomes contain tannin, an acid, so don't get the juice on your skin. It will cause burning irritation.

• Blue flag flowers produce a lovely blue dye. It can act as litmus paper. Remember your high school chemistry? In acid it becomes red and in alkaline it turns blue.

• In the 19th C. the roots were used in perfumes, especially in Tuscany. And still today, they're used for fragrance in soaps, perfumes and cosmetics.

• The wild blue flag is the official provincial wildflower of Quebec.

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