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![\"photo:](\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/320\/iris_ChampagneElegance1.jpg\")
1999-03-31. Bearded iris ‘Champagne Elegance’. <\/i><\/p>\n
Did I move ‘Champagne Elegance’ as I chided myself to do in 2004? Why is my record-keeping so inconsistent? No, I chopped out the oregano instead. I had already moved her to the east square of the front lawn, a sunny spot where my plan was to plant roses and irises so that I could keep all the demanding plants together. The nearby Texas mountain laurel and oleander grew so quickly that this planned sunny spot was completely in the shade last year. So go my plans. As do my dreams of hundreds of irises multiplying exponentially.<\/p>\n
Still ‘Champagne Elegance’ struggles on. Last year, Austin got twice as much rainfall in the summer as normal and I lost many bearded irises to rot. Only one rhizome of ‘Champagne Elegance’ survived. It produced three babies, each of which sent up a stalk and began flowering yesterday. Six small flowers in all. This is not a very impressive showing in the realm of tall beard iris fanciers but it pleases me.<\/p>\n
Aren’t there certain flowers in your garden that make you run out when you spot them and whoop for joy? “Look! There’s ‘Champagne Elegance’ again’,” I insist, showing anyone who will stop and look.
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Yesterday the three bearded irises that I ordered from White Flower Farms arrived. I planted them next to the tuberoses in the upper stone bed. I dug in 3 inches of Revitalizer and sprinkled a handful Dutch bulb mix.<\/p>\n
First flower. The standards are pure white, the falls a buff beige with a bit of gold at the throat. It is much flouncier and frillier than my pale yellow ones. Although the shape is attention getting, the color is a supporting color. It will be a good mixer.<\/p>\n
First flower. Last year the first flower was May 10th [13th?], but it didn’t bloom again in the fall. Maybe this year it will. (Flower lasted until Friday: about 3 days.)
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1999-03-31. Bearded iris ‘Champagne Elegance’. <\/i><\/p>\nDateline: 1999-04-13<\/h4>\n
Two blooms on a 3-foot scape that has 3 buds. Cut it and bring it into work. I think it is just as lovely as anything in last Sunday’s flower show.<\/p>\n
Replanted the four rhizomes dug from iris bed 2 in front square 1 (the east square) after dipping them in bleach solution. They are all quite small and the ones that are larger have already bloomed. So whether they can survive to ever bloom again is doubtful. I wonder if it is just ‘Champagne Elegance’ or whether all the hybrid bearded irises will eventually fade away. Could I have fed it more? watered it more?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m disappointed that the soil in square 1 isn\u2019t better, given that it has been topped with Revitalizer. But it is very dusty, with big clay clods. I water and turn it, add peat moss, superphosphate, bone meal, and compost.<\/p>\n
Well. These irises have not only survived but bloomed beautifully. The first flower (two actually) opened today. The stalk is only 24 inches tall, but very thick and supporting 5 flower buds. If it had waited until the iris show on the 20th, I think it would have won something.<\/p>\n
\n![\"photo:](\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/320\/iris_ChampagneElegance2.jpg\")
2002-04-15. Bearded iris ‘Champagne Elegance’.<\/i>
\nThe first tall bearded iris I bought was ‘Champagne Elegance’. I’ve had it since 1997 and have divided it twice. It has bloomed each year that I’ve had it. Although not as floriferous as ‘Mystic’s Muse’ or as vigorous as ‘Seakist’, it has come back every year.<\/p>\nDateline: 2004-04-28<\/h4>\n
\n![\"photo:](\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/320\/iris_ChampagneElegance3.jpg\")
2004-04-28. Bearded iris ‘Champagne Elegance’. (Until I looked at this post I didn’t realize how similar these two photos are, taken two years apart and with different cameras.)<\/i>
\nI’m glad to see my old friend, ‘Champagne Elegance’ again. I had to rescue her from a smothering oregano. She sent up two wan shoots which have produced several small flowers. Even though she’s not as vigorous as she once was, I still think she’s lovely. I’m going to try moving her again to a more hospitable spot.<\/p>\nDateline: 2006-09-28<\/h4>\n
One rhizome has made it through our worst August on record and is putting out new leaves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"photo:](\"http:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/photos\/320\/iris_ChampagneElegance4.jpg\")
2008-04-17. Bearded iris ‘Champagne Elegance’.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[65,254,540],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5572,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/5572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}