This odd combination of  2 blue flag Iris flowers intrigued me. At first I thought it was one very odd flower.  In time I realized it was 2 flowers that had been growing so close they became intertwined.  I solved this mystery. Another one I could not solved.

The image brought to mind one of Bob Dylan’s classic song, “Tangled Up in Blue” . it is a deeply mysterious song from a classic album “Blood on the Tracks”. I always loved that song particularly the refrain of the words “Tangled up in blue” at the end of each verse. Yet I always had a very hard time trying to figure out what Dylan was getting in the song. What was tangled up in blue?

in the song he talks about meeting a woman at a topless bar.  It is sort of a love song. But not really. They don’t last together for long.

At one point she picks up a book of poems:

“Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue”

In New Orleans where they met Dylans sings:

“I lived with them on Montagüe Street
In a basement down the stairs
There was music in the cafés at night
And revolution in the air

Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside

And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue”

 

Everything about the song is mysterious to me.  Who was the 13^th century poet?  Dante was born in the 13^th century but straddled the 14^th century. Once Dylan said it was Petrach but that can’t be right. I am not sure it matters. I think the references to revolution and slavery suggest freedom but I am not sure how that fits in. If you know more let me know. Enlighten me a lowly pilgrim seeking light.

What is blue? The dress of his mother in the song?  Once he said he was thinking of Joni Mitchell’s also classic album “Blue” that came out in 1971. Amazingly I was actually listening to a radio documentary about the record on CBC radio at the time I was shooting the images of this blue flag iris. What an incredible coincidence? It was almost supernatural.

The song is still mysterious but I like it. The flowers I saw were just about as mysterious. When I untangled them to realize they were two flowers, that made them a little less mysterious. But no less beautiful.

Jack Saunders pointed out in his book The Secrets of Wildflowers, that the name “iris” comes from the Greek goddess Iris who sat on top of Mount Olympus and acted as a messenger between humans and the other gods who also sat on top of the mountain. It was said that wherever she went a rainbow followed her. The Greeks said the rainbow in the sky was a sign that the goddess Iris was delivering a message. One of the duties of the goddess Iris was to guide the souls of the dead to the afterworld and so many Greeks planted the iris flowers next to their graves.

Saunders says this about its regal history:

“The ancients considered the iris a symbol of power and majesty. Egyptian kings used the design of the blossom on their sceptres and placed it on the brow of the Sphinx, believing its major petals to be symbols of faith, wisdom, and valour.  Modern use of the iris as a royal symbol may trace back to Clovis, a sixth-century king of the Franks. According to one legend, a large force of Goths trapped his army, with his back against the Rhine River near Cologne. As he searched for a way to escape, Clovis noticed in the distance a large colony of golden irises extending far out into the river. He realized this was a sign that the water was shallow enough there for his troops to cross.”

As a result Clovis men escaped. I had a short visit to Cologne

King Louis VII of France selected the iris as his house emblem when he was a young crusader and in time it became the famous fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-luce, all o of which are corruptions of ‘flower of Louis.’ Some people say the blue flag iris got is name because kings like the Louis’ of France frequently employed the design on the flags and banners of the monarchies of Europe. Others suggest that the leaves of the iris look like reeds, and the Middle English word for reeds is flagge. The wild blue flag is the official flower of Quebec

All of this is interesting (to me at least) but I admit I love them for their outstanding beauty alone. What more is needed? Irises bear a resemblance to orchids and I have had people ask me if the blue flag is an orchid. It is not, but perhaps it should be adopted into the family.

This year my botanical goal was to find and photograph the Blue Flag iris. They are not orchids but they sure are beautiful.  I have missed them for a couple of years and it is time I returned to their splendour in the grass. Well, splendour in the reeds actually. These flowers like to have wet feet.

I actually found and photographed those flowers earlier in the year but my computer program disgorged the images without me knowing it until it was too late. But it was not too late to try again.

I returned to municipal road near Labroquerie Manitoba and found them in abundance. I was well rewarded for my diligence with many  blue flag iris flowers.  This is a stellar place for blue flag iris. I had seen them before here but never like this. I had a great time. Life was good. I even let heretical thoughts enter my mind such as considering that perhaps the lost images were worth the loss! How could that be possible?

I am known as an orchid geek. There is good reason for that. I love orchids, particularly wild orchids. But when it comes to flowers I am promiscuous. Other favourites include cactus flowers, water lilies and others. I particularly like the Blue Flag Iris of Manitoba. It is an outstanding beauty.

Yet one of North America’s greatest naturalists was not bowled over by them. Henry David Thoreau said, “This is a little too showy and gaudy, like some women’s bonnets.” It has to be showy at the time it blooms because in June the competition to attract pollinators is fierce in Manitoba.

The blue stripes against a purple/blue background are thought to provide guidance to potential pollinators.

It is a large flower and hence attracts many visitors.  If you look closely to the flower above you can see an insect that might be a pollinator for Blue Flag iris. Unfortunately, some of the visitors are too small to much good when it comes to propagation. They drink the nectar but provide puny pollination services in return. These insects include butterflies and moths that really are too small to gather or deposit pollen. Thank goodness, as Jack Sanders said in his delightful book, The Secret of Wildflowers, “the iris has plenty of nectar to go around, and perhaps it is no accident that the blue flag iris is a denizen of wet places, swamps and moist fields—making production of large amounts of nectar easy.”

The leaves are nicely designed for life in tightly packed bogs or ditches. The leaves are thin and grass-like allowing sunlight to penetrate through the mass of vegetation., As well, unlike most broad leafed plants, the leaves can assimilate sunlight on both sides and not just the upper. Sometimes it pays to be AC/DC.

Sadly, Blue flag Iris is not as plentiful as it once was because so many wetlands in places like Manitoba have been drained for the “progress” of residential subdivisions and shopping malls. They can however form into impressive colonies. We once had an impressive colony near our cottage at Buffalo Point but it had to give way for the “progress” of a  sewer line for a proposed hotel that never appeared. That phantom hotel was considered  more important than flowers.

Irises like to find a place where their feet can be wet most of the year. The blue flag iris is a stunning flower and even that curmudgeonly Thoreau admitted, “It belongs to the meadow and ornaments it much.” I can’t disagree with that. According to Saunders, “the iris has a lofty and regal history.” American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow could appreciate these flowers for he wrote fondly of the blue flag iris:

Born in the purple, born to joy and pleasance

Thou dost not toil nor spin

But makest glad and radiant with thy presence

The meadow and the lin.

The showy lady’s-slipper (Cypripedium reginae) is the largest of our Lady’s-slipper. Some say also the most beautiful. This really is the queen of the bog as its scientific name suggests. When I saw it in the Woodridge bog, it was standing out in the bog with pink, yellow, and white finery. The pink can be anything from a deep rose to pale white with a few streaks of pink. She was indeed royally adorned and a humble pilgrim like me could do nothing but pay obeisance.

Sometimes the flower is completely white. This year in particular because it has been so hot and dry many of the plants have refused to produce colour. It must be their form of rebellion. Perhaps the flower is focusing on survival rather than attracting pollinators. Life  before beauty? This dry hot year my friends have seen more white flowers than ever before. I have not noticed any.

This is not a large bunch. Just the best I found this day. If you ever see these flowers in a large bunch you might end up falling to your knees. That is the right response. They are that magnificent. They are pollinated by bees who enter at the bottom of the beautiful pouch and then struggle absurdly out the top. It sometimes seems pitiful to see the bee struggling and sliding to get out. Of course, as they fight to get released from the flower they drop their pollen from the last flower visited, performing their important reproductive service to their queen. Yet as is so often the case with great beauty, one must be careful around it. Some people can develop a rash after the touching the hairs on its stems and leaves. As the Sergeant on Hill Street Blues used to warn his police officers every morning before they headed out on their beats, “Be careful out there.” Sometimes, as Yeats said, beauty is like a bended bow.