Can a Car and a Rainbow Have Anything in Common?

Gardener, plant breeder Peter Joy likes to grow irises alongside other perennials.

It has been roughly two weeks since we published our first issue, the Iris Issue. It has been incredibly exciting to see the number of subscriptions continue to grow, and today we send out our first monthly newsletter

Some of you may have noticed that last weekend we hosted our first giveaway on Floral Fan Instagram?

The lucky winner was chosen, and now Kreetta’s artwork will travel to France. Many thanks to everyone who participated and shared their favorite Mother’s Day flowers. There were wood anemones, peonies, poppies, ‘Foxy Foxtrot’ tulips (wow!), and many more.

But now to irises: Have you already read our garden story about Peter Joy’s bearded irises?

About a year ago, I received an interesting email via the Finnish gardening magazine Kotipuutarha from Peter Joy. He is a plantsman and breeder now in his eighties and he may very well be the only breeder of bearded irises in Finland. Together with his colleague Pirkko Kahila he has bred about twenty varieties. Some of them are for sale, and you can see them in our Flower Market. But the others, still on trial, you can only admire at Peter’s garden.

And then, a silly question — if an iris had a sound, what would it be?

Kreetta reflected on this idea and created a playlist. It was not an easy task. In fact, it turned out to be far more difficult than she had initially imagined. You can find her playlist on Spotify, and it includes classics such as Fast Car by Tracy Chapman and Over the Rainbow by Ella Fitzgerald amongst other over thirty tracks. (Hence the connection between cars and rainbows. It’s a bit far-fetched, we know.)

But, think for a moment — what kind of music would you include on your iris playlist and why?

Yours,
Anna & Kreetta