Spring Pretties

When I went out to take photos of my finally-finished-UFO (pictures later), I looked across the yard and noticed that my irises had bloomed....and I missed the first two blooms.  I plucked the withered blossoms off and took a photo of each, not the best, but a photo nonetheless.  I've had these irises since the '80s and have never had a lot of success with them, some years they didn't bloom at all.  They probably aren't getting enough sunlight, or water, or fertilizer.  I make no claims as to having a green thumb, so I'm pretty stoked whenever anything blooms.  The epiphylum is beginning to bloom too and it looks like it'll be a good year.  The photo from it is one from a past year because I'm too lazy to put the memory card back in the camera and go back downstairs to go out and take a photo, etc.

This one is this pretty lavender color with a rust-colored throat.

This one appears to be the traditional purple Iris, but since I didn't see the first blossom opened I can't say for sure...I do believe this is the first time it's bloomed!

I'm sorry you have to turn your head to see them, I don't know why Blogger auto-turns some photos, I'd not turned the camera, so it makes no sense to me, and I don't know how to correct it :(  Any ideas?

 

 

These grow along the lines of a Christmas Cactus but are much bigger.  The stem-branches are very long as shown in the photo below.  Each blossom is the size of a dessert plate. 

The plant is in either a 15" or 18" pot, they love to be pot-bound.  The whole plant would look better if we raised the pot off the ground as the stem-branches grow long and drape over the sides of the pot and produce multiple flowers along both sides. They are native of Central & South America typically growing in trees (where debris collects where branches divide) and rock crevices. This picture is from 2010 and the plant is easily twice the size now.  To start this plant, I had only a very withered stem-branch that I'd received from a friend, and stuck it in a pot of soil.  Of course, I always take pictures BEFORE cleanup, lol!  It needs to be pruned back to really look better too.