Until recent years, Iris bucharica (below) was a favored spring filler between paperbush (Edgeworthia chysantha) and a Fernspray cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Filicoides aurea’). But, and there are arguably too many buts around this place, the paperbush grew much wider than expected to shade the irises.

For once, I plead innocence. I am the victim of faulty references that state that paperbush is a four by four shrub. Not in this garden, where it’s grown twice as tall and three times wider, and so the delightful irises slowly faded under the shade of low hanging, ever spreading branches. A year ago, a rescue was attempted to salvage survivors, but with less than satisfactory success (One out of many survived, probably due to transplanting stressed plants too late in the season. But, worth a try.).

So, I must start over. Smartly, the bulb company that recently delivered Terrestrial orchids (above) and Asiatic lilies included a catalog for autumn planted bulbs. I would never remember irises, Dog-toothed violets, or Winter aconites in September, but next week, probably yes. So, next April there will be a nice clump of irises flowering somewhere in the garden. I just need to figure where, in a place where shrubs won’t quickly spread to kill them off.

In the next week I must prune several lower branches of the paperbush to make enough room for a long established clump of ‘Regal Splendor’ hosta. I despise continuing maintenance issues, even ones that must be accomplished only once a year, but there’s no way to get at the hosta to move it, so I must prune the shrub or let the hosta fend for itself. Certainly, it would not give up as easily as Iris bucharica, but the combination of the tall hosta poking out from under the paperbush works nicely. Of course, it’s two minutes pruning to remove the branches, so I shouldn’t whine about it.