Irene and I will be heading over shortly to Exline Iris Garden in Berkeley Springs, where they have more 1,000 varieties of bearded iris spread over several acres.

We picked up a dozen or so new (for us) varieties during a visit last summer. None of those have bloomed yet this year, though some of them will over the next few weeks. What we’ve been seeing in bloom so far have been the returning iris which are strong and over their transplant shock.

Here are three others blooming today on top of the ones you’ve already seen.

Of these, the salmon-colored ones may be my favorites.

You can check out all six iris so far over at flickr.