Irises fill me with joy when their vibrant blues, 
purples, lemons and whites burst forth outside my windows. I have to grab the camera and snap away, almost as if I fear that they will disappear if I don’t capture their beauty immediately.
This gorgeous 
display comes from the bulbs that I almost tossed in the bin. Last year they produced so few flowers that I thought they were past their use by date and I did discard most of them. Then I found these, in a cardboard box in the garage – stored through the heat of summer, with no protection, surely useless, I thought. This bed, in front of my lounge room, needed something to fill the space where I removed a few straggly shrubs, so, rather than toss them in the bin, I tossed them in the ground.
Magic happened. 
They’re not the best specimens, but in a clump, and with the equally discarded ranunculi and anemones, they are providing me with an amazing display.
So, garden lovers, I’ve learned to not toss the old bulbs away just because they fail to produce to my liking for one year. Refresh the ground with lots of compost and manure, then pray for the sort of winter we just had (are still having?) and you might be in for a lovely surprise too.
Because I thought I’d disposed of my large assortment of bulbs, transported from house to house and garden to
garden, over the last fifteen years, 
I ordered about twenty five new and named varieties to plant in my front garden around the roses. They are stunning, don’t you agree?. I had to pick a big bunch and put them in a vase where I can almost dance for joy every time I walk past them.