Full garden shots

Holy cow Cha! Those are simply gorgeous pictures...I can't imagine how it might look in person!

Thanks irisMA, I always do that when I'm looking it up in the PF, too - forget the extra 'e' that is.

Sharon, you sure are right. When I first moved here, I thought that it looked desolate and brown (coming from Houston) but now I can't imagine not having a climate for perennials like iris, penstemons, peonies and lupines. Surely wouldn't give it up! Here's a picture of the rock garden I just put in -- I'd never seen this look before I moved here either, but I love it.

Creative!

It was hard for me to imagine having iris in bloom in July when in my state everything had already turned brown and dead looking from the heat

Hi Art_n_Garden,

Nice rock garden! Maybe I should do that with my tree!

Carlos

You know by my 'name' that we're from NE. and summer in MN. When I first started my rock garden, it was small and roundish. The next year I made it a little bigger. The next year I wanted one side to swoop so I could mow around it better. My husband looked at me and said, "Do you know what that looks like?" He does have an imagination. So he proceeded to map out what we should do next. Fun! This was taken in May when plants were feeling the glory of Spring. I'll try to send
a few months later pic'.

Sha

P.S. Wrong picture! I'll get it right soon, I hope

I'm sorry to be wasting your time. This was taken 3 weeks later. Still not what I wished to share.

S

Second shot is still lovely, but doesn't look much like a rock garden. Very few rocks.

You're not wasting our time. I love to see the gardens, and the statuary you have is so nice.

You do something I'm not good at. CORRECT SPACING. I'm a horrible crammer.

But I must say, it looks like you have way too much lawn, LOL. Stick around on this forum, and you'll be cured of that affliction.

Here's a shot of one of my iris beds.

and another

and one more

Absolutely wonderful photos. I am having Iris withdrawal. Any more ??

Wow! It's Awsome! And what rebloomnut has said, it's hard to wait '9', NINE, IX, till next years bloom. So beautiful DD
Thank you!

S

Please let me echo everyone else's views -- your iris beds are magnificent! Can't think of anything else to say. You must have been building them for quite a while.

do u have to weed them, do u have help? I see soaker hose, is that working well for u?

Soaker hoses are used during summer when there is no rain. I use pine straw to cover the surface of the soil and it keeps weed to minimum. Also the pine straw makes pulling weeds easier. I have to remove weeds generally 4 times during season, once during early spring, then mid-June, again in August, and finally clean up everything Oct-Nov. before hard freeze. I have just myself to help. Presently finishing new bed for my 500+ seedlings from 2008 crosses--bed # 17.

Soaker hoses are a very efficiant watering system. what are your hybridizing goals?

I am weeding every morning for a couple of hours before it gets too hot to work, sometimes an hour or two in the late evenings. I let it get ahead of me thru this hot summer, I haven't weeded good since early spring. Just me working here too. My native soil is not soil at all but pure alkaline river sands with no nutrient value. I dig out the weeds and then I am working compost and alfalfa pellets into the soil , finishing up with a sprinkling of corn gluten to act as a pre- emergent for weed seed and also a light fertilizer. I don't have pine trees but a lady in town has about 30 trees and I pay her teenage son to bring them to me in construction size garbage bags. I pay him $10 an hour to rake, bag and deliver them to me. It must not be enough for he only occassionally brings me some. I am a little concerned that the pine might make the soil too acidic for the bearded iris and also I try hard to keep them off the rhizomes. I don't yet have soaker hose, but I think that's next.