One thing would you like to share with other Iris lovers?

I'm the newbie but would be interested in why you have this special love for Iris? I was going to say 'Iris & gardening but that is too general. I would love to hear your 'Story'.

Mine's pretty short and sweet. Remembrance of a wonderful Aunt Helen, who was the best Aunt in the world to a little girl who needed one. Aunt Helen loved irises, and each year we had to go see the fields, and pick the very best one. And then we treasured it in the garden. Because I treasured her so much, I think, I came to treasure irises.

Of course I never thought it would expand from bearded to 300 cultivars of JI, and 250 of sibs, LOL.

Husker, Run do not walk away from the Irises. If not, there will be no hope for you in the near future. One iris leads to another and another and another. Before you know it you will have hundreds too. I forgot to mention it's an expensive Habit- and the only thing I can think of worse than the Iris Bug is the Daylily Bug which is REALLY EXPENSIVE.
There is no cure for either one! Once you have the bug, you can't get rid of it.

I started growing irises when I was much younger. I got different ones from my mother and grandmother's gardens. Then I meet this lady that grew hundreds of them. Next thing I know I'm hooked and I've been adding to my collection for years now. If your a gardener you always want to be surrounded by something blooming. So the Irises bloom shortly after the daffodils. Sometimes they are both blooming at the same time. Then I have withdrawl symptoms from all the irises finishing up their big show. So of course you got to have a bunch of daylilies to fill in the lull. (LOL)

If you don't belong to AIS I strongly suggest you find your region and join. They will help you to new levels with your addiction and need for more plant. LOL You will also learn a great deal from them.

Good Luck and Happy Gardening,
Marian

It's interesting that so many people who are addicted to iris are also addicted to daylilies -- myself included. To me, daylilies are sort of an antidote for 'end of iris season' withdrawal. But what do we do when the daylilies are finished? I know, we plant more iris and then dream about next spring!

And I just can't get into daylilies. I wish I liked them more, as they are a fine next after the irises. I do have a nice collection of phlox that I like, though, that bloom around the same time. And I love hydrangeas that bloom soon after the iris finish.

The end of iris season is such a downer for me.

Sorry!!! Too Late! I didn't even know it was coming. (Iris Virus) My Mother was the 'Iris Lady' in Lyons, NE. (In a town of 1,000 population)
Back in the 1950's she tried to breed a new Iris.

I think she called it 'Sharon's Nylon.' After it took 3 years to blossom,.. it did look like a grayish old Nylon. Perhaps that's why I haven't tried to experiment with that again. But... it might be fun .
Thanks for listening!

Pollyk, I really agree. As you said, " I would like to be excited about rhe 'Day Lillies' list but... They are 'alright' but they don't have the beauty and delicacy of Iris.. I will check into them in the long winter months to come. It might make my winter seem shorter...don't hold your breath.

I remember when I was young my mother had 1 blue Iris right in front of the Dining Room Window. I am sure is was Babbling Brook. It was so pretty. Years later when she was ill(MS) I stayed home with her and dad for 4 years to help take care of her and needed something to do and it just hit me full force. I am also into daylilies as there is so much variety anymore it is astounding. And yes when the Iris are gone I am soo
sad and need more bloom.

Well I'm one of those who can't get into daylilies! I grow irises and then try to fill in with whatever annual was sowed by the friendly neighborhood pigeon. I love watching my "weeds" from iris season turn into something beautiful. Sometimes they don't and I am finding that planning a shade garden is great for those hot dog days of summer so I'm finding heucheras, hostas and coleas that fill in the shady gaps.

Not sure when bug hit, I guess when I began recording color bloom size height etc and making up my own names for iris foundlings for the DH to keep track of in excel spreadsheet. We thought we had cornered the market on database keeping -- little did we know that one of his "tireiron" irises would lead to Exline Iris Gardens (available online now) and then onto Winterberry and then onto Gardenweb and eventually to Dave's Garden. 500 + irises later, here we are desparately digging and dividing irises while planting new shady things on the cool side of the house. LOL

Roni

Well next year I will be selling off all the daylilies, as not enough business for the room they are taking and the gophers love them big time, so going to have a BIG sale next year and sell all I do now want for me.

How I got strted is I started out with a small greenhouse business and after two years of being tied big time to it, my husband sad something else, so iris was my drug of chose.

D

More room for beardless!

Things progress too quickly in the garden. Hard to believe August is nearly half over.
... and I'm not that fond of mums. :-(

I had quite a few iris in my 20's! Then we moved and there really wasn't a good place for them. About 15 years ago I bought $25 worth from a friend! That was okay for a year, then I went insane! Now I frequently spend more than $25.00 for a single RZ. When I have an iris friend, I love to give them an iris from my garden! It forms a connection, in my addle-patted brain! LOL I have planted a few lillies, roses and daylillies to help with my bloom! Under the walnut tree I have hostas. pic Babylon Queen

May I be your friend, Nicky? LOL You didn't mention the name of the Iris you pictured. It's very lovely! The 'most' I have ever paid for an Iris was $13.00, not counting S&P, for Decadence this year. Ahhh... Don't tell my husband.
You said you were planting under your Walnut tree. It's not a Black Walnut, is it? I've read that they can be toxic to garden plants. Google it for I may be wrong.

Sharon

my grand mother introed me to Irises they were the only flower in her yard because she said there were no other flowers that were as beautiful so no need to bother with them of course she was a CITY GIRL and so no need to ever get dirty I'm glad i branched out from her ideas I have lots of other flowers now and she loved all the vases filled with lots of other flowers I took to her be for she died at age 99 ;0)
Gloria

Someone should do a survey to see how old iris gardeners live to be. My Aunt Helen was 90 when she died. Probably a combination of the exercise to garden, and the calm the garden gives us adds to our life expectancy.

My Mother was 94 when she passed last year. Ten years before, she was becoming senile as I could tell by viewing her gardens. They were being taken over by the weeds, phlox, maple tree sprouts, etc. She was physically able but not mentally. It's hard when first realizing this. So! It's her fault for she is the Angel on my shoulder. I won't say how many 'hundreds' but we are having lots of fun!
Sharon

Oh come on, how many hundreds? We need to know if you're an enabler or need enabling.

Pollyk!!! If I told you, you might tell my husband! I did do a 'head' count this morning. Then I counted how many spaces I might find for the last 20 I've ordered. (Hey! One can get some really nice Iris for the price now!) I think you know the answer. :o) If you took my age times 10...close!

Cross my heart not to tell your husband. Mine's an enabler so no problem here.

We would have to know your age, of course, but I'm going to assume you have 290. (29 X 10)

Do you have only bearded, or beardless too?

I think all new posters must tell the amount of irises they have, and the type, so we can detemine if they are enablers or enablees. All are welcome, but we need to differentiate. And then they will need to post how many they accumulate each year, so we can determine the addiction level, LOL.

Wait I didn't realize we were starting the 12-step program. First step is admitting I have a problem. So what if I now have over 500, don't know what exactly to do with the excess, can't decide which to edit out because next year someone might buy the excess, and that I wound up with at least 78 new ones this year (part of that 500) from trading. I have yet to actually purchase any new irises... but fall is coming and I've been looking at siberians!

OK, you've acknowledged you have the problem, UPWARD and onward, Roni.

A little advice from someone that just learned this year. If you're going to be selling consider keeping everything. It's surprising what you think would be an iris no one would want turns out to be the best seller. And you can always include the extra as bonuses. Then if they don't sell after a couple of years consider getting rid of them, but first see what people buy.

Polly, that's funny -- I am still in denial. I can honestly say I can stop anytime I want... I went cold turkey last year. Didn't buy 1 iris -- nope not even a trade. *thinks really hard* at least not that I remember. That's my story... haha

As for the advise, that would be good to know except if I did that (keep everything), I'd soon have no room on my nearly 1/4 acre city lot (maybe it's an 1/8 acre, can't remember)

I'm a sick o!!There are just to many!! Brought a box full home from the iris auction Sunday! A few Mi-Am Gardens (great plants) and a few Tom Burseen(also great plants)! I think I paid the most for Tobacco Chew LOL, LOL! If only for the NAME!! It appears to have the beard from hello! I bought 50 of the expensive great tags, thinking that would be enough! NOT !! Oh by the way, another sale next week-end in Joplin!! Also an e-mail saying another order has shipped Tuesday!! Another must have for anyone that doesn't have it Gypsy Lord!! pic below

OK I tried to get that one from you but not enough division you said. You better plan on me getting it next year. LOL

Why do the drop dead gorgeous iris increase slower than the rest??? Of course there are exceptions! Some Like It Hot from Mid-Am is growing like crazy! Gypsy Lord and Moonlit Waters SLOW!! Drama Queen has grown well, you just never know! I have had Imprimis for years, and only given 1 start to anyone(she begged)! Happy Monday BIF's!! Pic! Course Of Study

They grow that way to annoy you, just like kids. I started admiring iris as a kid, our neighbor behind us had a 40' lot & the backyard was full or irises & boards between the rows. I used to stand on the lower board of our picket fence (built by my father) and chat as kids do. I remember a pink one because it was different. this was in the 1940s when there were not many pinks. After we were married my DH and I had a mixed plant garden. His grandmother was a member of AIS & had small species as well as other irises. DH saw an ad for the Melrose gardens & spoke the immortal words, 'they have the little ones'. We have been medianing madly ever since.

OK here we go. Roni mentioned Medians in her Dmail yesterday and I thought to myself, Medians I don't have many so I better check them out. I am soon going to be left with no room as solid Granite we have found under a lot of our yard. Am investing in a Lumber and Brick yard so I can start raised beds, am buying 2 cows to graze what is left of the lawn and use the Manure, Having a well dug as the City does not have enough water to support itself and my Habit, I have an Ad statewide for Farm Laborers. Polly keeps showing all these Sibs and JI I must have and test. What are you enablers doing to me???

LOL Steph, we are enabling you cuz that's what we do best... ;-)

Roni

My mom grew a big bed of one variety of iris in the back of our yard in Connecticut in the 70's. They were really tall and hid the view of the silver trashcans. All I can remember is a general impression of the color of the flower, mid to darkish purple and bronze. When I was 21 or so I began looking through catalogs for something that looked like them and while I never have found them I certainly have found others...many, any others:LOL:

Up until a 2007 I hadn't purchased any good quality iris (only had bought the desicated dried monkey paws sold at Lowe's and Walmart). Jumped in with a purchase from Wild Iris Rows in fall of 07 and haven't regretted it...well except when I have to divide and plant new stuff:)

I figure mom's iris must have been some passalong from a neighbor but I still keep my eyes open in case one of them reminds me of it.