Beyond consolation... and venting

At the end of last season, I had very limited ability to garden... so I focused my efforts on the irises (both Louisiana and bearded). As of this morning, they were looking great. Leaves were all up, and the Louisianas and early season bearded had all started sending up stalks. I was looking forward to a beautiful bloom in a few weeks, just in time for Easter. Unfortunately, that will no longer happen. My parents asked if they could drop their dog over here for a few days, and I was stupid enough to say yes. In the past, we've had no problems with their dog, because I have insisted that he wear a shock collar while he is here. Their dog is not well-trained and he tends to get overexcited when people or pets come out next door, trampling the gardens in his efforts to say "hello" to them. I knew from the past that he was impossible to control when excited, so the shock collar was a necessity for him. Our own dog doesn't run in the gardens, but is well-trained to stay on the grass and concrete. We installed "invisible fence" wire around the flower beds specifically for those times when my parents' dog is here. Apparently, even though I asked repeatedly if he had on his shock collar while they were placing him in the backyard, and my parents said "yes", he didn't have on his collar. While I was saying "goodbye" and "have a safe trip" in my driveway to them, he was trampling every iris I had in my garden. I came to the backyard to find absolute decimation. Stalks and leaves were flying everywhere as their dog raced wildly back and forth along the fence line. He's now safely in his kennel and I will be making a trip to the pet store to buy a shock collar for the remainder of his stay. I've stopped sobbing long enough to think about what to do in an effort to keep those plants healthy.

Obviously, there is no way to salvage the lost blooms for those plants that had already sent up stalks. But, will this trampling also keep those mid- and late-season plants from setting bloom? Will the loss of the leaves prevent them from gathering enough energy to thrive? Louisianas are typically very resilient, but some of my reblooming Louisiana irises are a bit more tempermental... so I will have to watch them for signs of disease where the breaks occurred. But, for the bearded, I"m worried. They pretty much lay on top of the ground here so that they don't rot, so it's not just the foliage that sustained damage for them. Will a preemptive spray now be enough for them, or is there a plan I can follow to maximize the chances of everything pulling through? I would very much appreciate any advice y'all can give as to how I should proceed.

Thanks for your help! Evey

Not sure what kind of spray would be used. It will take a lot of work, but straighten up each plant & reset. They may put up second stalks.

I had a similar incident 2 springs ago. This Spring, what I was able to salvage of the event, are starting to look back to normal and appear healthy again. I could not believe the shocking damage that took place so quickly when the incident occurred and how long it took to truly recover. I am now looking hopefully to seeing these back again this year.

I am so sorry you are going through what you are enduring. I truly do feel your pain. No way could I understand if I had not gone through it myself-the EMOTIONS(!). Try to forgive them all. I struggled with that and am glad I was able to get my bearings back to what was more precious and what was really replaceable and irreplaceable.

I have more tbs than I know what to do with. If I have any that will help you replace yours just D-mail me a list and I will see what I can do for you.

K

Thanks for your responses. =)

I definitely will forgive sweet Sammy (the culprit). He's been a true joy for my parents and is certainly irreplaceable in their lives. It just was so disappointing to discover what he had done so quickly. I spent years and lots of money trying to discover which bearded cultivars would perform down here. So many of them need a drier or cooler climate than we have here to bloom. I appreciate the offer to help rebuild, but I think my best bet is to hope these do rebound in time. I imagine a lot of your extras are cultivars that would not be happy in our hot and humid summers.

For the spray I mentioned, I was thinking that using the spray form of PCNB (Terraclor) would be a good idea to help keep potential rot around the damaged areas to a minimum. This chemical controls all kinds of rot... root, rhizome, and crown. I was just wondering if there was anything else that folks had tried that was effective in cases of extreme stress to the plants.

That's a real shame but at least it was the dog who unknowingly did the damage. I panic when I see the lawn cut when I come from work or if I'm here and I hear the lawnmower going. We live in a rented property and the landlord has his own landmowing people. The latest which happened about 2 weeks ago was 3 of my Easter lilies which were about 5 inches high and 5 of my irises. I was soooo very upset that I wanted to smack them in the head with my shovel. You mentioned that you have a list of plants that grow well for you. Would you mind sharing their names with me through either this thread or a D-mail. Just think that the plants might suffer but they are stronger than we give them credit for. In the meantime; Happy Gardening !!!!

BlissfulGarden, I too feel your pain when it comes to plants being destroyed. My neighbor had a dog who thought our yard was its toilet, and the other neighbor's dog thought it was their bedroom. Hundreds of dollars in lost plants later, and not replaced as promised, and thousands spent to put up a fence to keep the culprits out, my garden is now safe. I have a lot of tb iris that ordered last fall that I ordered 3 of each and I'm willing to share. If you could let me know to name of the cultivars that grow well in LA, I may have some that I'm willing to share. I hope your garden has a speedy recovery. Annette

Thanks so much for the offers of help! Let's see what pulls through first; I am hopeful that the plants will survive even if they don't bloom this year. I have labels on all of my plants in the garden, so I can check off what recovers as the season progresses and figure out what is still struggling before summertime. I made clean cuts to clear out everything that's broken and then I sprayed with Terraclor. I will follow up in a few days with a spray of Messenger. Then, I can just hope for the best.

I appreciate all the feedback and well wishes, everyone. Hopefully, everything will pull through. I was just a bit shell-shocked when I started the thread!

understandable. Extra shock collars at your home would be a good idea. I hope your parents are less careless in the future. It is difficult to be reliable with a child/animal you love.

My children and grandchildren bring their dogs when they come for Sunday Dinner. I should say something but don't. They run through the flower beds and use my hostas and shrubs as fire hydrants. The neighbors have a dog that also visits my lawn so I have be very careful when I mow. Oh well.....

Hey Paul I would say something. It may be late but set up a doggy bathroom spot & ask them to please train they to go there. A case of not thinking I
suspect. You'll get why didn't you say before? but it would worth it to say something.
When my kids were in jr. high a friend would bike over to see them. She was asked to leave the dogs home because of the horses. One dog got into the paddock & a pony bit him. Good for him & dog stayed away.

Ohhhhh! I am so sorry. I would have cried, too. Some of mine, after moving and got mixed up (their markings came off), I won't know which is which until they bloom again. It would be devastating for me to have to wait even longer. I know how you feel and again...so sorry!
deb

How terrible!

Our dog gets tied up when she is naughty. Maybe your parents dog needs to be tied up when he is overly excited. There are also chain link runs you can get, that are only like 6-10 ft wide and then you can put him there some. Maybe put him in a garage some of the time.
If the iris are damaged too badly they won't bloom this year. I had that happen a couple years ago, very discouraging. We had a hail/wind storm that literally uprooted my iris! Well I think some of the torrential down pour had something to do with that too. The ground softened, the wind blew them over out of the mud, and the hail pulverized them :(
Year before that it froze hard after they set stalks and none bloomed, out of a couple hundred I got like a dozen blooms maybe. I have neighbor dogs also and I can't stand them! Oh, the ranting I could go on and on... I don't know who I am more frustrated w the dog, or the neighbor. She just throws her trash around and won't keep it picked up. She keeps her house/kids clean and has a new truck ect, but the yard is a dump! Then the neighborhood dogs (hers mostly) drag the trash all over MY yard! My daughter said, mommy why don't you just go and talk to her about it. yeah! and say what? Could you please put your trash in a trash can? She ain't blind or stupid, she can see the trash all over the place, she flat out don't care!!!!

ok, well.

I hope your iris recover and I am sure that the dog was just excited and he loves you and didn't mean it. He was probably trying to get his human's attention to remind them that he was being forgotten and he wanted to go too is all. I know Foofie does that, when I get my purse out she goes berserk and meets me at the door all excited to go out for hamburgers or to go see grandma.

Thanks for all the alternative suggestions. The shock collar has always worked well with my parents' dog, when it's actually on him! He's a very intelligent dog and *could* be trained, only my folks aren't consistent with him. He doesn't even go near the flower beds when the collar is on him. It only took one shock the first time he had on the collar (over a year ago) before he learned to look for the yellow wire. I just should have checked the collar more closely when my folks brought him around to the gate. I asked them if he had it on, but I should have just checked for myself. He's got long hair, so I couldn't just glance down to see if it was on.

Today, I was pulling weeds and went to the outside of our wooden fence to get a few that were peeking under. Then I discovered what must have set off my parents' dog. I knew that the dog next door was barking and had started the frenzy the other day, but I didn't realize their dog is also CHEWING ON OUR FENCE!!! There's a large section on the bottom runner, right behind where the irises are planted, that is completely gnawed. It looks awful and if the chewing continues, it will compromise the stability of our that runner. I think I need to visit with our neighbor when she gets home tonight.

I have an invisible fence around the perimeter of my yard, had not thought to continue it around my flower beds. I will have to contact the company and get some suggestions.

I like the idea of you having your own shock collar for the dog kept right at your house. That way you will always know.

Sorry this happened ~j