Still in shock!!!!!

Cici, thanks for the possible trade B U T not possible, due to Canada Customs. - sob -

Re cutting off iris roots. There really isn't any point in leaving them, because they die off anyway. New ones grow every year. I experimented once by shaving them all off one year when replanting. Those grew just as well as the rhz. that I only trimmed.

Inanda

Ginny,

I always leave as much root on the rzs as possible when replanting. With all the foot, hoof, paw traffic through my iris beds, they need all the anchoring they can get until they reestablish new root systems. I find that even completely dried up, dead roots on rzs that have been out of the ground for months can help keep newly planted rzs anchored.

Laurie

Yes, you're right Laurie. Does help with the anchoring.I suppose.

A few years ago Chuck Chapman announced that he would no longer replace his orders out here unless we planted the rhz. right in the ground, not on top. So now, what I do is plant in the ground, all facing S and then in the spring when the thaw/freeze thing is really finished for sure, I brush off soil (usually sand) on top of my rhz. so they can bake for the summer. It seems to work here.

I put a rock/brick on top of all newly planted rhz. once they are properly frozen. Stops spring heaving. Due to far too many little feet (Daxies) & magpies & crows -for some reason- I have to put wire over all newly planted rhz. anyway, from planting time for rest of season. Worst part of it is I have these little bits of anchored wire in the perennial beds. Not nice.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with iris. It is miserable to live in such a cold area and not be able to fall out of love with iris.

At least the doggies keep deer away.

Ginny

awe ginny, sorry to hear that.. bummer!!!! thats good to know about the roots.... and i must say laurie, ur right about the anchoring, my kitties were playing with the ones i had planted... and the ones with the real short roots kept getting knocked out of there holes.. and i plant the entire rhizome under ground... (have to for our extreme heat, and blazing hot sun,) and still everyday i was going out and replanting at least 10 of the newly planted iris.. finally i chased the kitties out with a big rainbird sprinkler... still managing to knock one or two out as they darted out of the garden....lol

I rarely buy irises anymore since I now have enough to trade for just about anything I want. When I do get a few from a commercial source, though, it always makes me crazy when they cut the roots very short. I NEED that root length in my garden! I also often forget to ask my traders to leave roots untrimmed, so I sometimes receive rzs with barely any root length from them, too.

When I trade or sell irises, I always leave *at least* 4" of root length on the rzs. I figure if the recipient wants them shorter, (s)he can always trim them.

Ginny, I only wish my dogs could keep the deer out of my garden! They're fairly good at keeping them out of the yard during daylight hours, but as soon as we all come in for the night, so do the deer ... right into the yard and iris beds! Sometimes the deer will graze in the yard during the day, too, if the dogs and I are inside for a while. Doggone Bambi is so used to my presence, he/she/they don't even bother to run when I pound on the windows from inside! ARGH!

I've never seen a magpie here, and I don't even know what Daxies are, but we sure do have crows and ravens. Fortunately, I've never known either to bother the irises at all. I also haven't had a problem with squirrels or other rodents munching on rhizomes (that I know of, anyway). I attribute that to the patroling efforts of our 10 feline and 5 canine kids. Of course, the felines and canines can wreak their own kind of havoc on the iris beds. ;-)

Laurie

Here you are. A few daxies munching on carrot peelings.

Ginny laughing

Wow! A whole herd!

Ginny, I love that photo!

Ah, you mean *doxies*. LOL! Don't tell me all those weiner dogs are yours, Ginny! And don't even TRY to tell me Bambi's intimidated by those little guys. If you come down to visit, be sure to bring the weiners. My Bossy Aussies would get a real kick out of herding them around! LOL!

Laurie

Makes me think of 14 years ago when we had a "herd" of English Setter puppies flowing up the steps around the table and out the door everyday. So many laughs that they were worth the mess!

Our younger daughter was 4 then & covered in puppy kissers everytime she ventured into the yard. The biggest , fattest one is still here and too old to hunt this year--good old Whitey.

No, babies are not mine. I just live with them. They belong to my elderly housemate, friend of almost 30 years. Lots are in the US. Cleaning up at shows too.

Here is a picture of their winter (kitchen) bed because kennels are too expensive to heat now.
Ginny

Ginny,

Those are so cute! I love Doxies.

I have one and my daughter has one. Here they are together at the beach. Just swinging away. Mine ( Roxie) is the red one she was a year old August 1 and still only weighs 7lbs.

The other one (Izzy) is 5 years old. She has had more surgery than any dog I know, but it was all worth it as she is such a sweet dog. She has epilepsy and during a series of grand mall seizures(at age 2) she ruptured 3 disks in her spine and was paralized from the mid waist down. We took her to Louisville, Ky and they did surgery and now she is as good as new. Then a year later she had bladder stones (from the medicine she takes for the seizures) and had surgery for that. All in all she is a very expensive dog..

Roxie has a couple of defects too. Nothing healthwise but still, which brings me to my point- we spayed both of them. We do not want to pass along any bad genes. I think Izzy's breeder was not paying attention to her offspring. Roxie is cute and abnormally small but her offspring may have been large and would have caused her trouble in delivery.


Your Doxies are cute a look safe and warm in that kitchen. I hope you find good loving homes for each of them.

Yvonne

Hope you let the breeders know right away. We have 3 now spayed and adoptable - all for different reasons. So those lines have been stopped. We are the daxie rescue too. Most of our rescues are fairly elderly and so unadoptable. Lots of medications for most elderly rescues.

One was adopted about 6 mo. ago, even though he has epilepsy.
Doesn't have too many but family fell in love with him.

Most of the ones in the photos are now co-owned. That means they all have a home if anything happens.

The funniest thing was when the Red River flooded in '97. My friend had to be evacuated - along with 18 dogs.!!!! 14 daxies & 4 collies. Where to go, where to go. In the end, took over the local community centre. I came back from Prince George to help with the move. Had to move all furniture & lawnmowers etc and then the dogs/food/odds & ends. Whelping box - you name it. This lasted about 14 days. Then house was unliveable so had to be removed and mobile bought, brought in, hooked up etc etc. What a wild time.

But at least, not like the farmers, who couldn't seed at the right time ,etc.
Inanda

My friend Alwaysweeding is very active in Greyhound Rescue. The dogs are raised to race a couple of years and then destroyed. Nasty! My daughters have been taught that you adopt an animal for it's total life span--not just throw it away when or old or inconvenient!