I'll see what I can do. All of you who have posted so far will get your Newbie iris boxes as soon as the Post Office delivers me more.
I'm doing the last of my iris digging this weekend since the iris need 6 weeks before frost to root properly in Iowa. I need to make room for dwarfs that have just arrived from another DG trade.
IRIS NEWBIE OFFER CLOSED
Thanks so much Wanda for your generosity each and every year. I know we all appreciate it. I got mine last year and have just been following the thread. Yvonne
Your garden is amazing. I really love the statues you have also. Thank you for making the world a prettier place!
Tammie
I hope the iris will grow as well for everyone else as they do in my garden!
The statues are just excuses for roadtrips with my local DG gardening friends. :)
Your gardens are just beautiful, Wanda!
Sherry
I love your gardens and statues too. What I'm wondering is: Just what do you feed your irises? I have NEVER had one look like that.
Kay
I fed my iris 10-10-10 last fall is all. I plant them between daylilies & other perennials that you can't see in these spring pics. I mulch everything but the iris clumps. It's tricky , but can be done. I don't water my beds, but Iowa weather is generous. this year's iris were especially delightful.
Thank you - I will give it a try. I'm starting to think that you have a much greener thumb than many of us. ALL your plants look lush and healthy and just glad to bloom for you. Alright, I'm jealous :)
Kay
So when winter comes, the irises have just bare dirt between them and the elements? I was wondering about that. Colorado can get to 20 below, and it'll often be bare earth, no snow.
I am worried... I planted some iris rhyzomes and it has been raining for days now... slow wet drizzle. Is it going to kill them or rot them?
Tammie
Your iris will tolerate most weather--just make sure they don't sit in water. Mine are planted on 3-4 inch mounds of dirt to help keep them dry.
Iowa gets weather extremes. We have chill factors of 50 below zero in January. I mulch my mixed iris/daylily/lilies & perennial beds with chopped up leaves in the fall. Just catch the leaves in my mower bag & pour on the beds. I also leave much of my iris/daylily/perennial growth in place until March to help buffer the winter freeze/thaw cycle here. I go out when the temps hit 50 degrees and clean off the dead iris leaves as well as push the mulch back so the iris can dry out.
Root Borers lay eggs on the leaves in late summer. I make sure all the old leaves are gone before temps hit 70 degrees and the eggs hatch.
I got the last of my iris dug and moved today. I need 6 weeks before freeze for them to put down good roots, though I have seen them left on top of the ground all winter & survive fine. iris are tough.
Hello Wanda, Received my iris today. Many thanks. Nice cards. Postage will be in the mail tomorrow. Cecil
Hello Wanda,
Received my iris today. Thank you very much. Great pictures too. Postage will go out in this afternoon's mail.
I mailed out the last 7 newbie iris packs today. Time to get them in the ground! I have extra TBs, IBs and SDBs that will go to the Minnesota Round Up trade table.
Thank you Wanda, received your box and love the cards.
What a sweet person you are! Check for postage is in the mail.
Deborah
Received mine today... beautiful cards... did you make them yourself? Great idea! I will be planting them tomorrow. Thank you very much. I am going to be busy with mine and getting them planted at my mothers too. She will be very surprised when she gets home.
Tammie
Got mine today too. Wanda, you have the best marketing sense of any businessperson I have ever seen. I will be showing off those cards at every landscape committee meeting for the next year!
Wanda,
I looked up some of the irises you gave me in plantfiles just to see if there may be a picture and stats. Lo and behold! there was a picture of MY irises in bloom, courtesy of you truely! When my garden grows up I want it to look just like yours.
Deborah
I got my pkg today! I didn't have any of the irises that you sent me Wanda so that tickled me even more! I always enjoy waiting for the new iris to bloom, I'm like a kid at Christmas time! I have to walk thru them several times a day "just in case" another one is starting to bloom and I missed it before!
The cards are awesome! You take beautiful pictures. You have given me an idea to share with a girl friend. She has several (well actually about 100!) extra photos of her irises and she doesn't know what to do with them. I'm going to show her these beautiful cards and I'll bet she'll be using her photos to make her some cards. thank you so much for the irses, the cards and the idea.
Your postage will go out in Mondays mail.
Wanda, I created a special "berm" bed for the irises you sent at the base of my rose garden just for the irises you sent. The pictures you sent are so beautiful, I wanted to plant them where everyone can see them as they walk by without actually entering the rose garden itself. I amended the dreadful clay with peat & compost to keep them from having any wet feet. They should be sufficiently watered by being downhill from the rest of the garden, I think.
Wanda,
The iris arrived and are in the ground. Thank you so much! The postage will go out in the mail tomorrow. Thank you for sharing with me. ;o)
Sherry
Hi, Folks - I know it took a awhile, but then everything seems to these days for me - ah, the joys of getting old. Anyway, wanted to send a couple of pics of the bed(s) that Wanda's extraordinary generosity have given me. I helped her one evening digging out iris, and I couldn't believe her kindness - this woman is too good to be true! Anyway, I'm sure Maxine and all you newbies will fall in love with her gifts to you doubly when they bloom. This bed is right on the street, and so many will be able to enjoy the sight next spring. The bed also contains a number of daylilies that Wanda assisted me in getting for a VERY low price. So thanks so much, Wanda - you've always been the little "mom" to everyone, even from the 3rd. grade! Dax
#1 - This bed has about 10 hours of full sun and faces south, so it needs hardy, drought resistant plants - perfect for iris and daylilies!
And this is the rest of it - after the mulch is gone, am going to complete the garden - have a bench under the tree for walkers.
I'm sure people enjoy their afternoon walk even more when they pass by your gardens. I hope my neighbors enjoy mine next year as much as I know I will.
Wanda is sweetheart!
Deborah
Not a sweetheart, just Blessed with more iris than fit into my beds! LOL
Dax, you've known me too long. Your gardens will be a true showplace in years to come.
I still prefer the color accuracy of film when I am photographing my flowers. The digital cameras are just not accurate enough for me. A good day can see me go thru 4-5 rolls of film but I only keep a handful of pictures for my books.
The photos are just too beautiful to throw away, so I make photocards----about 500 a year!
Besides, making the photo cards give me a way to enjoy my beds in the dead of winter.
Hi Im sort of a newbie joined this yr did a couple trades,Id love iris if u still hav eany & could paypal postage lmk if u still have any...I will dmail address,jean
Would love some if you have any left. Just did my first ever iris bed today, as a matter of fact, and still have room there. Many thanks, sent you a dmail!
Ok, so sorry for ALL the messages! Not trying to be greedy--Had a six year old clicking the mouse....Not sure how to delete them....!!
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Sorry, I moved the last 2 clumps intact and all are settling in for the winter.
I'll have plenty more to giveaway next year....
Wanda, you'll be happy to know that the irises I planted in front (in the sandy, dreadful soil), even though they initially pretty much dried up, now have some new green leaves poking up. So the roots have settled into the soil, and the irises are content in their new home.
The iris always dry up a bit after you move them unless you can leave dirt intact. They have to be tough to live in my yard. I moved the last of my clumps on Monday night --but with all the dirt intact. I had some tall Space Dragons in a front row (??) and short Border Bearded Maid of Orange hiding in a middle row. (used to be a front row!). Both will benefit by their new placing.
Wanda, you have D-mail
