Irises are in the ground

My Schreiner irises are in the ground. I mixed in some organic garden soil with my sandy yard dirt, buried them to just the top of the rhizomes, sprayed them with hot pepper wax and spread a little bit of oyster shells around them to protect them. I also planted my peonies and my pink lily of the valley.

And once again I'm reminded of how much HARD WORK gardening is!

I had four days of vacation (where did it go?), and I spent most of it in the yard, weeding, planting, clearing. I was going to prune some trees and get the weeds put into garbage bags to get hauled away, but I am too pooped. I had also planned to unpack thoroughly, clean every single cat pan, and put a bookcase together. Didn't get that done, either.

But at least the plants are in the ground.

Until I get more.

Oh, and I deep watered them after they were planted. I didn't think they'd be happy living in dust-dry sand.

My Schreiner Irises should be here soon! I can't wait! I got a lot done this weekend, but also have a long list of things left undone. I don't know where the time goes!

My Schreiner iris arrived last week and are all snuggled in to put down roots before the long winter sleep. :) I am very happy with them, they were very healthy and large rhizomes.

Oh, Schreiner sends out HUGE rhizomes. I was really impressed with the size. I put mine in two places on each side of the back door. They're both on slopes, so any excess water will just run off.

Schreiners is wonderful. My grandfather ordered them in the early years and we still have those plants today (40 years plus). It speaks a lot about a company. In his memory I ordered some more, his favorites were the blue types. I was very impressed with the rhizomes I got.

Magnolia Lover:
Wow! I would love to hear what the names areof the ones that your grandfather ordered 40 years ago and are still around. Really interested to know which ones are 'survivors' from that era.
Laetitia

Magnolia Lover:
Ditto on what Sugarbean1 said. The Historic Iris intrigue me with their shapes and colors. Do you have any photos that you could share?
Marsha

I checked on my irises tonight when I got home. All of my newly planted plants are fine. But I guess the critters were so mad that they couldn't get past the oyster shells and hot pepper wax that they dug up my pots full of flower seedlings and knocked a strawberry plant over. I am so mad!

The iris my grandfather bought were very simply light blue, pale yellow and pure white. He was not the best hisrorian, so I am not sure what I have. These have had the iris borer two different times over these years, that much I know and have been saved from "extinction" both times. These iris have multiplied, especially the white and since they were in the family, we've just divided them and shared them over the years with family, in his memory. Having been very close with my grandpa, it has made me feel close to him, even after so many years have past now. I can feel him smiling when they are blooming.
I'll see if I can dig out some pictures when I get back from vacation and post them here.

After a couple of days, I noticed that some of the leaves of my Schreiner irises have begun to dry up and turn brown. Should I be concerned? I watered them deeply when I planted them. (My soil is like moon dust, otherwise.) But since then have left them alone except to check on them.

Don't worry! I would continue to water every now and then.

They'llbe fine. You have purchased the best iris around!

No prob on the water! It rained buckets today.

It also rained buckets today.

And I am so peeved! Something dug into my Schreiner irises! Didn't dig them up, but left some big holes right beside them and the peonies. And this in spite of the hot pepper wax and the crushed oyster shell.

If I have to put my plants in a vault to keep them safe, I can't enjoy them.

I am forming my next order to Schreiners. The trouble will be keeping it down to $80. And between my garden supplies, my dental bills, and some warm fall clothes that I needed, I am very much at risk of being short of cash.

Those are squirrel test holes. They find a smell and dig down, then find out it isn't a big tasty PBJ sandwich and give up.

Squirrels "rearranged" half the bulbs I had planted in my xxx-xeric beds last year. Only the daffodils came up anywhere near where I actually planted them... and this is after I spread blood meal and some repellant that smelled like dog pee all around to keep them out.

I'm glad they decided they didn't like my irises. I've seen some of the same kind of holes near my broccoli and right next to my potato plant stems, too.

Apparently the crushed oyster shells and hot pepper wax don't phase them.

I see a lot of squirrels around. They sit up in my trees sometimes and cuss me out in squirrel talk.

I just got some tulip bulbs. I'll soak them in Bulb Guard before I plant them.

I never knew gardening would have so much in common with martial arts. Gardening seems like such a mellow, gentle hobby.

The crushed oyster shells may be what's attracting the diggers, particularly if the diggers are carnivores (like cats and dogs). If you happen to have applied bone meal to your plantings, that, too, can attract carnivores to dig in your garden.

Laurie

Aaarrgghhh! I just can't win, can I? What about crushed oyster shells attracts carnivores? Does it still smell vaguely of fish?

So what keeps them from digging? And it's not just in the garden. I have holes all over the yard, too. That can be hazardous to ankles.

I'm just guessing about the oyster shells (but not about the bone meal; it's well known to attract carnivores to gardens in some situations). We just had to euthanize our ancient Cocker, and he had a long history of consuming anything and everything that had even the slightest scent of edibility (along with a number of inedibles). I would have fully expected him to snarf down oyster shells, though he was never exposed to them. I might be wrong, but I assume crushed oyster shells retain some aroma of their previous inhabitants ... at least to a carnivore's nose.

Laurie

I have had problems with dogs liking to dig up freshly dug ground also. For random plantings you can put something over the area until they settle in, like chicken wire cages, or rocks.

I had mine in raised beds and my 60 lb puppy pulled them out and rearranged them (I hope he decides that he doesn't like gardening when he gets to be closer to 100 lbs!). Luckily, none look the worse for wear as I got to them before he decided to see if he liked shredding them. They are tucked back in the bed. The bed has wood sides that extend about a foot above the dirt - to which I have attached 4" welded wire. This seems to have stopped the canine raiding... but it will be next summer before I discover who landed where. Only 1 of the Schreiner's still has it's label - but at least everyone is happy and un-molested now!

I use composted manure when I plant new irises, and also when I divide and replant them. But should my established irises get fertilizer at this time of year, like the daffodils and tulips?