Thanks Dparsons01! Check out my new iris babies.

On another thread Dparsons mentioned he would be getting rid of some irises and I offered to come with a shovel and dig them up. Well... I did (with some help :) ) I was able to go over and dig them up, although there were a ton! So many more than I could tell from the pictures. He had to help me with the digging a little because it was getting dark! I was glad I had a suburban because it totally filled up my car.

I have them all cleaned and washed and trimmed and ready to plant. Aren't they pretty! There were 106 full size plants it excellent shape. Many with babies still attached. There were 35 minis (shorter than 4 in but still with a few leaves and good roots), then there are probably another 35 or so in the sick bay that will need some treatment before I plant them.

Can you believe it? I am so excited. I do hope they will bloom next year, but even if I have to wait a year they will be a great addition to my garden.

Thanks again for the offer, Dave and I will keep you updated on their progress.

That looks like a beautiful garden in the making!

WOWSER!!! I can't wait to see the pics when they're blooming.

Those are gorgeous and look healthy to me. You are in business for iris! Congratulations and kudos to DParsons for sharing.

WHOOO HOOOO paj I think the Iris thread in 09 is gonna be fabby!!! Will LissaD's bloom the first year or need a year to settle in?

My guess is both. Some will bloom, some will not. It all depends on how large the rhizomes are, how good her soil is, etc. But I bet a number of them will bloom. I hope she has a digital camera so she can show us!

Thanks paj. LissaD can be patient for the show.

Glad you're happy with them and that they have a good home. I would hope they bloom in the Spring if you put them in this fall.

Our days are still well into the 70s here. I bet if I get them in and it stays warm for a good bit, enough for them to really dig in with those roots they might do well. I am hoping...... :). AND I do have a digital cam and I take LOTS of pictures.

Do you know where you want to put them yet?

Plant them with some bone meal or rock phosphate to support more blooms. And of course, they love having some compost mixed in with their soil.

I have this long bed at my front door where I can put some of them up next to the wrought iron fence. I can see them from the driveway and the walk. This is one of the only beds that I won't have to completely dig up, so I think I can loosen the soil around here add in some new soil and plant them here. I also have another section that I think might work. I hope to get them all in today. I have to check the shed, I think I have bone meal. That would be good.

There is a bed just to the right of this picture. It was cut off more than I thought, but that is the area. That area on the right might be good eventually but I want to take up all those bricks and do a regular bed there, and repurpose those bricks, that will take too much time.

Probably will be great. Is that an apricot tree in your front yard. If so you are very lucky! BTW -- How long have you been in this house?

Nope no apricots although that is one of the ones I want to have. The big tree is a cottonwood, the little one, I don't really know for sure. We have lived here for about 2 months so far. It is a lot to get used to! I am still living out of boxes.. Instead of digging in the yard, I am sure my husband would prefer that I unpack. I figure once it turns cold I will have all the time in the world to unpack, right?

Sure LissaD, all the time in the world!

Rules I have heard on moving:
- Once you start other projects, you have all that you really need unpacked.
- If it is still in a box after 1 year, throw it out. Do not open the box and look inside: just drop it in the can. You will feel better a couple hours after the trash truck drives away.

:-)

Yeah, until the next day when you remember the box had something handed down from your great grandmother in it, ha!

I used to move every 2 to 5 years, which helped keep the packrat thing under control. We have not moved in a looong time now and I told my husband we need to pretend we are moving and clear stuff out. We were working on that when he got hurt, so that project is on hold now.

But NEVER let a silly thing like unpacking get in the way of gardening! Your husband is perfectly capable of unpacking if he thinks it is that important...

That is a better rule than mine mulchmania.

BTW, I talked to LissaD's husband on the phone. It seemed like he didn't really understand the importance of driving 20 miles across town to pick up Iris bulbs. LOL. He was supportive though.

Pardon my nosiness, LissaD, but where did you come from before arriving in Corrales. That will tell me a lot about what you know and don't know about gardening in this area. If you moved from upstate New York, you have a lot to learn about gardening in this part of the world. If you moved from Colorado, not so much. ( You are not required to answer this -- just ignore my request if it feels intrusive).

LOL Dave, he told me that when he was talking to you on the phone he called them lillies or something.... he does know they are irises but that is about it!

I just moved from a little subdivision house over closer to Ventana Ranch in ABQ. We have been there for 4 years. We started with a dirt lot over there and put in a whole backyard from scratch. I didn't do much actually gardening though, mostly just tried to keep the weeds down and the grass mowed. But I was pregnant through most of that time so I kind of had other priorities. Now that the kids are getting a bit bigger, I have more time to do things like this, and the kids really love to learn about stuff. We talk about the seeds and how to prepare the gardens, they helped me prepare the irises and I talked to them about the parts of the plants and how they grow.

Gardening is a pretty recent hobby for me, just since we got this house. So I know nothing, but I also don't have to "unlearn" much of anything. :)

Oh, you will learn and you will never know enough because nobody ever does. At least you aren't from the east coast, then you would have a lot to unlearn. Gardening is great for kids. Growing veggies will make them hungry for veggies for life. That will be a real health gift in addition to learning some botany.
For years I didn't have time to anything but keep the weeds down either between kids and full time job and having to unlearn stuff that applied in the South where it is hot and wet.
Now I am retired and I am living it up in the garden and traveling. Someday you will have the same luxury, but it is nice that you can start gardening with your kiddos.

I've been hoping that comment about becoming hungry for veggies rubs off on my son too! He turns 11 in a week. He moans when I tell him that not only will we be growing tomatos and peppers next year, but squash, melons, etc. And mushrooms.

The mushrooms are an unusual one, particularly for this part of the world I think. Last Spring when I was digging in the nice raised bed that sits at the south end of my property to plant tomatos, I discoverd 6 stumps from the Arizona Cypress that used to be there. I did a little reading online and found that a good way to rot out the stumps is to plant a mushroom colony. You can buy little wooden dowls that have a good mycelium colony growing on them from various types of fungus/mushroom. You drill holes in the log and tap the dowels it. I did this and covered them with a couple inches of wood chips and water them with my tomatos. I've checked and I have a good colony that has grown up into the wood chips and has covered the tops of the stumps. Mmm. I tell Ian. We will be able to have Shitakes for breakfast like they do in England. Moan comes the response. :)

Poor Ian,
Age 11 is a tough time for introducing vegetables to kids, but better late than never. However what dad does has a powerful influence on sons even at that age. I didn't know they ate shitakes for breakfast in England! What a good idea. How do they cook them? Do they serve them with eggs?
Love the idea of growing shitakes on stumps. I thought they only grew on oak. I have a whole bunch of ponderosa pine stumps I would like to get rid of. Maybe I should try it too.
Once I ordered a truckload of mushroom compost and used it to mulch a lot of things including a pear tree. The next spring we had morels growing there! We devoured them, but they never came back. Alas!
You son will soon be a gourmet.

Its not really introduction, more an introduction to growing your own and the improved flavor. Ian has a few vegetables he likes and several he doesn't.

Morels! Too nice. I've been debating trying those. They are reported to grow in areas that have burned previoiusly. With the fires of a few years ago I gather the Morels have what they need. I recently got a chimnea and I started thinking about them.

The Shitakes (and others) do have preferential wood sources. The info I had focused more on hardwoods with Oak being best. I just figured I had nothing to loose and gave it a try. I actually bought Shitake, Maitake, Oyster, and a species that is specific to Conifers. They are all growing.

The English eat quite a few mushrooms. Seems they have them in abundance. I've been fortunate to go there on business a few times. The hotel I've stayed in lets you choose your breakfast and Shitakes are one of the options. They apparently fry them and serve you a nice 4" cap. Also included are eggs, smoked salmon, tomatos, bacon, sausage, and toast. Our English business associates joke that the food is good at this hotel because they hire French chefs.

Wow. Sounds terrific. And from what I hear, your friends are probably right about the French chefs. My husband studied at Oxford and learned there to eat Chinese food. He claimed it was the only edible food in the area. ( Perhaps he didn't look too carefully -- knowing him.)

Your husband was probably right. The English can DESTROY food. Much of the good food to be found in England exists in places where the English are not allowed in the kitchen. This is more true outside London than inside. They do a few things well, but they do a lot more bad. Its one of the most puzzling things about them to me. They have traded worldwide for centuries, have brought back more spices and herbs, have sampled the food of many cultures, and they still eat steak & kidney pie and bubble and squeak (fried leftover vegetables that were already well cooked). A Frenchman can come in and do native English dishes better than they can according to them. Word is they have improved. Makes me wonder what it was like before. If they could cook as well as they garden ...

There is a joke that has been around for a while:
How do you know if you are in heaven or hell?
If you are in heaven you will have an English butler, a French chef, a German mechanic, and an Italian to plan your entertainment.
If you are in hell you will have a French butler, an English chef, an Italian mechanic, and a German to plan your entertainment.

You are in the Seventh ring of hell if you have an American anywhere on your staff. He'd be certainly too proud and rude to buttle, too lazy to cook, too dumb to repair an auto* and too loyal to the tube to think of entertainment outside of it.

(note current news- they certainyl don't make them like they did in this country)
The English are too busy gardening to cook well. I'd like to think.
I am!
(K)

LissaD: Whats the news on you Iris? Do you have some/all in the ground?

Oh yes! They are all in the ground and looking lovely. Mostly still green so I have hopes that all those roots are growing strong. After the rain last week they have a nice layer of leaf mulch to keep them cozy, I will have to get you a picture!

I split them between the two beds that were easiest to get cleaned up. LOL. They happen to be the beds at the front of the house so I can keep an eye on them, and water them a bit if it stays dry.