Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

In my day, never was longer.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The revolution will be supervised.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Flowers of the Rainbow Goddess

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Flowers of the Rainbow Goddess

by | 148 Comments

This post is in: 

Iris flowers of the Rainbow Goddess

Thanks to Mike in Oly for today’s spirit-lifters:

I collect historic irises – that is, iris varieties more than 30 years old, altho the bulk of my collection is over 60 years old. I’ve been collecting for almost 25 years and currently have 150 varieties, down from a peak of about 700 at a previous garden with more room.

Irises in sunlight
I am particularly fond of varieties created by Dr. Rudolph Kleinsorge of Silverton, Oregon, who introduced irises from 1929 to 1961. I have the largest collection of his irises anywhere – 46 varieties. There are 8 more of his out there I need to add to my collection to be as complete as it can be.

olympia irises
I love photographing them just as much as collecting and growing them. I really enjoy watching the light play thru the blooms over the day.

Mike in Oly Brown Irises
Irises are one of the few species of flowers where brown is one of the options and I am very fond of brown irises. Here are some shots from last spring.

Mike in Oly - spider in iris bloom
Close up of a crab spider with a bee she caught for lunch. They love to hide in the flowers and wait for bees. I have seen them in a variety of pastel tones often matching the blooms they are hiding in. They are fascinating creatures.

***********
One of my goals for next spring is to finally set up a ‘proper’ iris bed. Before the ground froze, I managed to dig up (most of) an overcrowded plot of unconquerable species iris; I planted out a bunch of named species from last summer’s Iris Society tent sale, but I’m not sure they had enough time to establish themselves. So, of course, I’ve got some catalogs marked up already. Hope springs eternal, but at least I know that irises are generally tough, forgiving plants…

What’s going on in your garden (plans), this week?

Reader Interactions

148Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffery

    I am slowly doing the fall clean up. I may be done by spring if it isn’t too wet a winter.

    I bought five different annual poppy mixes that were sown directly in the ground in October. They are up. Will move them around in March or April to fill the yard with poppies this year. They only flower until the hot weather shows up.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    I adore irises! They are flamboyant and enthusiastic, just like me :)

    Had an amazing cat consultation this week. A devoted student of the Way, she and I wrestled with the fact that she was, and had been, doing everything right for this senior, blind, rescue cat. He’d already confounded the vet with his health stabilizing, and she’d done wonderful things to “anchor” him in his new home.

    Now, a year and a half later, he’s wailing until someone get up, and stays up, with him.

    We gamed out some higher level strategies, and on the subject of stress relief, I said, “Does he like music?” Sir Tristan has his own Pandora channel. I thumb up any song he likes, and it all started with Sade. I pointed out it took a while for Tristan to find his favorite music, and maybe her cat could use his favorite genre, softly playing during the night so he had some input through his ears.

    Jokingly, I said, “Maybe he loves heavy metal and we just don’t know it.”

    Got an email a couple of nights ago: success! Everyone slept through the night, because she worked her way through Spotify until she found a channel that riveted him.

    Yup. Turns out, he is a headbanger.

  7. 7.

    satby

    Mike in Oly, your irises are fantastic! I became an iris convert in MI and had planted several varieties, only to lose a lot when I tried to move them with me to my new place. It looks like a few I thought lost to the severe overgrowth in my garden were recovering so I’m hoping this spring is a new beginning for my iris bed. I just wish the rhizomes weren’t so pricey. Browns, coppers, and oranges are my favorites too.

  8. 8.

    satby

    @WereBear: I leave the radio tuned to the local classical station for all the gang when I leave the house because it’s usually on when I’m here. Fortunately, none of them have expressed a preference for anything else.

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    I’ve been reading in bed on the phone for a while. The housecat got me up about an hour and a half ago for her middle-of-the-night feeding. Not too bad, since I went to bed uncharacteristically early, a little after 11:00.

    Now I’m in that limbo between “try to go back to sleep” and “just get up and make coffee.”  Probably the latter, since as I inevitably run across politics and Trump in my reading I get more agitated and less sleepy. Grr.

    I’m going to drive out to the Cox store in Fairfax today and get a new cable modem. I spent too much time yesterday troubleshooting the current one, which has resisted all efforts to revive it, and finally I decided, what the hell, it’s seven years old, I’m due for a new one anyway. Bonus: there’s a good Mexican restaurant nearby for lunch.

    I’ll also check into replacing my cable box, which I think is also about seven years old. I’d like to get one of the new Contour boxes with a much bigger DVR drive, but I don’t want to pay more for the extravagant, multi-room Contour “experience” touted in the ads. All I need is one box with a bigger drive and (hopefully) an updated user interface. I look forward to discussing my needs with the no doubt competent and helpful staff at the store.

    Okay, coffee time. Maybe I’ll get a chance to wake up the housecat. She’s no doubt sleeping on the laptop keyboard and doing a little butt-typing.

  16. 16.

    satby

    So I was put in a posting timeout by FB for “violating community standards” by resharing a post that has been going around already. I’ve been nailed for the same offense for other shares of news articles even without adding my own snotty comments, so I assume one of the right wing trolls who follows me is flagging my posts as offensive. Which I find oddly satisfying TBH. Means it’s leaving a mark.

  17. 17.

    anastasiobeaverhausen

    I need help! My grandfather hybridized irises in Tennessee in the 30’s. The American Iris Society lists 9 hybrids, but I can’t find a picture, or a source for a single one. Any tips on how to track down any of these obscure plants? Thanks!

  19. 19.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    They had a thing in town for the Armenian community to thank our Congresscritters for helping to push the bill to recognize the Armenian genocide. Being that one of our local Reps is named Schiff, some MAGA’s showed up(it wasn’t clear if they were Armenian) to scream at Rep. Schiff about impeachment. They were told by the organizers that this was not the forum for that.

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: No.  The Brits will throw all of their foodstuffs and livestock at the French.  “Merci, you stupid, English, Brexit-loving pigdogs!” Because why not make the coming self-inflicted shitshow worse?

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Raven: Raven, how dare you?  And on a Sunday morning!  Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    @satby: 1. What standards does the Book of Faces have these days (aside from know the exchange rate for rubles)?

    2. What did you post that upset a bunch of “alpha-male” Nazi Trump trash?

  26. 26.

    oldster

    Notice that the Iris wizard comes from Silverton, OR.

    BJ just featured some pictures of Silver Falls in Silverton the other week, and I commented on the annual Strawberry Festival.

    Truly that part of the Pacific Northwest is an Eden for growers and gardeners.

    Wish I could move back.

  28. 28.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Beautiful iris. I love them too. One of my projects for 2020 is to dig up my main iris bed and redo it. I haven’t decided whether to renew what’s there or to get some new ones.

    Update on Merlin from TomatoQueen on last night’s Merlin thread.

  29. 29.

    satby

    @JPL: : my timeout ends today. There’s no pattern to what they’ve claimed has been a violation other than it’s probably upsetting to Trumpistas. It’s happened a lot lately and it’s mostly on stuff I shared from other posters, so it’s someone complaining specifically about my posts and FB automatically flagging them.

    Sorry for the delay, I dozed off for an hour ?

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    @satby: I’m sure JPL is interested too. ?

    Thanks.

    And no problem on the delay.  I usually search for replies when picking up on a thread.  Go back to sleep; it’s Sunday.

  32. 32.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @satby: I had a couple of posts flagged recently too. They were legitimate news articles. So facebook’s *standards* are…enigmatic and variable. Shocking, I know.

  33. 33.

    Ken

    @Baud: No, the Brexit consummation will be marked by the first thirty-five-mile-long tailback[*] of British trucks stopped at the customs checkpoint.

    [*] British for “traffic jam”.

  34. 34.

    debbie

    Just wow! How big is the space?

    There’s a home about a half mile from me with a side yard that fills with irises every spring. Tiny in comparison, but I make sure to walk by as often as possible.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Facebook’s standards are…. Flexible, yeah that’s the word:

    Facebook ads are spreading lies about anti-HIV drug PrEP. The company won’t act

    Since late summer, many LGBTQ+ Facebook users’ newsfeeds have begun to display medically incorrect targeted advertising. These ads pertain to Truvada, a one-pill-a-day pharmaceutical that has been demonstrated to reduce the likelihood of HIV transmissions by as much as 99%, making it a key mechanism in the decades-long fight against HIV/Aids.

    “Side Effects from taking an HIV Drug …” reads one badly punctuated message, full of random capitalizations. “The manufacturers had a safer drug & kept it secret … They kept selling the dangerous one.”

    That ad, which runs on Instagram as well as Facebook, is paid for by the Virginia law firm KBA Attorneys. It cites unspecified bone and kidney conditions as side-effects from Truvada, dangling the prospect of financial compensation from what appears to be a nascent product-liability lawsuit against manufacturer Gilead Sciences.

    ……………………

    Addressing the ad’s claim of bone damage, the San Francisco Aids Foundation says Truvada’s effects are “not clinically significant”, adding that it “has been shown to cause a 1% decrease in bone mineral density, a change that reverses once the medication is stopped.”

    …………………

    The risk here isn’t so much that people may be misinformed as that it could roll back decades of hard-won progress against HIV/Aids. In working to transform the disease from a death sentence to a chronic condition that can be managed with appropriate treatment, public health advocates have worked tirelessly to establish trust and bring hard-to-reach populations like sex workers and intravenous drug users into the system.

    “Getting to Zero” has long been the mantra, a number that refers to zero new transmissions, zero deaths from complications arising from HIV/Aids and zero stigma. In San Francisco, the number of new infections citywide went from a recent peak of 453 in 2012 to a low of 197 last year. Organizations such as the San Francisco Aids Foundation have cited PrEP as a significant contributor to this success, always with the caveat that progress is fragile. Racial disparities remain, and hard-to-reach populations are often the first to fall out of care.

  37. 37.

    Ken

    @Amir Khalid: I should have remembered that, since I got “tailback” from Good Omens and it also uses lorries; articulated lorries at that.

    How about “miles”?  I have this vague impression that despite years of being on the metric system, Britain still uses the Imperial units for some things.

  38. 38.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Ken:

    One day on this cruise, we sat next to a British couple at lunch. Brexit came up and I said something like there’d be long lines at the border. He said oh they’d have to work all that out. Like it was just some simple thing and of course they’d do it.

    Basically he seemed to think things could be arranged to go on as they’ve been except the UK could make its own rules and everyone else would agree.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Anne’s Xmas post yesterday included a JJ McNabb tweet that led me to this funny and educational thread, so I’m posting it here (it is somewhat garden related) for those who missed it:
    Patrick S. Tomlinson‏ @stealthygeek

    My following has demanded my story about 1,000 baby praying mantises. So, here we go. About fifteen years ago, I lived in Tampa Bay. If you’ve ever been, you know it’s hot, humid, and grows bugs big enough to mug you for drug money. 1/

  40. 40.

    charluckles

    The best thing about irises is how easy they are to grow and share.  I got my start with a box from a well-established neighbor and then over the past few years, I have spread the love to a host of friends and neighbors.  Keep their feet a little wet and their knees dry and they will do everything else.

  41. 41.

    Immanentize

    Good Sunday Morning, All.

    I love Irises too.  My Mom’s Mom, truly a product of the American Victorian Age (she was born in 1891), used to hybridize her own also in the ’30s.  I have no bulbs, but they were yellow and brown beauties. Also a set of lavender and whites.  And, at least when I was young, they seemed so tall.

    Thank you, Mike in OLY for shaking that memory loose just days before I return to Sister Winter.

  42. 42.

    Mike in Oly

    @satby: They don’t have to be expensive. One of the joys of older varieties is the cheap price. Also, I recommend Blue Birid Iris Haven in Somerset CA. Mary has an amazing collection of old and new and great prices.

  43. 43.

    Mike in Oly

    @anastasiobeaverhausen: Yes! The Historic Iris Preservation Society maintains lists of irises being sold commercially as well as in member collections. You could check with our commercial source chairperson and our databank chairperson. Contact info is on the HIPS website. https://www.historiciris.org/contact-lists/ They might have leads for you. If you give me your grandfather’s name I might be able to help too.

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    How I love irises.  This has me thinking about places in my garden I could tuck irises in colors I didn’t know existed.  If I plant irises and lilies together, I could get some nice color and height early from the irises and then when they pass the lilies would take over.  Hmmm, time to start dreaming.

  46. 46.

    JPL

    @mrmoshpotato: My initial facebook account used a pen name.   Someone questioned my identity and since I didn’t have a fake i.d to match the name, I was shut down.

  50. 50.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mike in Oly:   We bought a few historic irises at the Mo Bo Garden’s annual STL Iris Society show and sale about 7 years ago and I planted them in the only available space I had around a forsythia. That location is no longer suitable at all and I’ve decided to move them to the only location I have that will truly work for them next to me 22′ long garage. I was only going to make the bed 2′ deep but you’ve now convinced me I want on about 16′ deep. I think I’ll compromise and go with 3′ or 4′ deep.

  51. 51.

    Sab

    @Mike in Oly: This exchange makes me so happy. Balloon Juice is such a weird place. A month ago I found out how to wash machinists laundry. Today a lurker finds out how to research irises. And meanwhile an outdoor Minnesota cat finds a warm home just in time for winter.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    @anastasiobeaverhausen: Where are these hybrids “listed?”. I’m wondering whether my Grandmother did anything similar.  I know she used to compete in Broome County and even the New York State Fair….

  57. 57.

    Mike in Oly

    @anastasiobeaverhausen: Wow, that is an obscure name. Not a one of his is a variety I’ve ever heard of. I’m guessing they did not get wide distribution and are probably lost. But, that said, lost varieties come to light in old collections every year so it cannot hurt to ask the HIPS folks if anyone there has it listed.

  62. 62.

    brettvk

    Thank you for this. I adore irises and wish I had more garden room for them. One of my earliest memories – I must have been just walking – is coming face-to-face with a purple iris just at eye level and noticing the wonderful iridescence (heh) of the petals in the sunlight and the luscious scent.

  63. 63.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Ah, this conversation is one of the many things I love about BJ. Thank you Mike in Oly and everyone else for your contributions.

    On a politics note, I’d like to recommend Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American.” She’s a professor of American History at Boston College and writes excellent, incisive analyses of the Trump presidency and impeachment hearings. Here’s her most recent offering and you can subscribe to getting her newsletter via email.

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Mike in Oly

    I went down the rabbit hole of “noted irisarians” and found this:

    John Wister was the first to disclaim any statement that he founded the American Iris Society. He was contacted in 1918, while with the U.S. armed forces in France, about participating in the formation of a society for irises to be modeled on the American Peony Society, after cessation of hostilities.

    It made it sound sort of like they were at war with the peonistas!

  68. 68.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Sab: A friend recommended her to me about a month ago and she’s become one of the few writers in the firehose of political writing I read regularly these days. Apart from Balloon Juice of course.

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    @satby: I’m curious. What were the posts that were flagged? Someone you are “friends” with flagging? My circle is so small. There are only 3 people in my FB friends circle that I have never met in person. That’s just me. Never had any Trump supporters and got rid of the rabid Bernie supporters in 2016 or immediately after.

  75. 75.

    laura

    Deep blue Irises just get me! I like them with brown because they make each other pop.

    The zinnia are getting pretty scraggy looking, but the bees and hummingbirds are still working them over on the regular so I can’t see pulling them up just yet. The orange tree is HEAVY with fruit and we’ll start picking today for the holiday stockings and other gifts. Speaking of – Satby’s soaps are so very good. I tried to match the scent to the person and struggled to keep the “these are for me” pile small.

    Spouse and I broached the subject of Christmas tree and the two wild kittens. We’re considering a small tree to lay on its side and scatter broken ornaments around it to save time.

    It’s the last trip to the farmers market this morning to add to the gifts horde to get into the delivery stream this week – and stuff for the soup of the week. Torn between minestrone and vegetable barley beef.

  77. 77.

    Quinerly

    @Lapassionara: Poco and I came to NC to rebuild the beach place from Florence damage and to wage war with the HOA Board over insurance money and what is turning out to be possibly insurance fraud by some Board members. We were to be here a month. That was the beginning of October. Long story short… the beach condo is back together after dealing with mostly shitty contractors/vendors and going on the market, my fond and happy memories of 42 years have been erased (can’t stand the sight of the ocean), and my attorney is filing suit against the Board. I have been trying to get on the road for a few days to chauffeur Poco back to St Louis, but now this weather is coming in. Doesn’t look good for me on my usual route to Charleston, West Virginia, my halfway point from Pitt County, NC for a 6 AM departure tomorrow. Holding pattern. Poco is snoring while I fret.

  80. 80.

    mrmoshpotato

    @schrodingers_cat: *hugs* I’ve read some of your comments about Indian politics (and thank you for sharing them and informing us about the world) but I don’t know enough to comment intelligently myself.  I’m sorry for what going on.

  82. 82.

    satby

    @Quinerly: one was a share from Occupy Democrats that I’ve seen since on other walls without a problem but branded as “hate speech” on mine, I forget the other two but also shared from other friends’ walls. I think I know who it might be, there’s a couple of childhood friends who are rabidly right wing I have unfollowed but not unfriended. On the other hand, I make all my posts public so it could be friends of friends who follow me. IDGAF, I like to think the onslaught of news from outside their bubbles at least shuts the RWNJs up.

  83. 83.

    debbie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    people I know and love support this unspeakable evil duo and their poisonous ideology

    I relate to this as it describes me and most of my family. Sadly, this seems to be the way the entire world is shifting. I can’t imagine what it will take to get it all back on the right track.

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    BJP also uses Whatsapp a Facebook app to spread fake memes and incendiary rhetoric, which is dutifully spread by many older relatives who seem to have lost all ability to discern truth from lies.

  95. 95.

    Quinerly

    @satby: a lot can be said for keeping social media circle small. I have lots of issues with FB but it is still great for getting my small circle together for events, concerts and promoting clubs/music/restaurants. I’m out of town and an acquaintance (friend but not that close) lost his 31 year old son (who I also know) about 10 days ago. I probably wouldn’t have learned of it until I got back but for FB. Point being….. FB being used for good not evil as I have been known to say. Very moving tributes, posts, music, pictures, art posted to the father and son’s pages. These are the things to me that make FB worthwhile. I know it seems strange to say a tragic death made something worthwhile but I have it on my mind b/c so recent and I wasn’t there for the funeral and tributes (both father and son musicians), but in a way it was like I was there and the father knows I was reaching out and following, as were others who couldn’t be there in person. Not even sure why I diverged on this path about singing praises of FB. .. Less angst and arguments, though, if your circle is small and you really know your “friends.” I also feel it accomplishes nothing to argue on friends’ pages with people you don’t know. Not changing anyone’s minds.

  98. 98.

    Quinerly

    @Lapassionara: Poco and came to NC to rebuild the beach place from Florence damage and to wage war with the HOA Board over insurance money and what is turning out to be possibly insurance fraud by some Board members. We were to be here a month. That was the beginning of October. Long story short… the beach condo is back together after dealing with mostly shitty contractors/vendors and going on the market, my fond and happy memories of 42 years have been erased (can’t stand the sight of the ocean), and my attorney is filing suit against the Board. I have been trying to get on the road for a few days to chauffeur Poco back to St Louis, but now this weather is coming in. Doesn’t look good for me on my usual route to Charleston, West Virginia, my halfway point from Pitt County, NC for a 6 AM departure tomorrow. Holding pattern. Poco is snoring while I fret.

  104. 104.

    stinger

    Mike in Oly, those are simply gorgeous flowers (and pictures thereof).

    When I was a child, our neighbor was a retiree with a wonderful flower-and-vegetable garden, and his specialty was iris. He kept a guest book for garden visitors, and it was filled with names from all over the country — often his fellow snowbirds whom he’d met wintering in McAllen, Texas. They’d drive to Iowa in the late spring to see him and his irises. This was in the ’50s and ’60s, so what he had would now be “historic”!

    When he died, his family took most of the irises, the house eventually came down, and the homestead is reverting to wilderness. But I now live on my grandparents’ old place, a few miles away, and there was one iris variety still here when I moved in 30 years ago (irises live forever). Just this past fall I was able to identify the variety name, and as my grandmother wasn’t much of a flower gardener, I’m pretty sure the original plant was a gift from the neighbor — it was probably a new release at the time. My grandparents had resided with him briefly a few years earlier.

    I’m thrilled to be cultivating a flower with both those “strains” of my own heritage.

  106. 106.

    satby

    @Quinerly: I also feel it accomplishes nothing to argue on friends’ pages with people you don’t know. Not changing anyone’s minds.

    Oh, I agree! You and I often share similar articles, the difference is that I’m doing it partially aimed at my lurker RWNJ acquaintances. I’m striking a blow against their Fox Noise bubble. One in particular (my suspect) occasionally is so triggered she feels a need to argue with me. No idea why, nor why she doesn’t unfollow me though I suspect for all of them it’s because my shares are from such a wide range of sources that it interests them even if they disagree. The personal stuff on FB is fine, but not my primary interest. Currently gritting my teeth through multiple “10 Days of Grandma” posts because I am fond of my friends even though I don’t particularly want 10 solid days of grandkid pics.

  107. 107.

    stinger

    @anastasiobeaverhausen: I haven’t read the rest of the comments yet, but I was able to identify a variety that I’ve had for decades (and knew as a child) by looking through the Schreiner’s online catalogue.

    There are probably better ways! Good luck!

  108. 108.

    Miss Bianca

    @WereBear: Oh, that is hilarious! Just read that story out loud to the resident headbanger in this household. He found it tres amusant as well!

  109. 109.

    stinger

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Dorothy, I want to ask them if they’ll torpedo the Chunnel. Or if they can be certain that France won’t.

    And can you quit bragging about your cruise???

    (Actually, I hope you’ll have OTR pix to share.)

  111. 111.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize:

    @Mike in Oly: How does one hybridize irises (irisi?) anyway.

     

    These photos are so lovely. Makes me miss my house in Paonia, which came with a full complement of yellow, russet, and brown irises. How cold hardy are they? I’m up at almost 9,000 feet above sea level now, and we have a very short growing season.

  112. 112.

    TomatoQueen

    @Baud: I knew two competitive elderly ladies who regularly lied to each other (and anyone else within earshot) about what to do with roses. These were Ladies with Money, too, so there was real life proof (one Nantucket garden, one Litchfield, CT) of who was right, or who was spending more money that year. I don’t think they knew a damn thing, but both lived into their late eighties so it was a rivalry kept them alive.

  113. 113.

    West of the Rockies

    @Baud:

    Sadly true… Xenophobia, fear of foreigners, resentment…  It is in all cultures.  The US, Europe, India, Australia, Tutsi vs Hutu…  Seems to be as predictable as a pendulum swing.

  115. 115.

    TomatoQueen

    This post is lovely. My mother was a great gardener and among her many triumphs was her iris rescue in the troubled places where nothing else would grow. She could coax an iris right along. One variety she loved was Beverly Sills, a pale apricot that was almost white with direct light on it, shading to coral. I hadn’t seen it offered in many years, but there it is in BlueBirdHaven’s feast of a catalogue. Thanks.

  116. 116.

    oldgold

    In times of madness an iris garden can offer peace and inspiration.

    In 1889 Van Gogh, mad as a hatter and missing an ear,  entered an asylum. In the asylum, between attacks from madness,  Van Gogh devoted himself to his art with a desperate determination, knowing that this alone might save him.

    “Irises” was the first painting Van Gogh started after arriving at the asylum. The flowers were growing in a small garden near his asylum cell.     In all, Van Gogh did four studies of the iris. He then went on to paint “The Starry Night.”

    Van Gogh: “I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?”

  118. 118.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I did some research and think I’m going to get a Motorola MB7621 modem, assuming Cox has them in stock. Somebody warn me if I’m making a mistake.

    Also discovered in my research that my router (Netgear N600 WNDR3700v3) might be older than my modem! It’s working fine, but I’ll see how it stands up to the awesome power of the new modem. My whole cyber infrastructure may be crumbling before my eyes.

  119. 119.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @stinger:

    LOL. No way was I going to start a Brexit fight!

    I sent some pathetic pics to OTR. I assume they’ll show up eventually. Unfortunately, I did things like forget my phone in Buenos Aires and take no pics at all in Barcelona or Malaga. Still, there are some.

  121. 121.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Someone has usually done that before I see the post. Just as well; I wouldn’t want them trolling my page. I do always report them. And hate them.

  123. 123.

    wmd

    Seeing Silverton Oregon named reminded me of about buying Iris from Cooley’s. I’d heard they had gone out of business.  I visited the farm back in 1996 during bloom season and bought from them a few times in the next few years. That area of Oregon seems to be a hotbed for Iris breeding. I hope that the there was conservation done on their varieties.

    I need to get back to gardening. It’s mostly gone by the wayside for a decade and it had been a joy for a lot of my life.  It’s sad that a failed relationship ending corresponds with putting the activity aside. Subsequent confounding factors piled up… and aren’t an issue currently.

  124. 124.

    laura

    @Quinerly:  I have no clue.

    You know what you did.

    (BillinGlendale must be sleeping in, so I’m acting in his stead.) ?

    Re the HOA lawsuit – please keep us informed, those things are of the devil generally and the freedom from law is just a convenient cover for fuckery IMHO.

  125. 125.

    Quinerly

    @satby: different strokes, as they say.

    (I never had children. Friends’ family pictures are interesting to me this time of the year. “Facebook being used for good, not evil.”)

  126. 126.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: Sorry to hear about your HOA woes.I am working on a story right now for my local paper about a fire truck, a local fire district substation, and no fewer than *four* HOAs all in disagreement about who should pay for said truck, and it has only strengthened my determination never, ever, to live anywhere that has an HOA in place.

  127. 127.

    Immanentize

    @Quinerly: I really suggest that the best way to beat the weather is drive back to St.L. via Boston.  K?

    And, HOA committees are filled with petty crooks and tyrants. Trump proving grounds.

    Woot to poco

  128. 128.

    Quinerly

    @laura: I did a long post on the beach shit show some weeks back. In short, Lloyd’s of London was very generous. It’s what you call an “All In” policy that pays for damage to interior units including all upgrades (saves owners $ on their personal HO6 policies). The Pres used his friend who is connected to a Servpro franchise for mitigation right after the storm. I still believe the units weren’t that badly damaged but Servpro hacked them to pieces and over billed by $300,000 (actually flagged by Lloyd’s as fraud, wouldn’t pay). Servpro backed off of those charges after the push back, yet the Pres had wanted to pay them. The $ received for the individual units were earmarked by Lloyd’s per unit but the Board didn’t segregate those funds from the funds received for common area and exterior damage. They just started spending everything on exterior and on a beautification project that had been discussed for 10 years. Now they are running out of $ before paying the individual unit owners their $ (Lloyd’s sent the $$ in January) and have borrowed $115,000 and are assessing us $5000 in order to have the funds that Lloyd’s paid in January to turn around to pay us for our damage. Most of the Board members have HO6 policies that will pay for assessments if called “storm damage.” So they are calling the loan and assessments “storm damage.” Problem is most of us don’t have that, plus it really isn’t storm damage. They got $1.6 million for storm damage total (inside and out) and wasted part of it with a crappy contractor with no oversight and the larger portion spent on a beautification project that had nothing to do with storm damage. And, then there’s the Board member who brags about having her place listed as her primary residence on her insurance even though she lives 2 hrs away and it’s her second home… Extra perks! And the Pres who pressured the contractor to hire the President’s friend as project manager (the friend has multiple DWIs, can’t drive, arrests for breaking and entering, identity theft) so that the project manager could live in the President’s unit and complete his unit utilizing his free labor in exchange, all while the President collects loss rentals on his HO6. I’m actually just getting started…..

  131. 131.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: If we hadn’t been gone over 2 months and plan to leave for NM on 1/27, I would seriously consider taking you up on your sweet offer. I hear New England is so very lovely in the dead of winter. ?

  132. 132.

    Quinerly

    @Miss Bianca: this was my family beach place for 42 years. Small complex of 46 units, each unit oceanfront, 1100 square feet. Never ever these problems. The old guard has essentially died out. The people running it now have been there only in last 10 years. The President less than 5 years. He’s a “financial planner” by trade.

    (and for the pure gossip factor, in the last year, he came home early from financial planning ? and caught his wife in bed with his best friend and neighbor… At their home, not beach place. The few old women of the “old guard” that are left feel so sorry for him now that they agree with anything he says.)

  136. 136.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: Sounds like the asshole deserved it. But this is why I hate HOAs – seems like the worst, most venal people end up in charge of them, most of the time.

  137. 137.

    Quinerly

    @Miss Bianca: who knows if the wife fucking around story is even true. He’s a proven liar. Two very small children and wife who always walked a few steps behind him I had him pegged as an abuser a couple of years ago. Maybe she just got away and he made up the story for sympathy. New, very young girlfriend within weeks. The sympathetic old guard says, “James deserves happiness with what he has gone through. The wife was never social, never got involved in the complex.” So who really knows?

  140. 140.

    Aleta

    Horrible.

    Around the state here, individuals’ homeowner insurance polices are being cancelled for things that were not considered a problem before. They’re told to apply to high risk companies (though they are not in areas defined as high risk) until expensive work is done.

  143. 143.

    Mike in Oly

    @stinger: What a great childhood memory, and a lovely relic to grow and enjoy to keep that memory alive. I have fond memories of my grandmother’s iris beds, thos she only had a dozen or so varieties she grew them in huge clumps and there were hundreds of blooms at once. Such a sight to see!

  144. 144.

    Mike in Oly

    @Miss Bianca: It is super easy. Lots of videos on youtube walk you thru it. Here’s one: https://youtu.be/PgA45TXFF5s

    The tough part is getting the seeds to grow and then getting a decent flower. The experts say you can get about one good flower out of every thousand seeds. I’ve grown maybe three dozens seedlings to bloom over the years and have kept two of them. But while they amuse me they are not worth naming and introducing. I wish I had the space to grow more seedlings to see what they will be. I save seed from bee crossed pods every year. Irises are very cold hardy. I know they grow in zone 3 up in Canada.

  145. 145.

    Mike in Oly

    @wmd: Cooley’s Gardens was a lovely place. I was happy to have had the chance to see it before Rick Ernst suddenly passed away at far too young an age and the garden was closed. They were in business from 1928 to 2011. I believe Schreiner’s took over most of their field stock. I’d love to know what became of Rick’s seedlings under consideration. And yes, that whole area is iris central. Perfect climate for them and none of the problems with rot and borers like they have  east of the Rockies.

  146. 146.

    The Lodger

    @wmd: There are big peony and dahlia farms in that part of Oregon, too. (I didn’t read to the end before posting,  I apologize if someone already said that. )

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