Right now, I’m hanging on to that promise! From (former) ‘only commented on fundraising threads’ fellow Massachusetts resident MJ:
Here are some photos of Spring on the South Shore of Massachusetts.
I bought Irises around 2021 when Satby recommended a sale at Schreiner’s Gardens in Oregon. Then later Mike in Oly suggested Bluebird Haven in California for Irises. So, thanks to them!
The white flowering tree (top photo) is our old Dogwood at its peak.
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What’s going on in your garden (memories / planning / indoor), this week?
sab
Wow. Gorgeous.
My facing-old-age plan was to stop gardening and focus on the cats indoors. We moved and left the old yard to my stepson’s girlfriend, who has a very green thumb.
satby
Beautiful irises MJ! I’m glad you found my suggestion helpful.
I haven’t checked out Mike in Oly’s Bluebird Haven, I’m going to go look right now 😉
satby
@sab: Glad your heat is back on!
sab
@satby: Cats are even more glad. Just one little fuse gone awry.
sab
Echo is bugging me. She wants treats NOW. Breakfast is not until morning, little cat girl.
sab
One thing I have noticed with amazement. Cats are not patriarchal at all. The females rule. Our moose in the basement is the biggest cat I have ever seen, but he backs down when even the tiniest girl challenges him.
Dobby the demon cat bites and scratches me, smacks our pitbull routinely, but backs down when any of the girl cats challenge him. And challenge means they look at him. No smacking involved.
sab
@sab: We have seven cats ( that’s a lot) and all of the boys, however big and dominant, all defer to the girls. The girls, on the other hand, do have cat fights and hissy fits. Three boys, four girls.
WereBear
@sab: Very sensible. I’m down to indoors and African Violets. Can’t even force bulbs since the pollen is very dangerous to cats.
But yes, outdoor gardening will keep you in SHAPE. It was the deer and the winters that made it unsatisfactory for me.
CCL
Beautiful! I think we have that last one, also from Schreiners.
Partner brought the amaryllis up from the cellar so we will have something to watch grow during the dark days of late dec. / jan.
Jeffg166
Beautiful selection of Iris.
Only six days until the solstice. Spring is coming.
A bit more of garden clean up got done.
I ordered an 18 pound bag of organic bulb food. Threw half of it down where I remember bulbs being. The other half goes down when the bulbs start to break the surface in February or March.
The fertilizer was very pungent. There was a lot of dust as I scattered it. It got all over me and up my nose. Had to change my clothes and wash them plus neti pot my nose to get most of it out of my sinuses.
Rachel Bakes
Need to get some iris bulbs this year. My father loved them and bulbs seem to do well in our yard.
min garden adjacent news we contacted the masons who rebuilt our stonewall and front stairs 2 years ago about the stone retaining walls leaning treacherously in our back. He jumped at the job with a low bid for cash and started Thursday. Worked the last 3 days (in 20 degree weather) and very well might finish today. I think we’re paying for Christmas for his crew.
Anne Laurie
Just remember: Iris corms want to sit practically on top of the soil (like daylilies). It took me several years to convince the Spousal Unit that decently burying his iris corms ‘to protect them’ is why they seldom so much as sent up a green shoot!
Quinerly
Gorgeous pics!
I tried with iris. Can’t even remember how many bulbs I planted in Fall 2023. They grow really well in Santa Fe, but apparently not for me. Not one came up. Either I planted them too deep or planted them correctly and the critters dug them up for eats. Not sure I am up to trying again.
Love your pics! Great to wake up to. Thanks.
J.
Wow! Gorgeous flowers and photos!
Rachel Bakes
@Anne Laurie: not a remember; I didn’t know that! All the bulbs I planted in the last two months have seemingly burrowed out of the soil to sit on top. 3 garden spaces and all of them are sitting on top of the soil otherwise untouched, otherwise I’d blame squirrels.
MazeDancer
Beautiful photos, MJ!
Jeffg166
@Anne Laurie:
Watching Gardeners’ World Monty talked about having to bury iris corms where it was very hot. Otherwise they need to be half out of the ground to get the heat they need to flower.
Took his advice when I planted some in the bed in front of the porch. My house faces almost due south. The bed is cooked in the summer. The iris did fine.
Trivia Man
@Anne Laurie: hypothetically, if i have cold winters AND exuberant squirrels in abundance…
Can i mulch with leaves 10 cm deep over winter?
And do squirrels like iris? I have several that they dont seem to mess with but they were all brought in as full grown plants. I thought i had more but they either died, git eaten, or I misremembered. I dont want to blame them if they didn’t do it.
I am working on a tulip bed, for that i planted then laid down chicken wire flat. First year about 35/50 came up. We’ll see how last fall’s crop fares. Mostly hyacinths in this planting, peeled up the wire then replaced it.
Trivia Man
My dad was in the Iris Society, i went to several of their events. Very jolly and welcoming. Annual events with a HUGE selection of varieties. Many many offers of cheap kinds plus the very special fancies.
Side anecdote: probably half of my conversations with members, they brought up how “fun” iris people are compared to “that snooty rose club crowd.”
FYAC – i typed iris, i know what an irish is and if i wanted that word i would have typed that word
CCL
@Trivia Man: I happened to be back and forth to Portland Ore for business one year. On one two-week stay, I dragged all my co-workers down to Salem to visit the Schreiners’ gardens. Little did I know that it was the very day of the Iris Festival, with free food, free music, lots of other iris lovers. It was, to say the least, a wonderful wonderful surprise. Couldn’t agree with you more, and I love roses too.
Dan B
@Quinerly: Iris are poisonous so it’s not likely that critters would eat them. But… New Mexico, who knows?
JAM
Beautiful irises, MJ. I think I have the same kind (gold and maroon) from your last outdoors picture, that were given to me by a friend at work. I have been slowly clearing out patches of Bermuda grass to plant natives that I will be starting in containers outdoors. Very tedious.
Mike in Oly
Such lovely photos! I am always happy to see irises blooming and these are all lovely varieties. A couple of things tho: irises grow from rhizomes like ginger or tumeric, not bulbs or corms – altho there are bulbous iris species out there that are treated like other bulb. Bearded irises do need to be planted very shallow. Just below the surface. If they are too deep they will spend all their time trying to grow back to the surface. They also need excellent drainage. Irises are not really poisonous so much as distasteful and result in an upset stomach for anything that tries to eat them. There are a few rodent species that will snack on them, but that’s about it. Their biggest pest is iris borers in the eastern US.
Thanks for supporting Blue Bird Iris Haven. Mary Hess has amassed an amazing collection of historic varieties. She is in the process of downsizing her collection as she is aging out of caring for it so please do make an order from her this coming January. (Iris catalogs come out after the first of the year for orders that will be delivered in the summer time). We need to spread them out into other gardens for safekeeping so they are not lost to history.
MJ
Thanks everyone!
The 1st Iris photo of the red Iris is from Bluebird Haven, Samurai Warrior.
2nd Iris photo – Schreiner’s, Champagne and Strawberries or Wonders Never Cease, cream and brown.
3rd Iris photo – Schreiner’s, Fickle, purple and white.
4th Iris photo – Bluebird Haven, Kansas Ingleside, rust/maroon, from 1940.
Last photo of Irises in a vase. The orange Iris is from Amazon and the brown and cream is Schreiner’s, Champagne and Strawberries or Wonders Never Cease.
satby
@Mike in Oly: glad to hear she’ll be putting out another catalog as I saw several I hope to get. Thanks!
Tim in SF
I have three pots out front with eight irises from Schreiner’s from a trip last year. I’m in San Francisco and it’s still way too cold for them to do anything. They’re still just a few green leaves sticking out of the pot.