Your All Things Plants weekly news

for May 16, 2015

This Week's Gardening Ideas:

By dave May 16, 2015

The May 2015 Not-A-Raffle-Raffle! Time for another raffle, our biggest of the year. We have 9 companies this month, all providing great prizes. Step right up and buy your tickets! You have until Monday to enter! (1,098 words - Read the full article)

By dave May 15, 2015

Irises Celebration Week Wrap Up In the past six days we had almost a thousand photos of irises posted to our database, along with about the same number of posts in the irises forum. Let's have a look at the best photos, along with who participated the most. (236 words - Read the full article)

By bennysplace May 15, 2015

Stop and Smell the Iris My ongoing love affair with the iris began when I worked for a small bank in what was once a small town. There was a separate building called the annex, where I would go to fix the staff's computers. One spring my stroll was rewarded with something magical. (1,038 words - Read the full article)

By dave May 14, 2015

ATP Podcast #89: Celebrating Irises In this week's podcast we talk all about irises, sharing our favorite tips on how to grow them, and talking about the articles posted this week. Dave rants about using rusty reinforcement wire for tomato cages and Trish shares her concerns about honesty from vendors at your local farmers market.

By grannysgarden May 14, 2015

With All the Colors Available, Why Select a White Iris? According to many sources the iris takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species. If you can grow a flower in any color, or combination of colors, why grow a white one? (368 words - Read the full article)

By gemini_sage May 13, 2015

There Is an Iris for Every Garden Irises are the largest genus of the Iridaceae family, with as many as 300 species, many of which are thought to be natural hybrids. Iris species are primarily native to the temperate northern hemisphere, the majority from Europe and Asia. The world of Irises is expansive, with species native to some of the most extreme climates, giving us an iris for just about any landscape or garden situation. (522 words - Read the full article)

By KentPfeiffer May 12, 2015

Iris Flower Patterns The Flower Patterns field is one of the most useful, but also confusing, aspects of the Iris Database here at ATP. To help you get the most from the database, here are brief explanations of what these words mean. (407 words - Read the full article)

By Newyorkrita May 11, 2015

Corner Iris Garden Is Easy To Make Grouping tall bearded iris plants in a front corner added a favorite focal point to an underused spot. (88 words - Read the full article)

By KentPfeiffer May 10, 2015

The Iris Database Demystified Many sources for information about Iris varieties are available online. But, once you understand a few aspects to how the search engine works, you will find that the Iris Database here at All Things Plants stands above the crowd. (2,314 words - Read the full article)

The most popular images last week from our plant database:

By coboro:

By janwax:

By coboro:

By ARUBA1334:

By ARUBA1334:

By tveguy3:

By Calif_Sue:

By Moiris:

By ARUBA1334:

The most popular Multi-Plant Photos from last week:

Photo by Lestv:

Photo by Catmint20906:

Photo by RickM:

Photo by foraygardengirl:

Photo by ge1836:

Photo by orchidgal:

Photo by foraygardengirl:

Photo by mandalynnkeith:

Photo by foraygardengirl:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

8 people gave for a photo of Euphorbia (Euphorbia graminea) by bonitin

7 people gave for post #850361 in "When did you fall in love?" by grannysgarden

5 people gave for the idea "The Iris Database Demystified" by KentPfeiffer

5 people gave for the idea "With All the Colors Available, Why Select a White Iris?" by grannysgarden

4 people gave for the idea "Stop and Smell the Iris" by bennysplace

4 people gave for post #850320 in "When did you fall in love?" by Muddymitts

4 people gave for the idea "There Is an Iris for Every Garden" by gemini_sage

3 people gave for post #853790 in "When did you fall in love?" by Lestv

2 people gave for post #850713 in "When did you fall in love?" by crowrita1

The most active threads this week:

We keep growing, because ATP is where all the excitement is these days! Check out these numbers from last week:

• 422 members joined.
• 5,565 posts written.
• 2,001 images posted to the plant database.
• 1,071 plants added to personal inventory lists.