hate to admit it.. my irises look crummy this year.. never saw the foliage look so bad before.. getting worried... help guys... help!!!

Hi, my name is Suzanne Green. I am from super hot, muggy, humid, and gnatty South Georgia. Been married for 21 years to the most wonderful guy in the world - Keith, we have two boys, one 19, and one 14. For the first 10 years that we were married, I worked and worked in the yard, garden, without ever producing any fruits for labor. Then I started reading, really started reading. Then I started to put what I read into place in the yard/garden. It didn't take long before I could see improvements. After a few years, passer bys would roll down the window and comment from the busy highway in front of the house. Now....I'm hooked, probably until death do us part. Have always wanted to add various colors of bearded irises, and finally got in on an iris sale this year, and added about 30 different kinds....somewhere there about. I really can't wait to see blooms, although it will probably be next year

Well, I made it here. I actually live about 17 miles southeast of Houghton Lake in the middle of no where. No stores, gas stations, just woods and lots of wild animals. I have been married 43 years and have 2 daughters ages 42 and 40, and my son is 39. I wish they lived closer. I only have 1 granddaughter who is 19. I work full time from home doing medical transcription for a national company. I used to love my job, but that is a different story. I have about 225 tall bearded iris, 47 Siberians and 10 Japanese irises. I also have a large perennial garden with peonies, daylilies, foxgloves, delphiniums, lilies, and a lot more. My other hobbies are photography, fishing, and target shooting. I am a member of the American Iris Society and the Siberian Iris Society. Also, I am a member of the NRA and a certified range safety officer. A few years ago I started hybridizing my own irises. I have a lot of seedlings, but so far only 1 of them has bloomed. I hope to have a lot bloom next year. Taking care of my garden takes so much time, but I love to be outside playing in the dirt. So much to do, so little time. I actually have more than I can take care of, but I am an iris addict and I can't help myself.

Hello,
My name is Deb from Western Kentucky. I am married to my hubby Don for 39 years the 12th. of next month. We have two daughters....Jamie, age 34 yrs. next month and Leigh Ann who is my Christmas Day baby and will be 32 this coming Christmas Day. Jamie has a 14 yr. old daughter named Kelsey, and Leigh has two boys...Austin who will be 12 this September and Cody who turned 6 in May. Those grandkids are the light of my life.

The hubby and I are suppose to be retired, but in 2001, the hubby decided he didn't like retirement and we are now the owners of a lawncare business. That was suppose to be just part time to divert his boredom, (and to get him out of MY house and to stop trying to organize my cabinets, etc. ) but it has turned into too much work and too much stress.
He promises he will slow down in a couple of years and we will do some traveling. I am not holding my breath. LOL If that does happen, I am having some kind of paper drawn up that states he will not try to supervise MY HOUSE. He was a supervisor in his job career and he just didn't know how to be a "retired worker bee". Somehow, he didn't get the memo that stated I was the "house queen bee" and didn't need all of my cabinets re-organized. LOL

I have TOO MANY flowers per my daughters, brother, and hubby. I love them all, especially the bearded iris, peonies, lillies, and any plant with varigated foliage.

Hello everyone.

Nana3

Hi all, Catherine from Philadelphia, PA.

I have a small area to garden in - front and back - and a healthy case of yard envy of those who have enough room to really spread out and enjoy. I have a mix of irises and perennials.

Used to vegetable garden when I was a kid with my family (hence the lifelong and profound dislike for waxbeans) and just started getting back into things in recent years. The thick stack of all the irises I wish I had room for that sits on my desk at home can attest to how deep the iris bug has wormed its way in. ; )

Hi Deb........ Do you grow Heliopsis Lorraine Sunshine ? Next to my hosta it is my favorite varigated plant.

oh boy can't wait to see all your photos!!!

Paul2032 said:Hi Deb........ Do you grow Heliopsis Lorraine Sunshine ? Next to my hosta it is my favorite varigated plant.

Paul,
No, I don't have that...but I want it now. You do know that if my hubby and daughter Leigh find out that you tempted me with your photos....they will be coming after you. ahahahaha

That is just beautiful and you sure do take good care of it...looks so healthy.

I'll have to go and do a plant search on that one. Shhhhh....don't tell anyone that I am looking for a plant. The family would shoot me. LOL

Nana3

Found you guys.....this looks good so far........

Hello all!

My name is Annmarie, I lived in CA Bay Area for many years and I recently relocated to a tiny resort village outside of Yosemite I am retired, but volunteer in our community for many activities. My husband will retire in January I left my vast gardens behind in suburbia bringing only a few rose bushes and 150 of my 250+ Tall Bearded Iris (mostly bought from D!) a few brugmansia (that I am desperately trying to grow up here) and my miniature gardens I am mom to 3, stepmom of 4, fostermom of 1 and grandma of 1. Our kids range in age from 15 to 26 but none live at home anymore (youngest stayed with his dad in the Bay area)

I am looking forward to the iris sales later this year, but I dont have much more room in my tiny garden area. I guess some of the duplicates in here will have to go...someday

I cant yet identify any of the iris in this picture....because their tags got mixed up when I moved them up here

Hi, all -- I'm Sandy Breitenbach and live in the Michigan upper peninsula, near Escanaba (close to L. Michigan). (MShadow, you do not live in the middle of nowhere, *I* do! Oddly, I also have been doing med, tran. for the last 15 years or so, mostly for a national...) Recently retired, both DH and I, at the end of March, so this is a very fun summer; sort of still feels like being on vacation, but great being able to work outside whenever I want, instead of just when I'm not scheduled to work. I have a pretty good-size veggie garden (something like 50 x 25 feet), a perennial flower garden, flower boxes hanging from the deck railing, start most of my own plants from seed, first inside under lights, then moved to a greenhouse; love pretty much every aspect of gardening, and I think iris have always been my favorite flower, what IS is about them, anyway?

I live here in the UP with my husband, 2 collies and 2 cats on about 11 acres in the middle of the cedar swamp, winters in the southern UP are not as bad as everyone pictures (northern UP is worse than most people can picture, in my opinion), and happier to live here all the time, the more I see of the various disasters around the country... but don't tell anyone, we don't have enough room for everyone to move here! I'm also the moderator for the "Garden Newbies" forum here on ATP.

Great to see so many people gathering up here -- fun to be in on the "ground floor" (so to speak) of this site!

Hi, my name is Lucy. I get my irises from irisarian and sometimes I test garden for her. Most of my irises are either hers or my Dad's (she's my MOM)

Hi everyone, old and new to the iris forums!

Hi I am also Lucy & love medians. Tall bearded extend the season for us but we don't have very many of them. My husband also loves irises, especially the species I. pumila. We belong to ISM (Iris society of Mass), AIS, Median iris society, HIPS and British Iris society.
I don't post many pictures because of the difficulty I have getting them into my computer. 4 lessons didn't help obtain many computer skills.

Send irises to Jumper 2. Another daughter lives in Richland WA, but has a small garden & 2 active daughters. She also prefers sailing.

Hi, I'm Sally and Iris are my favorite flower when they are in bloom, then it's each plant as it blooms, LOL!

I live in a very small town, grew up here and love to be outside in the garden or flower beds. I have one Daughter and four Grandkids, the newest being twins born in June.

I find I love the heirloom plants more the newer ones, but have both :o) Most of my oldest plants were given to me or ''rescued.'' I keep track of them all in a handwritten Plant Journal. I write down who gave me what and where I planted it. I use the common and Latin name if I have it. I can be a real pest asking what the Latin name is :o)

I look forward to meeting new people on this Forum! First I'll have to go back and read. I really need to get up and thaw out the chicken wings for dinner :o)

Have a good day all!!

Hi I'm Dahlianut. I have an urban garden in Cowtown where I live with my tru luv and the crazy ole cat. I started growing irisii in my garden a few years ago when I got some divisions and a seedling as thankyous. I royally mucked it up by planting them too deep and mulching and a bunch of other booboos until IrisMA (isarian) helped me fix them. Since then I've put in a few more and I'm starting to collect miniature DBs. I'm still a newbie and looking forward to learning and ooogling your pics

ps Deb heliopsis 'Lorraine Sunshine' is easypeasy to grow from seed

Thanks for checking in, everyone. Nice to know a little about you!

Hi, I'm Leon just now getting over here from Cubits. I've been married to the same lovely lady for 40 years; have three children and six grandchildren- five girls- one boy! I live here in Miami County, Indiana among the corn and soybean fields on my own private paradise of 1.84 acres of trees, grass, gardens and plants of every sort. There are three vegetable gardens with onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, potatoes and some herbs.

We are into many perennials beginning with irises, daylilies, peonies, Asiatic & Oriental lilies. These are in their own locations among several old growth white oak trees and an assortment of evergreens I collected in the U.P. of Michigan 30 years ago. I also have a few persimmons, apples and one peach tree.

I am very active for being 65+, and I plan to stay out of the recliner until I'm 90! I was originally a member of the Old Dave's Garden (when Dave had it), then Cubits in 2010, and now I hope to hang out here where there are already many familiar & friendly faces. This is long so I'll simply end with I'm glad to see this new site!

Oriental Lily "Journey's End".