That is sad news Tom. I think letting the rhizomes get a little bigger is a great idea. I'm looking forward to that sale when you have it.

Tom, so saddened to hear about your loss. Life can be incredibly harsh at times. Growing irises provides us with a means to escape from the world and find solace in nature. Please take your time and don't push yourself too hard. I'm certain people will always welcome big rhizomes.

Jeanne, our sale dates are Aug. 9 and 10. It's in the same place as last year.

@tveguy3 Tom. I have marked the dates.

I spent a little time outside this afternoon. I started cleaning up the Iris in one of my raised beds. The soil seemed to be still frozen. Some of the larger fans seemed to have mushy leaves, some rotten rhizomes but baby fans seemed fine. That frustrated me so I quit and cleaned up in my Garden Shed bed instead. This spring my gardening is being done in baby steps. I have to do whatever I can in whatever chance I get.

This is the first year that I have not had my camera outside with me and taking pictures of before and after shots of my beds as I work on them. I usually look back and see what I did on that particular day last year. I will take it out with me tomorrow.

I have lost one side of my raised bed to shade from a "dwarf" orange tree that has grown too tall, so I spent some time digging up my horrible clay soil to create a new iris bed in a new place. Since we've had some recent rain, the clay is currently diggable to a depth of about four inches. A big storm is coming in tonight, which I hope will soften the ground enough to dig six inches further. We'll see.

I feel like I've been weeding and fertilizing for weeks- at least two, and cutting off brown spot. What do you all recommend for brownspot? Will Neem with a little Dawn do a number on it?
I started calculating in my head about the time each iris plant takes in care.....over a thousand plants x 20 minutes times number of 20 minute sessions per year ......... maybe I need to give up sleeping, or eating, or maybe just possibly not buying more iris??? .....
however the few Dutch iris that I have are blooming, plus the SDBs and the RedBud trees!



oh, and a photo of "my helper" hiding from the rain ( she contributes 0 minutes to the above calculation, but she keeps me wonderful company 24/7)

Pretty picture of the Dutch iris ,and love the picture of your "Helper" avoiding the rain.Too funny!

Eleanor Roosevelt, still in the unfurled stage, has been decapitated.
Just below the blossoms, there are diagonal cuts on the stem, clean, not chewed, almost like a knife cut but extremely diagonal rather than straight across.
6 of the buds on 2 clumps of Eleanor have been sheared since yesterday afternoon
Lots of damage with no sign of feeding, just destruction
Whatever it is doesn't eat the flower buds.
Doesn't seem to eat much of the stem.
I have turned that area into a insecticide toxic waste dump so it is not insects
Mice? Rabbits would eat the flower pods and no tracks or scat
Birds? Seems odd to just cut off the flowers
Any ideas? We don't have moles or voles, just mice

It could be vandals. Might have to get a trail camera.

That cut stalk seems very odd, Rachet (and sorry for your loss!).

I've had that happen a few times to me (with potted irises on the patio), and I didn't know whether to blame my garden helper whacking the stalk or my dog, or else the rabbits (who I've seen coming up on the patio). The cuts seemed clean enough... If it was the rabbits, maybe they took one taste of the stem (with the bite) and didn't like it. (At that same time I also had decapitated blooms, on that same potted iris. Those I could see the rabbits sampling and then spitting out. But it could just as well have been from my less-than-careful garden helper, or Warp wagging his tail.)

Something similar happened on one of the seedlings in my seedling box recently... An emerging stalk was cleanly bent over (broken most of the way through).... I didn't know whether it was critters or DH or the garden helper blundering with the hose, but I'm inclined to think the latter, because the same-box blooming stalks were unmolested.)

The rain here seems to have let up and I have some garden chores I'd love to go out and do, but I'm achy and I have too much to do inside anyway, getting ready for travel next week. Maybe I might finish potting up a baby TB seedling or two (and there is now another one emerging ).

Everyone enjoy the weekend and such garden time you can get, and Happy Resurrection Sunday and Easter to you all!

Do rabbit and deer repellents work?
It must be either rabbits or deer as the cuts are high
The lilacs have the same damage, stems cut about 3 ft off the ground
The iris blossoms cut off, maybe spit out on the ground
I am going to the store today
Any suggestions about a repellent?

I have not found deer repellents to last long, maybe a week or two at the most, before the deer are chomping again.

I've tried a rabbit repellent on some things in the past (the pests seem to like my Bergenia ) and had more luck on that score; this is what I got: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0035LVT1U/ Iirc it smelled rather minty (which for me was a plus), as opposed to the deer repellent (which is just awful).

These days I no longer bother. I still have the rabbits, but they aren't that much trouble, or at least not enough trouble for the expense and bother of spraying. (Maybe it's because the local bobcats and other critters keep the population in enough check?)

Good luck to you!

It's sprinkling again, and thundering, so I missed my chance to do anything outside (because I was doing necessary stuff inside). I'm hoping I can do something tomorrow. (I'm hoping that I will still have blooms on those irises presently sending up stalks, when I get back from my trip! One of them is a replacement AUTUMN EXPLOSION, so .)

Happy Resurrection Sunday, Happy Easter, and a Joyous Spring and Bloom Season to all!

I asked the salesman in Ace what to use. He said many people buy fox or coyote urine.
It may work but when I came home and researched the product I bought, it repels domestic cats
So I have to return it.
Oh well
Any suggestions welcome

Here's a helpful webpage I found to tell the difference between rabbit and deer browse. Rabbits cut cleanly; deer tear, leaving frayed edges.
https://www.growingdeer.tv/det...

The past couple of springs I have had a certain number of blooms that were shredded into ribbons as soon as they opened. I couldn't figure out what could have done that, but finally last year I found a cloven hoof print in the soil next to a shredded bloom. Yes, they run their teeth through a bloom enough to shred and taste it, and then reject the taste. Irises are toxic, and apparently taste pretty foul. Probably it's only the youngest deer who try tasting them.

It is possible someone wanted flowers for Easter.2 years back,I lost blooms to someone walking by that wanted flowers for Mother's Day.

Rabbits are plentiful around here, but they only seem to bother my irises during the winter when food is scarce, unless I'm lucky enough to have them covered with snow. After other things start to grow they seem to prefer them. They always seem to love to eat the few tulips that the squirrels have missed. Just the blooms, not the leaves.

Thanks for all the answers
I suspect rabbits because the crabapple, apricot and peach trees have not been touched. Also my seedlings seem to disappear when they get large enough to see.
Not certain what to do about it.
I don't want to fence those areas as I am mostly growing trees and the fences would be in the way.
I have to take that fox and coyote urine back to the store, exchange it.
However maybe anything that would repel a deer would repel kitty cats.
Another day, another problem to solve out on the rural route
Sure grateful for all the folks here so willing to share information and sympathy
Appreciate it
Happy Easter to y'all!

The problem with repellant sprays is that they wash off in the first rain, which here is quite frequent. I have found the I Must Garden granules to last much, much longer, and more effective. I get them in the 20 pound pail. Here is a link
https://www.imustgarden.com/gr... .
We feed a feral cat. He might not go into the gardens where I sprinkle it, but he's always back for breakfast and dinner, so I don't think it scares him off.