Gorgeous grouping Sherry. What a sight that would be in a garden!

That's exactly the color scheme I have in mind for a new garden!

Muddymitts said:Gorgeous grouping Sherry. What a sight that would be in a garden!

makes me want to dig and rearrange.

It's pretty wild, isn't it? I've got a bed something like it that will be interesting to see in the spring.. It's hard to know with the reds from pictures, if they go towards, brown, orange, or violet. It may end up a chaotic mess, but that's part of the fun.

Gabe, I remember when I hit 100.. It seemed so overwhelming Now that I've gone over 500, I'm much more calm about it

Cuzz4short said:

On a crazy note, I'll be up to 100 named varieties soon. This is nuts!

Oh just wait I bet you will be over 250 by the end of 2016...

Henhouse, Only 500, that nothing, I will catch up to you in 10 to 15 years.

Phillipb2 said:
Oh just wait I bet you will be over 250 by the end of 2016...

You'll be over 400 in 2017.

Tom, if all goes well, could you add me to the list of Overview.

OK, got you two down for Overview, hope it does well.

UndertheSun said:I want all of them.

I tried to arrange it as if they were all planted together like that.

Ditto to I want them all ! , I cannot imagine my garden with so much snow around.

Henhouse said:Most of the folks I know who have large collections of Iris do some sort arrangement.. Whether it's by hybridizer, bloom season, color, or just stick the tall ones in back....

I tend to be a little obsessed with arrangement and how the colors go together. I printed up pictures of every Iris that's still in a pot. Then I separated them by bloom season, and then by height (I told you I was a little OCD).. So this is what I'm playing with. How about the rest of you?

That coffee table, BTW was a 350 year old Maple from the Pacific NW. I had a friend, who's a consulting arborist, who told me he was glad someone put the tree out of it's misery... then proceeded to tell me all the diseases that were killing it He was also the one who counted all the rings...

I know that this is an old post from 2015, but I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate what you call OCD!

I, at the tender age of 75, am in the process of digging a bed, which will be my first "all iris" bed. I do have other irises in other beds, coordinating with color schemes...such as my White Flower Border, the Dark Side Garden, The Hot Bed....and some in a mixed border I call my Cottage Garden Border, which mainly has pinks, purples and blues.

So that is why, before I even receive my order of 40 historic irises, I can plan it's arrangement. And even sillier, I am hoping to live long enough to hybridize many of these irises. Health is the most important commodity when you are my age. The second of course, would be an activity that you can do that you are passionate about.
I hope to be lucky enough to see this project through, although I do have a lot of obstacles, but doesn't everyone have those?

Thanks for giving me the extra idea about time of bloom, as I had not even considered that. What was I thinking...they would all bloom at once?

I plan to eventually read all the threads and see the pictures of your lovely iris garden.

Evelyn

P.S. I must have missed the pictures of your lovely iris garden.

Evelyn for reviving this old thread. I always like rereading them!

Lilli ~ You are so welcome.

I feel that I am rather late for this party, but, so what!

Evelyn, I liked your comment about health being the most important commodity as we age. I couldn't agree more. Gardening is exercise, and, I find I'm motivated to get out in the garden every day. Even "puttering" keeps it all working!

health is the most important commodity at any age. There are plenty of children teens or young adults that have chronic health problems that ruin their lives pretty much. As you get older it is still a blessing to be healthy, but we know not as likely

Evelyn, I'm happy to see your interest in Historics.
Whether it's for sentimental reasons, a love of history, or a love of the simpler form, many of us here grow them. If you participated in the HIPS sale, you probably got some rhizomes from some of us indirectly..

A couple things on aging...
the steel player in band will be 79 next month and has more energy than the rest of us put together..
A good friend of mine started a new garden at 65.. I doubt that she thought she'd still be gardening 30 years later, yet she is.. and in that time has written two excellent books on Salvias..
I think both of them think in terms of possibilities rather than limitations. They've both been blessed with reasonably good health from a healthy lifestyle (and apparently good genetics).

Sherry ~ Thank you so much for your encouragement. I almost went to the hospital last night as I was up until 4AM With heart palpitations.

So I didn't get outside until much later, and quitting right away as soon as the intense heat arrived.

I am still determined to work on this until it is finished. If I still have leftovers, which it appears that I will, I may have to pot up some until I dig the new bed, which will be a lot easier when the weather cools down.