Thanks Mary - yes Dana Iris is a beautiful deep red.
Karen, Your flowers are looking good ! I got a Thomas Edison this year, but it didn't grow for me - its such a nice deep purple.
As for staking - I just use the bamboo poles that you see, but I am pretty obsessive about tieing them. I use 1/2" strips of jersey material, the main stalks get tied 2-3 places and every sizable lateral gets tied as needed. This year I was walking past the fabric section at Wallmart and spotted a pale green jersey on sale for $1 a yard so I bought 10 yards. I have used 3 yards of it already, I should have bought more. Some of the biggest plants probably have 10-15 ties on them.
As fall thunderstorms start coming though, I often have some problems. The plants are really heavy when they get this big, and if the soil gets soaked and big winds come through, I can have plants topple over.
I'd rather have more sun and shorter plants, but you have to work with what you've got.
