Free Seeds for New Bees 02/26/11

Iris grow on top of the ground, the roots will go down and the tuber stays up. If you bury the tuber it either will not bloom or it will rot if it stays under and wet, so iffin ya like them, keep them shallow or on the top of the surface.

Bearded iris rhizomes should be planted with the top of the rhizome exposed. So if you plant half in the dirt and half out you should be ok. Also mound the dirt up before you plant so that if you receive alot of rain the rhizome won't be sitting in a puddle.

OH good to know! Now I don't feel bad that they are uncovered. Er do I still feel bad that there are so many huge tubers? There are a lot of them.

If you have alot of rhizomes it sounds like its time to divide them and give them some room. Crowding will cut down on them blooming, Ang. So after your bloom season in Bremerton you can dig and separate your irises.

The iris that's blooming (lets call that rhizome the mother) will bloom only once. After it is done blooming it will spend the rest of it's life sending out increases or new babies. You'll see the baby increases attached to the mother rhizome. I've had a mother produce 8 new increases in one year so you can understand how they'll become crowded quickly and should be divided every two or three years (depending how much room you've originally allowed for growing)

Hope the info help you

Mitt, how are yours coming along? Close to blooms yet? Any possibilities of sales this summer? Ya know I need first dibs on looking!

Sale will start next month if you know anyone who is interested.

My irises should start to bloom in 2 or 3 weeks and continue thru the month of May. We received over 3" of rain last night and I haven't been able to get out and check the garden

I AM< ME< ME ME !!!!!

I guess I should take the little bit of cedar mulch I put on mine off. I know about leaving the rhyzome on top of the ground, I just thought the big pieces of mulch would look nice. Not much rain here, maybe I should water them. I thinned them last year as I only had a couple of bloom, hoping they would bloom better this year. I want to plant them all down my fencline and driveway. I just love them, they are soooooooooooo pretty!!!!! I would be able to enjoy them out my kitchen window and every time I left and when I would return.

Please put my husband and I in your prayers. BIG prayers, please. Thanks to everyone!

Prayers are with you. HUGS!

You and yours are in my thoughts, as well as a couple of wisteria weeds with your name on them.

The weeds are resting comfortably friends. Will probably be at least a week or so before I can think about shipping them. I'll Dmail those on my list when that happens. I'll be looking for roots. :)

Amanda ..... please put your address in the Address Exchange or dmail me and I will send you postage, so you are not out the $'s before you send.

Amanda, do you have any extra seeds or small seedlings? I think I have some money in my change jar I could send you.

Mitt, thanks for the advice. These aren't my irises but I think the woman who originally planted them isn't around any more. Since it's planted into the ground here that means it's technically the landscapers job to divide and what not but my Dad could totally do it.

I'll need the address also.

Should of looked first. Address is in the exchange. Will get my postage out in the mail on Wednesday.

Al, Got your box of Iris shipped this morning and just call it a belated birthday gift! Hope they do well for you. I know you got purple with lavender petals with yellow throats and some dark purple/almost black, and some huge white blooms with a hint of blue smoke inside it. Those I can guarantee are there but some have never bloomed and not sure what those may be. Probably will bloom later this year or next. They are babies off others.

Hi again - yes my addy is in the proper place for exchange, methinks.

Ang - I will have extra cuttings. I have it on good authority that a wisteria grown from seed won't bloom for 7 - 15 years, so vegetative reproduction works best. If you really want, I did collect some dried seed pods which you can have.

I have cuttings soaking and hope to have roots and/or ship within the next week or two.

Here's my list! :)

sherman99
marti001
skellogg
dmtom
crit
tikipod

WooHoo! Oh my, so glad that you are doing this for us, as I really don't want to wait 7-15 years for seeds to grow! Besides, there is no way I could keep seedlings alive that long, lol! I'd lose them, or forget about them or something. Can't imagine how they can be invasive here with our winters, so I'm not worried about that at all, but am wondering how they can take that long in good growing conditions, lol!

i am too old to wait that long for seeds to grow. thank you amanda for making this possible

Um I'll take cuttings lol. I'd like a plant that'll bloom before my son heads off to college.

LOL! Or in my case, the grandsons head off to college!

Could I please get some newbie seed? Sending envie and postage out to you tomorrow or Sat. Thank you very very much.

Hi kevin, put a note in your envie and tell Arejay a few kinds you would really like to find and she will try to find as close as she can to that. And welcome aboard!

Welcome, Kevin!

For example, you could ask for certain kinds of Columbines. If Arejay doesn't have gobs and stacks in stock, please mention it again here, because I (and many others) have several kinds stashed away.

Since you've only been in DG a week or two, let me mention a feature that should in principle be really usefull:

If you go to "Plant Files", and find some specific variety you wish you had, or that you have enough of that you could share seeds or rooted plants or bulbs or cuttings with others, there is a button somewhere that lets you add that specific variety to your "Have" list or "Want" list, in a searchable format, so that anyone else browsing Plant Files can find people who "Want" or "Have" that exact variety.

For example, 214 varieties of Columbine.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php

Or some people will list a whole species or even genus as a "Want", and then add comments like "anything blue" or "anything hardy in Zone 4".

However, that seems to work out to an even trade so seldom, that I've had people express amazement when we managed to find a trade that way. More often, someone sends something "for postage" and becuase they're generous. Or you can search someone's member page "Want List" to discover that once upon a time, they wanted something obscure, that you happen to have a half-pkt of, left over.

I think you'll find a lot of generous people here!

(I especially like sending unusual and difficult seeds to people who are better gardeners than I am (almost anyone), because if I kill all the seeds I I have left of that variety, next year thay may be re-offering it back.)

Corey

Welcome Kevin! This is a great group of gardeners. And there is a WEALTH of knowledge. Feel free to ask questions and join us in chat.

Corey ............. I'm disappointed. No funny in your post. Think you would scare Kevin away? lol

It's like an evil spirit or guardian angel that comes and goes. Sometimes I look at the screen, discover that what I'm typing is funny, and wonder where it came from.

My SO tells me that it must be a Muse ... and that when I try to just BE funny without the spontaneous Muse providing the humor, the results are pathetic. I would agree!

If I knew what She liked, I'd leave out milk and cookies for Her, or whatever She preferred ...

Corey

I don't remember anybody offering me cookies, Corey. LOL

Al

Me either????? Where is mine? I like cookies and mojitos.

Hmmm ... Elves, Muses and gardeners ... "will work for cookies".

Sounds good to me!

Corey

There's the Corey I expect! ☺

Here is a picture of our new horses. I gave Frisky (black) a bath this afternoon when I got home from work, because it was 90* and is suppose to be colder and rainy (ya right!) until Tuesday. She had psoriasis or dandruff or something on her back, and I wanted to bathe her with a medicinal soap. It was our first dance at this and she did really good. Tried to rear up a couple of times, but I just kept talking to her. I really think she was trying to see if I was afraid of her or not. lol She found out ...NOT.

Red, isn't my DH original with names. lol

Both of them. Getting them at feeding time is the only time we can get near them without them wanting to be petted!

Thank everyone for the welcome, and I have been excited about being a member here. It's taking a while to learn to navigate the site, but I'm learning.

If ya need any help holler and someone will come running.

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=N5ddoyfn6g4

Happy Easter Everyone...The sun came out...I planted all day in spite of the probability of frost coming and taking half of what I planted..I just couldn't resist. Hi Kevin Ill be watching for your envie and everything they said I agree....

This message was edited Apr 23, 2011 9:57 AM

Morning everyone!! Happy Easter!

Kevin, Dorothy and I will be at the Flea Market this weekend. It will be our last weekend for awhile. Stop in if you get the chance and pick out a birdhouse gourd as our welcome to Dave's Garden. I might have some iris for you. Come see me about it.

Marti

Thank you Marti. I can't wait to try your jam and jelly too.

Be sure to let me know how you like the Orange Jelly and Spicy Tomato Jam you bought.

Tomato jam? What do you do with that? I know, I know ........ eat it. lol

Arejay,
I didn't get the envelope and postage sent as planned. I will try to get it out on Monday.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2011 10:54 PM