My trip to Valleyford

Got back from the trailing trial last night. Chile earned his next level trailing title (Mantrailer Intermediate). . .yea! Good boy ~

The friends who host the trial have a 5 acre iris/daylily farm. Because of the weather, Lynn said the blooms are 2-3 weeks behind, but a few of the minis and dwarfs were blooming so, naturally, I had to take pix, and came away with a couple of clumps of 'Hush Puppy' and 'Cimmaron Rose.' Unfortunately, since we had the dogs and all of our camping stuff, we didn't have much room to add flowers, so we are going back in July when everything will be in bloom. Sid says he wants to stop raising them and says when we come back to bring pots and dig up whatever we want! Won't that be fun!

Anyway...a VERY small sampling of some of the minis and dwarfs which are blooming right now. First is Jillaroo

Trusty Rusty

Love this one ~

Fingerprints

Puddy Tat

Orange Tiger

Chaos

Little Dandy

Pal Sam

Dinky Circus

Hush Puppy (I got some of this)

Cimmaron Rose (and I got some of this)

Toots

Raspberry Jam (I LOVE this one)

Little Black Belt. (Pic isn't so good, but the flower is a beauty)

Mary's Lamb (This one is so delicate. Ruffled edges with soft pastel coloring. The petal is almost transparent)

Iced Lemonade (another with a very delicate, nearly transparent looking petal)

And finally,

Auroralita

I'm really looking forward to our trip back, when everything is blooming. I hope to come home with a carload!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!

Those are all beautiful. I want one of each!

Haven't looked at your posts yet. Just wanted to say congratulations, Chile! I've been thinking about you guys this weekend. Found a site that shows the different types of claytonia.

We have Claytonia sibirica, I think. My neighbor has it in a beautiful swath around her Tolmiea menziesii. It's full of white flowers. Sheri - I think you have Claytonia perfoliata. That explains the different in the shapes of the leaves on our plants.

http://www.pnwflowers.com/search?t=claytonia

Wow. Nice, don't know how you made any decisions on which ones to get. So do these people have a nursery that's open to the public? A website for lookey loos? :-)

I like that Raspberry Jam, too. Very pretty.

And Congrats to Chile, too!

This message was edited May 26, 2008 11:51 PM

I thought every darn one was excellent. Its just a case of Iris Porn. So where can I get a fix of these?

AD what are you imbibing in this evening?

Lets see. Just finished up Memorial Day Party with my inlaws and the neighbors.

Nobody ever turns down dinner at my place. Basically, I cannot reveal what we ate, but everybody left well fed and very happy.

During the event I had 1 sun tea, and 2 glasses of Talking Rain bubbly water.

What's the point?

You go Chile dog! I bet you are so proud of him.

Those irises are absolutely gorgeous, especially cimmaron rose. What a name.

Good Boy, Chilie Hay. Hoots and whistles

When are you going? I'll follow with my wagon, bring more home, LOL
Set me up, I want one of all.
^_^

Hey everyone ~ Chile says "thanks" with some big hanging droolery. It was a fun weekend with about 12 bloodhounds and a couple of 'honorary' BHs, Crikey included.

Sid and Lynn, unfortunately, do not have a nursery or a website. They grow them mostly for hobby. Lynn says she sells "a couple of hundred dollars per year." Her fantasy is to retire and just raise iris and daylilies. Sid, on the other hand, says he wants to till the whole thing under because "it's too much work for just the two of us." I am really looking forward to going out in July when everything is blooming. The photo ops will be spectacular and so will the haul. The upside of this is that once the clumps I bring home are dividable, I will have many for swap! The decision about which to take home this time was easy. All I said I wanted (didn't want to appear greedy when I really wanted some of EVERYTHING) was the 'Cimarron Rose.' The 'Hush Puppy' had spread into the Cimarron, so I got that as well.

And now, after a great weekend, it's back to workwork. Blecch! Everyone have a great week!

Beautiful! I didn't have any luck with irises after moving here
from the South (seemed to get fungus) and stopped trying. But on a recent trip back to Arkansas
I visited my grandmother's homestead and the owners let me dig up some
of my grandmother's irises!

Any tips for keeping these beauties happy in our wet weather?

Neo...no tips from me. I'm a very wet-behind-the-ears newbie and simply have my fingers crossed! I'm sure there is someone here who can offer some advice.

Full sun and good soil and drainage, should be OK

I think the full sun part was a problem at my other home.
I have grandma's planted in a nice full sun area.
Thanks Tilly