🎼🎶🎵 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'...

(Sorry, the music wouldn't go in the title.)
Hi, y'all!

We live in the Sierra foothills in semi-cleared forest land on 12 acres at about 3500' in elevation in northern California. Our summers are hot and dry with generally no rain at all, and our winters are variable with wind, rain and/or snow and some moderately pleasant weather in between though many cold and windy days are the norm.

The spring weather is erractic to say the least, as we can have beautiful warm, sunny days, followed by wind, rain and/or hail, and occasionally snow. Our plants are probably more used to it than we are, though we have lived here over 30 years.

Mostly the irises (and other plants) adapt, though sometime new ones may balk at the surprises in abrupt weather changes. And honestly, we do too even after all these years.

To be continued...

Looking forward to seeing your blooms, Evelyn.

Andrea ~ Thank you. I don't know what effect the hail had on them, but I guess I will see, once it is warm enough to go up to the garden. Feel free to post your pictures here, too!

Here are a few pictures from winter:
This was our "White Christmas" ( Actually, the day after...)(dwarfing my small garden shed). The fenced garden area is just beyond the shed.

Why aren't I out there weeding??? You know the weeds grow like crazy under the snow.
A view from the window. Oh, it's cold out there.


Oh, the sun is beginning to shine!


You see that fence? That is where my irises and other choice plants live. It's not completely full sun, but more than a half day, off and on. We'll take a look in there....shortly.

In 2017 I began to purchase more irises, as I only had a few in the perennial beds. In the middle of the garden, I had tomatoes and other vegetables in containers and raised beds. Then I had to figure out where I would plant all these irises...why, oh why, did I buy so many? And where would I fit them all?

So I dug and out of the way bed, digging up loads of tree roots. When you live in a forest, that cannot be avoided. I easily filled that bed and had leftovers...now what some people call a "pot ghetto".

Well, there was a space in the middle of the garden, and it took me "forever" just to dig one 20' row. I wanted 5 double rows so 10 altogether. I enlisted the help of DH, and we did not get very far with that, either. Our soil is hard clay and very hard to work. I think it broke our rototiller, as we never got a replacement.

So, what to do? Eventually, we hired a crew to dig, rototill and put in 5 yards of good topsoil/compost, and then added sand to the mix as well. Before they arrived. I soaked the area and used the garden fork to start to loosen the soil. If it wasn't pre-moistened, there would be no digging. That was enough to get them started.

So even if I already dug an iris bed, and I had irises in the perennial beds, I still needed this space.

So when they left, the next day, I got a large roll of twine and some stakes and started to measure the rows, to put 10 irises in each double row, and make walkways in between.

I already had a small bed of iris rows, 10 raised beds of which formerly housed tomato, pepper and squash plants. Oh, and some large pots as well. (Should get rid of the "pot ghetto", right?)

Eventually, they all got planted. (Still, somehow, I STILL have a pot ghetto!)

Alright, there is the background. The gory details are on past (2017) threads on the Iris forum should you be totally bored one day.

Now, at the moment, I had very little in bloom due to our erratic weather. It warmed up too early and everything started growing, then it snowed several times and really did not warm up that much since then. In fact it hailed yesterday and twice today. The day before yesterday, it was warm enough for me to get out and weed. I am WAY behind in weeding! I will probably not get caught up this year.

So on with the start of the season for this year, 2022.

Uhhh...I just lost all my pictures for this year. Fortunately I have them stored on different apps so maybe I can retrieve them.

Ahh, yes!
April 8
This is a noid SDB which bloomed until 4/25.

Then Blue Oasis in a pot on 4/26. (SDB Tasco 2015)
Then IB Line Drive on May 3rd. (M. Sutton 2006)
Frosty Spirit BB (Tasco 2017)
So next we have the earliest TB to bloom in my garden on May 3rd
I haven't weeded much yet, as you can tell!
This was shared by a member here who did not care for its color. I will reserve judgment on this as it is such an early bloomer. Lest We Forget (G. Sutton 2007)
Then, on the same day, TB Busy Being Blue (Denney/McWhirter 1989)Last year it bloomed on May 15th, but we did have some very warm days and then back to cool and cold again. In that time period, I should have taken a picture of my lilac, as it fried in the heat. Already the weevils are busy eating the flowers and pollen. Anyone know of a natural solution? I squish them when I see them, but one already messed up this flower. I guess the heat brought out the bugs, too.

Yikes! What do these weevils look like? Do you have a picture?

I'll take a picture when I can.

Nice pics Evelyn!

I am also wondering where my pot ghetto came from, considering how many I plant out...

It's begun, Ev! Yay!

Nice start to the season Evelyn

Congrats Ev!!! Your Line Drive bloom is such a cool shape. I love it!!!

Elsa ~ Thank you!

Ev: I Remember the other thing about your photos that I noticed., your trees are SO tall. I had seen pictures before but I never realized how tall your trees were. When you showed the shed it put it all in perspective of just how humongous those things are. What a gift!!!

Dutch IrisSweetwater Pie BurnsI can't believe Frosty Spirit is still in bloom today!Splashacata
Comic Opera thanks to DaphneStan Coates thanks to Tom
Harvest of Memories - Long time resident of my garden
Immortality -Another long-time resident. It hasn't bloomed in a while, but it is looking good now.

Ev: You're Sweetwater Pie Burns is really pretty. I have it but I just haven't seen it in a while. Also my Immortality hadn't bloomed in quite a while either and it bloom this year. Maybe it's on a five-year plan or something!