dirtdorphins said: wow! what a neato alligator lizard

Cool!😎

thanks for the comments on the lizard, which frightened me at first. i thought it was a snake, and i'm not a fan of reptiles (of any kind). i'm a big fan of the warm and fuzzy mammalians

so i know now, never to rummage around in the bushes without gloves, i understand that those lizards do bite if aggravated. yikes! we also have a ton-o black and brown widow spiders, which i am hoping might be their favorite snack.

I love Lizards :smily:. I have Iguana figurines on my dining room table and hanging on the wall. But now i think back to childhood when we used to catch them and yes, I think we got bit sometimes. Maybe different types of Lizards behave differently but the ones we have here run the second you get anywhere near them. Hopefully yours are the same.

Elsa, I actually LOVE your seedling and would buy it if it was for sale.

Let me know how it does performance wise. It looks like a keeper!

GreenIris said: I have some Cat's Eye X the bees crosses and this is the 1st one I have seen bloom.
Probably not a keeper long term cause I have seen much better in the general range of colors. Just look at Leslie's pictures above. But the plant is very healthy and interesting enough for me to at least see how it grows. It's definitely SDB size. I am now off to see who might be the Daddy.

Elsa ~ That is close to looking like Muggles without the frills.

Daphne, Impressive alligator lizard!

Personally, I am rather fond of geckos. I lived in Hawaii for a time and had loads of them around the house. I think they're cute.

I am loving all your Iris blooms. Love the lizard too. My first Iris blooms are a ways away but I am patiently waiting and looking forward to seeing all of yours.

Hi everybody! I've been reading and enjoying the new '23 blooms you all have been posting. Thanks for starting the thread, Daphne! Your SanDiego garden looks wonderful. I love the mix of succulents with iris. I am trying a new succulent/iris corner garden that I am just planting. Lots of SDBs and other Intermediates. Maybe some cactus. Only one little MDB is blooming as of yet, "Aaah" that Dirt sent me a couple years ago (thank you!!!). I just love it's muted colors- has some pretty vivid green in it, unusual for a non-white iris. I dont think it shows up well in my photos, but the bloom reall echoes the green in the iris leaves surrounding it.

Just went out and took a photo in a little better light. Now the "green" is more visable.

thank you very much for the acorn mika.

thank you jeanne and gretchen for your compliments, on the garden and the flowers. it's what brings each of us joy and worth the effort if it touches others as well.

thank you to everyone who posts their lovely pictures to share. you bring lots of joy to me.

Nice pics everyone, and cool lizard!

thanks curtis. i know the liz was off topic, but i saw it as i was inspecting the iris garden.

Elsa - I thought your seedling was rather Muggle-ly too!

More of my old tried and true SDB's are blooming.

Enchanted Princess


Irish Harp (which like the Princess always makes me think of Bonnie):


and Yummy Accent:

Leslie ~ Your zone 8a and my zone 8a are very different. I don't have so much as a crocus up, let alone iris!

Leslie, your above SDB's are very pretty. Love them all.

gardenglassgems said: Leslie, your above SDB's are very pretty. Love them all.

Evelyn - we had a warm winter that threw everything off, then a shot of cold. The dwarfs loved that. Hope the rest of my iris will too!

And we had a cold winter...go figure! Not every winter do we get so much snow.

Evelyn, I am in 7a, very close to 6b, and for years your irises have always started after mine. I suspect that although you are surronded by 8a, due to altitude you are actually in a zonal "island" that is colder than that, more like, say 6b. Have you tried zooming in on the more recent and more detailed zone maps that show zonal islands, to see if that could be the case?