I took a picture of a bloom, but they were starting to fold up for the night already, but you can get the idea.

How beautiful!

Just hope it survives the winter, it has a 2 year guarantee though.

Tom,

Potting Iris. I have been doing this for about three years (potting for sale). I use 1 gal "Trade" pots. I used to bury the pots to keep them from having wide temp ranges as I thought that would be an issue. Katie from Stoney Creek Iris does not bury her pots and she is an hour North of me. The negative to burying is that you would need to "wash" the pot when getting it ready for sale. I start selling in late February and early March and a dirty pot does not look good and may be a hard sell. Katie has even brought in pots to an event that still had snow on them. If you just use top soil, the pot can get very heavy and hard as concrete. I try to use a mixture that works well for the plant and is easy to carry (current formula is 1/3 top soil, 1/3 potting mix, 1/3 peat moss). Neither of us worry about where the pots are facing and I have had very little loss.

I had slightly over 250 pots last year in the "for sale" catagory, of which 155 were of sufficient quality/maturity to in fact sell. Had at least another 100 to 125 pots in the nursery/ICU trying to get small nubs to grow. More loss with that group because of size and heath of the plant.

Thanks Greg, In Feb. the ground is still frozen here, and would be imposible to dig them up. I'm thinking of selling during bloom time. I'll try some both ways and see what happens.

Well, I fully intended to start potting up some iris, but I got to cutting firewood instead, and splitting it and hauling and stacking it in the woodshed. There went all my energy for potting plants. Oh well, I'll get it done I'm sure. I just was motivated to use the chain saw, and log splitter and thought I'd better take advantage of that. Now I'm whipped, and trying to get the energy to go feed horses in a while. I made some potato salad from potatoes I dug from the garden. Going to bar BQ some chicken and make some beans (from a can today!) and have a good ol' southern dinner. Now if I just had some sweet potato pie to go with it! I think I gained 5 lbs. just thinking about pie!

Fresh potatoes sound wonderful. Might try some bucket 'taters next year.

Just finished them Oh my really good too!

Went pretty well with our pot roast, too ! ...............Arlyn

You even visit us southern iris folk, we will get you some real sweet potato pie (and killer pimento cheese if you're not in a sweet mood!).

And I really like that double Rose of Sharon that I will now forget exists.

I love a man with a chain saw and log splitter...

Long day in the garden today here too.. Had my monthly helper/pruner running me ragged.. but I managed to get Saturday's purchases potted up.. Even got about a third of them labeled. Came in and put up a bunch of pluot jam.. Now I've got my feet up.. but piece of sweet potato pie sounds really, really good.

Oh, and I'm very good at stacking wood.

Nice pile of wood! That would last me about a week here, but your winters are quite a bit milder then mine I'm sure. Won't see any palm trees in my yard! I really dread the thought of winter coming. Especially if it's as rugged as the last one. Oh well, guess If I don't like it, I'll have to move to where it's warmer, but I'm too lazy to dig up all these irises and move them.

Really nice pile of wood!! My fireplace fuel is stored in a gas tank!!

Nice and neat, Sherry. I'd freeze to death if I had to split, or even burn, wood to stay warm.

There are 3 more rows behind that one. We've gone through 3 cords over the winter.. Usually closer to 2+..Our winters are also shorter, but once we get a fire going, it goes all winter. We're down in a canyon, so all the cold and moisture settles here. I have split wood by hand.. but my back can't take it anymore..or shoulders etc.. That's not a palm, Tom.. That's a cordyline.. although I have a few palms.. In New Zealand, they call them Cabbage Trees. I forget why.....

I split wood by hand up until a year ago. I gave in and bought a splitter, I really like it. Makes quick work of splitting.

Just in for a short break to cool of and re-hydrate. Chain came of the darn saw, so now I have to go fix that. I only have a few more to cut up, but I want to get it done. Then it's time to split! The wood that is, not the country!

We know you're not gonna split the country, Tom -- you couldn't leave your Irises!!