I received my Snowpeak order as well late yesterday and I can second everything you said Mary Ann. They are all dwarfs and all lovely irises.

Bamboozle
Brighde
Candy Dancer
Celtic Faerie
I Know You
In Cahoots
Irish Harp
Legolas
Nerida's WIngs
Oregon Sunrise
Oxford Tweeds
Poplyte
Snap It Up
Voldy's Mink
Wild Passions
...and three MDB's
Dragon Flamedart
Keeno
Misty Shores

(may not have spelled them right, I will check) It is really hot here right now and dry as parchment. This weekend it will be triple digits. I hate to put them in the sun but I don't want to wait to plant until the middle of next week or I will not get bloom next year for sure. what to do, what to do, what to do.......

What to do? Good question.My answer is to visit the hundred or more newly planted ones in the cool of the morning and turn on the lo-flow emitters.
They're doing great.All but one or two have sent up flags, and those are green.
Nothing much else is being watered - no lawn, etc. and the old established plantings are holding their own. The daphne
odora droops a little when I walk by, so it gets the hose for a few minutes. The dahlias are on a drip. We're taking short showers and I only wash my hair once a week! Saving, in a bucket, the warmup to the shower water for the dogs' water bowl and such.
Praying for rain.

We do what we have to in short water conditions.

Exactly. I forgot to add that the vegetable garden is on a drip system. The tomatoes are smaller this year, but very flavorful.
Wells are going dry all over our valley. Since it has become a wine vineyard destination in the past 30 years, the water table has dropped significantly. Between the grapes and the m.j. grows, and now the drought, the system is being severely stressed.
If California doesn't get some rain soon, I think that the price of CA produce is going to rise significantly.

Wish I could find something funny to say.

Bonnie, you got a bunch of nice ones. We're getting an all day rain it looks like. Kind of nice, a good day to try to catch up on house cleaning. I'm behind, as I spend all my time outside. I dug a big order of irises yesterday for pick up tomorrow. Glad I did that, or I'd be out in the rain doing it.

I'm so envious of your rain, Tom!

Joe Ghio reminds us that California had a similar drought in '75-'76 and it was one of the best iris blooms ever!
(Cheery is the best I can do this morning!)

Cheery counts for a lot, Jan.

Debra.

I am concerned about the water table all over our nation but the shortage of water in a state like CA, which is such a big producer of world food, is going to impact us all sooner than later. Everyone talks about some new disease or new war that is going to change our population numbers and our world but perhaps it will be water that changes our lives. Water is a commodity that many people take for granted and to those who have it do not consider it of much importance. Anyone that gardens sympathizes with drought stricken areas and keeps them in the prayer chain. I hope I am wrong and by the end of this year it all levels out and no one is too wet or too dry. I hope you get a gentle rain soon, Jan.

Thank you, Bonnie.

I had bought my first house at the beginning of the last drought in the 70's, so my gardening has always been informed by what I learned back then. I was happy when I bought this "water-rich" property, and hoped that I wouldn't have to worry about water restrictions.. Our well is not happy these days, and the little creek that we draw irrigation water from is practically dry.. We're at the tipping point in the season now though... I think we'll be ok... IF we get at least normal rain this year...
I really do miss a nice long, hot, soaking shower.
Water is the new gold...

I remember reading in our "Weekly Reader" when I was in 4th grade that most of the Western US was going to be out of water by the mid 60's and that Wisconsin was projected to be out of water in 1978. I never forgot that. I bet most of you had those little school news papers too.

They almost got it right, just a decade or five off.

Sherry, I am praying hard for you to get useful rain that takes its time, soaks into the ground, and the wells refill.

It said showers here on TV. I didn't see any. We are not as bad as CA though.

Unless work stresses you out and the only relief is to buy one, two, or three hundred more iris.

I also received my order from Snowpeak today! Thank you Dee, and have a great vacation and retirement!
Barbara

Debra, like that hardy hibiscus in your avitar. I used to have a red one, and a white one. They eventually died out. I saw some really nice ruffly ones at the garden center a while back, but didn't get one, as I don't know where I'd put it now.

Weekly Reader!! Wow, there is a memory. Interesting that they said Wisconsin would be out of water since you have all the water in Superior & Lake Michigan. By the time Wisconsin runs out there would be a whole lot of other central states even worse off!

Maine has no water shortage - even though we are watering our gardens a few times per week from lack of rain. Up here, a lot of folks store food in their freezers and on shelves. They don't think much about water - except for Nestle - Poland Spring stealing groundwater from 3 towns.

I keep the whole bottom of my freezer full of frozen water. One never knows. It is probably wise to buy glass bottles of water for the shelf too. Even in plenty, contamination is always a possibility. We can also grow some drought resistant perennial edibles. Being able to eat the lawn is a good thing.

Thank you, Tom. I have tree forms that a previous owner planted: two lavender with red eyes, one white with red eye, and one all white. The one in the avatar photograph is a shrub form given to me and I like it a lot.

Mine always died back every winter, and came up again in the spring. They must not do that down there.