Its doing its best!!! Hooray for Again and Again!

It does look a bit "out of sorts" in the Fall when it gets this late in the year!~

It smells heavenly, but I am a sucker for the scent of irises. With standards only a half inch tall, you don't have them in the way of smelling.

I am actually quite happy with my little Christmas bloom. With the horrid weather we had around Thanksgiving, I am surprised by it's hardiness.

Greg - have any ever re-bloomed this late at your parents?

Autumn Thunder continues to bloom nicely as does Fire on Ice. Today I had a bloom open up on Genteel! ...and ..Mulberry Memories has a stalk and it looks like Polish Princess might be trying to put one up too!

Now the sad news. Although I have been taking pictures I will have to share them later due to technical difficulties. The external drive where I keep my photo library is malfunctioning...I hope I can get it working again! I have to figure out who can look at it for me...probably the Apple store where I bought it, but that means I have to drive up to Modesto .

Bummer, Marilyn

There's one last bloom opening today on Earl of Essex. More rain due tomorrow.

Leslie,

They have only been there 2 years and they don't have any re-bloomers established yet. I will have to try and remember what I gave them back.

Not that my re-bloomer was established at all! I just wondered because yours was the first of mine to ever re-bloom. Trying to figure out if the summer heat is too much, or if they need a couple of years before they start re-blooming.

on the Re's, Marilyn ! And, I feel your "computer pain" ! I've been fighting problems on the "desk top", as well as with the printer....un hook, haul to shop, throw money, haul HOME from shop, hook up, un hook, haul to shop AGAIN ....repeat, repeat ,repeat !
Some Re's will re bloom the 1st year after division, and ,in fact, need almost constant division to KEEP re blooming, while others seem to need 2-3 years to "settle in", before trying a fall bloom.....sometimes they are pretty hard to figure out

I dug all of my "Again & Again". I shipped some out, potted half a dozen, and put the rest back in the ground. Most what I planted had two mother rhizomes together. about 80% tried to bloom in the Fall with 3 doing so successfully. Five others got zapped by a heavy frost. This cultivar likes to take off and this type of performance after Summer upheaval is very common.

I did not give this to my parents.

Why not?

They did not want any really. Too much work. What I brought down I planted and they kind of just water. That is very simplified, but they don't have the energy to spend time in the garden to maintaining irises and other needy plants.

How old are your folks, Greg?

78 & 80

They do alot and are still VERY active. My mom has been in the garden in a big way for a very long time. The combination of aging, bad soil conditions in their new location, and plants like Irises that take more time than others has lead her to get rid of most things. This is why I planted the irises. I will get the job of dividing when the time comes.

Greg, I planted all matter of plants for my mom as she aged until she was ninety. At that point everyday became the only day for her to focus on so I stopped planting things that bloomed once a year. I have great memories of her showing me where she wanted it planted and me trudging around making holes until it was just right for her. Great memories. smiles

At 79 & 84, we still must do our own planting. Closest daughter is in Ohio. when John can't do it, gardening will stop.

Part of the issue is that they just moved to NC two years ago. When they were on Cape Cod, my moms garden was large, had great soil situation/conditions, and it was very lush. That garden was started from scratch in 1996. She just does not have the will power to start that again, so her garden is minimal. The crappy soil conditions and the "oven" like Summer conditions helped in making her cut back to easy pleasey gardening.

Well -- she's wise to know her limitations. We'll all face that issue, sooner or later.