I would love to trade for your temperatures!

Uh oh! You must really have it hot!

I'll go out after dinner when it's cooler. Only Thursday is due to be 79 this week, if we're to believe the forecast. All other days around 83. I've done the work in the shady spots so now I'll be stuck in the house.

You can always go sit in the shady spots and enjoy your gardens! Beats being in the house.

...with an umbrella, per the forecast.

Last night I was out, sitting on an old scatter rug, making a map of the dahlias in one garden. I got in after 9 PM and at the end I was barely able to read some of the labels. Today I can do it over and try to make sense of it.

Great to see all the Japanese blooms being posted, -- especially like Jocasta and Pseudata Okagami, Evan.
It's the dead of winter here in Australia and the days are cold and motherless, but it hasn't stopped my newly planted JI seed from germinating, 141 were up by last week on July 1.My PC are also germinating.Running out of time and energy.

Glad to hear your seedlings are doing well!

Evan - those are beautiful shots of the Sibs and Jocasta that you just posted to the database!!!

Thanks Leslie. I've been having a tough time figuring out how to site some of the pale colored sibs like Sarah Tiffney and Pleasures of May. Looking through some of the bearded threads and Pirl's JI pics I have to move some white bloomers in.

How you can handle all those seedlings is fantastic Paul. I can't wait for pics during our cold and miserable time.

Here's a pic of sibs Pennywhistle, Rikugi Sakura in the background and White Amber in the foreground.

I have lots of Moon Silk if you ever need or want them, Evan. They bloomed here 6/5/15.

Purchased and tagged as Electric Rays, but I certainly don't see this plant morphing into that beauty.

It isn't. Where did you buy it?

On the subject of "wrong" iris.....my "lone" Japanese bloomed "wrong", as well as a LOT of my bearded !....I often wonder ....was it an 'honest" mistake ? ....clumps grew together, or, they got a little 'confused" when they were marking the rhizomes?, or, was it a case of , Who cares ? it's an iris, isn't it ?, or, did they, in good faith , assume what they were growing really WAS the correct cultivar, when ,in fact, it wasn't ? I've noticed that some vendors seem to end up sending me a "large " % of "wrongs", while others have never sent me one. Also, when contacted, there are two responses I have gotten...."We're so sorry,...would you like a refund, or a credit, and can we send you the correct one ? By the way, we think what we sent you was ******!", or, " We grow the correct iris....must have been YOUR mistake!"......Care to guess who gets my repeat business ?

pirl said:It isn't. Where did you buy it?

McClure and Zimmerman. I'm very disappointed with the entire order. I'll contact them, but I can't say that I'd even want to try any of their replacements. If they give me a credit I'll probably use it toward something else ...maybe daffodils.

I've had excellent service from "M & Z" on bulbs...of all sorts, but, anything else....not so much ! I've pretty well "figured out" who I can buy "worry free" bearded from.....but the beardless are "all new" to me. The biggest problem, for me, is the "lost time".....you THINK you planted "X", and after a year of waiting (and sometimes TWO years!), you find out you REALLY planted "Y" !

Every JI I bought from M & Z was wrong. I complained and they credited my charge account. If you have to take a credit try for a perennial that's not a JI - maybe Melittis if it's zoned for you. It's a wonderful plant here for part shade and blooms from mid to very late May (zone 7). Bulbs do sound safer than JI's. http://www.mzbulb.com/dp.asp?p...


Arlyn - there are far too many excuses companies use but it's their problem when their description, and their photo, doesn't match what the plant is like when we grow it. "Light green" should never end up garish gold. Too often they try to blame us but they only have to look in the mirror to see who is really responsible.

When plants are grown too close together it is possible roots could entangle but that shouldn't be happening in professional nurseries. I've had it happen much too often with Louisiana irises but I do not sell them for fear of having a mistake or disappointing anyone.

I think this has happened to everyone now and again, but like Arlyn says, some companies will not only send the correct plant but apologize and tell you the name of the plant you are growing if you send a photo. Mistakes do happen but some vendors profit by their mistakes. One vendor has a SDB named Gold Scarlet....... I cannot find a record of an SDB named Gold Scarlet. The photo shows an iris with gold standards and beard and scarlet falls, the description says a golden iris with a blue beard. ??? This is just wrong. They are an iris/daylily vendor.

When I share an iris I often have to tell the receiver that I bought it as such and such but it has not bloomed so I really don't know what it is.

Some companies are good about mistakes while others send a form letter telling you "plants perform differently and colors may be different depending on your zone" but that does nothing to alleviate the angst we feel when a plant is absolutely different than the one we expected. Then we're at a loss to do much beyond ceasing to deal with the offending company. I do send photos and most companies I've dealt with have been very fair.

An additional source of grief is that we still ended up paying shipping charges for the wrong plant or plants.

When I do send plants to others I only give names if I'm 100% sure.

That's a cute little plant, Arlene. I'd never heard of it before.

On another note...we're still so wet here that today I'm digging drainage ditches and putting in a log walkway ...just to be able to get near my water iris growing areas. I don't think it's going to dry out enough to work in those areas at all this year, but I really need to. The way it is now, even tall boots won't work; the clay muck sucks my feet right down and won't let go! I haven't gone down in it yet today, but I've had a couple of close calls. They make me giggle rather goofily at just the thought of splatting down and having to crawl up out of the mire...like some kind of slimy swamp monster!

Never have I seen it this wet, for this long...

What a picture that would make, Chelle. Sort of like a mud wrestling contest!

Chelle, while bad for human navigation, I can't help but think you will have extremely happy water iris!!

You bet, Pirl. Me trying desperately to find purchase with one hand, and a muddy shovel as an oar in the other! (I've done it before...can you tell?)

They are at that, Leslie.


Drains are dug and the plugged runoff piping is now clear, but I didn't get the path done today. Took a rare and much needed nap instead. I really dislike leaving a job like this undone, but sometimes I guess it can't be helped.