DAY THREE
No Further Damage
Last year every single Eleanor Roosevelt and Indian Chief was wiped out just like this sticky taped Indian Chief.
Sticky Tape Iris Blossom Last One Damaged

Indian Chief (Last year was completely deadheaded like Sticky Tape above)

CD Tied To Tree, It ain't pretty but it sure did work

Amanda, I use grass b gone by ortho to help get a handle on the crabgrass. Lots of it here and some times it runs rampant in the beds. Still have to pull it.

I'm holding off spraying so we can get a better grip on it to pull it out. Grass B Gone I plan on using where I plan on expanding beds so I can save myself some time on those areas. GBG will also be used later this season around the irises if grass and other weeds start invading again after all my hard work. I have ALOT to save so I won't hesitate to use chemicals for a little help until I get areas cleaned up and easy to keep under control.

Researchers are saying that Parkinson's seems to be triggered by exposure to herbicides, and dry cleaning chemicals. My husband, who now has Parkinson's was exposed both to the Agent Orange herbicide in Vietnam, and the dry cleaning chemicals that leaked into the well water at Camp Lejeune. So, I must caution everyone here about using herbicides. We will never again use them. Many people don't realize how much more toxic they are than insecticides. And it absorbs rapidly through the skin.

And Parkinson's is increasing in prevalence. Wives of two of our close friends also had/have it.

It was a gorgeous day today so I spent a large part of it cleaning up some more Iris beds. As usual, I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to but that's how it goes.

The last Iris I did were in pots along the garage cement slab. Boy, do I need to water those poor Iris. I noticed a few that bit the dust which I am very sad about. But I better get watering the others and get them put into the ground before I lose more. Many of them are new and have not bloomed for me yet. Maybe next year.

Spent a couple of hours today clearing iris beds where the grass and a few other weeds had gone out of control. Fortunately, we had a fair amount of rain yesterday, so the ground was soft and the grass and other weeds were easy to pull out. Managed to avoid breaking bud stalks! Yay me.

Andrea!

I am a serial stalk-breaker and I wanna kick myself every single time!

And it's always on an iris that you haven't seen bloom yet it seems and then you have to wait another year. Oh the words that come out of my mouth when that happens. You wouldn't want to hear them.

Nothing grinds my gears more than when it is my own dang fault that I don't get to see that beautiful flower bloom.

DaisyDo said: Researchers are saying that Parkinson's seems to be triggered by exposure to herbicides, and dry cleaning chemicals. My husband, who now has Parkinson's was exposed both to the Agent Orange herbicide in Vietnam, and the dry cleaning chemicals that leaked into the well water at Camp Lejeune. So, I must caution everyone here about using herbicides. We will never again use them. Many people don't realize how much more toxic they are than insecticides. And it absorbs rapidly through the skin.

And Parkinson's is increasing in prevalence. Wives of two of our close friends also had/have it.

I won't use them either. Agent orange related cancer is what it took to get my husband to quit using them.

My best bloom so far is a NoID (of course!). It's in a pot, so I don't know if it reached full size. The bloom stalk is 20" tall. The falls are 6" across (7" if spread out flat). It is a huge bloom on a relatively short stalk. It is obviously an early bloomer (rebloomer?) and bloomed the same day as "Backdraft". The foliage is NOT purple based.


It has a light, spicy fragrance. Any ideas?
After an extensive search, I found a dead ringer other than the height, which is likely reduced by being crammed into a pot. The flower size is much more consistent with TB than IB. I had to search by "family trees". I went back through the parent plants of the closest matches. Also, I knew the plants were planted over 15 years ago, so going backwards made sense. Schreiner's descriptions are so lacking in detail that searching by characteristics is nearly useless. They didn't even mention the fragrance (presence or absence), which is getting stronger now as the day heats up.
Okay, okay, I'll quit with the suspense...

"Footloose"

Checked for blooms this morning. My first bloom is MDB Midas Mite( Willott)

Nothing in bloom - iris-wise here yet!😏

Did some weeding this afternoon and planted peas.

Went to the old house in search of any shoots of growth from irises I didn't salvage the year before -- SDB Yoruba was in bloom, so I rescued it and several other named varieties yet to bloom.

Pic of Yoruba in bloom.

Diana, that does, indeed, look like pictures of Footloose. Do you remember, now, buying it from Schreiners?

Daisy,
It was one of many donated by several AIS member from increases in their own gardens, to a project that the club did to make a public garden somewhere in Cape Girardeau, MO over 10 years ago. They are all NoIDs now. Not everyone who donated is still alive. I would guess the years of introduction for all of the donated varieties to be 15 or more years ago. Even the name, "Footloose" fits the loose standards, which reveal the patterned style arms. Following the style arm pattern back through the generations is what led me to "Footloose".

I think I've IDed another one!
My mystery early blooming, 41" tall pale yellow beauty with the intense licorice like smell has a labeled twin in a different part of my garden. This is the NoID this am:

This is the historic, "Sespe" this am:

Sespe bloomed in it's first year here. Then I got the NoID and it has bloomed every year, but Sespe didn't bloom again until now.
Sespe has the exact same height, same # of buds, same look and the same delicious smell. The difference is that Sespe is on a dry sandy hill in full sun, and the NoID is in a damp area with lots of fallen leaves and partial shade. I'll have to compare again when more blooms are opened.

Excellent work, Ratchet, in finding the culprits AND a solution!

If the CDs stop working, maybe try a colored resin "lifelike" statue of an owl or other bird predator, in the iris bed. Turn or move it a bit every day or so, so it looks "alive".

Polymerous said: Excellent work, Ratchet, in finding the culprits AND a solution!

If the CDs stop working, maybe try a colored resin "lifelike" statue of an owl or other bird predator, in the iris bed. Turn or move it a bit every day or so, so it looks "alive".

Problem Solved with a lot of help from my friends on this forum.
The tree CD's worked to stop the malicious mischief in the Irises.
However the wild flower garden is just starting to sprout little green things and guess who came marching up the drive way?
Ali Babba and the 40 thiefs...aka Quail.
Haven't seen any since last fall and now, here they are.
How do they know and how do they spread the word?
I am stringing CD's lower across those rows. So far, the tree CD's don't interrupt the Quail Buffet in the least.