Warm in the 50s here, colder next week. I have never lived WI or Neww England where Feb. was considered 'spring'.

Anyone ever used Paypal when checking out with Sutton's? I cannot get anyone to pick up the phone.
I don't think it is an option

It it's not on their website checkout, then it's not an option.

Tom - I agree with you. Would love to hear from Rob. Think of him whenever Teenybopper blooms! Now THAT was a story!!!

Well, I did go ahead and use my credit card for my purchases. I usually use Paypal. Some said Limited supply so I went ahead and ordered today.

Lestv said: Tom - I agree with you. Would love to hear from Rob. Think of him whenever Teenybopper blooms! Now THAT was a story!!!

I'm surprised some of the newer members haven't dug up that old story!

Are youe referring to the story that starts here?
The thread "Amazing Don, Private Eye - Case of the missing Teenybopper" in Irises forum

I got some real *Chuckles* out of it.

Yup, that's the one, there are others. Also there were accompanying threads where people could react to the story without messing up the story thread, and they were very funny too.

I joined in 2017, so I had entirely missed that thread. Thankfully, I was able to dig it up, using a search for Teenybopper. I recommend it to any of you newer members out there! It had:me in *Stitches*.

I am assuming Rob is @Underthesun . I notice he hasn't posted since 2021, so I hope we haven't lost him. His contribution to the Amazing Don and Teenybopper story had me in guffaws.

All: I miss Rob too!!! And agree, he is a very funny guy!

Sucrose: There are many Irises that do last. It's just some are weak or too weak for a particular climate. I have been growing them for 12 years now and have had very few die on me. Some don't bloom that often though. And I do have some that have never bloomed

GreenIris said: There are many Irises that do last. It's just some are weak or too weak for a particular climate. I have been growing them for 12 years now and have had very few die on me. Some don't bloom that often though. And I do have some that have never bloomed

I agree. I've only had a couple that actually just died on me. I've had some that increased but didn't bloom, and some that increased, then bloomed, then kept increasing but didn't bloom again. There doesn't seem to be any correlation between the poor performers and hybridizers, either. I thought maybe the irises bred in the PNW didn't like my drier, hotter conditions, but no. Most do great, some don't. It's a mystery!

Yup, every once in a while you find an iris cultivar that just doesn't like your climate. I usually give them 3 tries, and if they don't work out, I have to move on. Sometimes the second or third try in a new area works out great. If one isn't blooming in one area, then I will move it and see if that helps. I did have one bed that I called the bed of death. After testing the soil, I found out it was more acid then the other areas, so a bit of garden lime and things are doing well there now. But before I got that figured out, I found some cultivars were doing really well in there, while most struggled. I guess that means that irises are individuals just like people, some like it hot and some like it cold, (I wanted to say, some like it in the pot nine days old) some like more acid soils and some like it sweet. The trick is figuring out what each one likes.

Very well said, Tom!

So true,Tom.I just have too many now to spend time coddling them.
I have a few that took 7 long years to bloom!I pretty much forgot about them until there they were blooming one day.The iris do what they do when they want to do it.Individuals they are!!

That is so interesting Tom that you mention the soil PH, because I just for the 1st time started acidizing the soil around some of my plants. Now I am after whether I can encourage greener and bluer hues, but I wonder if I might see some better health in some as well . I don't want to put the sulfur around all of my Irises because my alkaline soil does great pinks and reds. But I might just try it on a few poor performers as well and see if it helps.