Thank you, Barbara. No new beds right now. The three officers for whom I have memory plantings were chosen for specific reasons which aren't applicable to the two officers killed this past week. I do plan to have a metal display sign made for the yard with the blue ribbon on it, though. Also, due to the extraordinary generosity of ATP folk, the yard is full up and I still want to make a Polly's Place memory bed for our Polly Kinsman--plan to order some Spurias for that one. Have a lot of new Iris sent to me in for-postage trades that have not yet bloomed. Once they do, I can cull the ones I don't care for as well as others, or which I have ones similar to but that I like better, then I can make more room. And once repair/replacement work is done on my detached garage, I have the whollllllle side of it to dig up and plant. After I make more room, I will reassess. Might take you up on your offer, then.

Cross-posted. I agree, Mary Ann.

... Might take you up on your offer, then. [/quote]
Just let me know.

Okay.

Thanks, Debra for telling me. A good friend has a son that is a state trooper. Yes, it is a very dangerous job. I also have another friend with her son in the local police dept. They need our prayers.

Just took another look at Brad's seedling photos. They are fantastic and, like others here, I
would buy them all!
Rufffles and more ruffles!!

I know. Enough to short out the keyboard from drool, right?

Brad has some incredibly nice seedlings. Since he is crossing really nice ones, and has them in the 1000's, he's sure to get some nice ones. I love the ruffled ones, but I also can appreciate the simplicity of the historics. If I could only grow one kind, I'd probably only have the modern ones though.

Yah -- I agree with that, Tom. Thankfully, we aren't limited!!

Hi Everybody hope the summer has been going well for you all just wanted to say Thanks for all the nice words on my pictures and seedlings. I had a much better spring bloom this year although less than half of my seedlings bloomed there was a lot to get excited about here and we had a lot of fun watching them open and bloom for the 1st time. I was hoping for some unique color patterns and I certainly got that along with some good surprises I will have a lot of pictures to share late fall when things slow down here.

I spent the good majority of the summer digging and moving all my plants in between the constant rain storms to there new home we bought some land west of our current home which gave me the opportunity to grow them in a field like Oregon and hopefully over the long term make it a little easier to manage and take care of all of them it has been a long process getting them all dug, trimmed, labeled and moved this season in between work and building a new home it has not left time for anything else but we are excited to have the extra room and be out in the country again. I only have a couple days of Iris left then its time to start working on the Peonies, Conifers, and getting Trees spaded. I ended up with 12 rows of Iris they are about 400 ft long by 3 ft wide which should give me plenty to work with in the spring. Here are a few pictures I took tonight will share more in the fall after I get everything moved.












My Favorite Seedling this year it comes from Barry's (Jealous Guy) and it was perfect

Wow Brad! Just wow!!
Beautiful seedling and lots of hard work. Are theothers your seedlings too?
Can't wait for pictures next spring. (but keep 'em coming in the meantime!)

Thanks Sherry and yes these were mine that bloomed for the 1st time this year at home so the good news is they survived a Iowa winter but with 1st year blooms who knows what they will look like next year. I will do a thread in the fall with the rest of mine and some favorites from Oregon and Joe's this spring

How exciting to see the new place! Can tell a lot of work was put into it.

Now THOSE are some gorgeous seedlings.

Brad, all of your seedlings are amazing! I would love to see each and everyone of them in my garden someday.
And welcome back.

Enjoyed the seedlings especially the red one.

I agree, your favorite one is perfect! And I like the rest of them too! some really unique ones there.

Beautiful!

It is wonderful Brad and I hope the incessant rain you were receiving gave you enough breaks so that you could get everything you needed to done. I'll bet you will be glad to lay the shovel down in a few months. I cant wait for more photos. smiles

That will be an absolutely splendid field of irises come spring. I'm definitely going to make the trip next spring to see that.

Me too! Me too! Got a wedding in Minnesota to go to in May -- I'll be seeing those fields sometime on that trip!!

Omigosh Brad -- I cannot imagine all the work that you have already put into those fields. It all looks so professional -- and so perfect for doing what you do!

Your seedlings are drop-dead gorgeous -- every single one. You are going to be THE premier Iris Hybridizer in the US, I'm sure. At some point in the future, I'm going to dig up all of my Irises and throw them away -- in order to make room to have every Collins cultivar! Hail to the Grand Poobah of Irises!!!