I remember from my childhood that my grandmother ALWAYS had irises. They were always just your run of the mill purple irises, but wherever she lived, a few went with her. When she lost her legs to poor circulation and ended up in a wheelchair, she had to move into an apartment that was handicap accessible. She got the ground floor apartment, of course, and guess what the first thing was that my mom did? She planted Grandma some irises just outside her patio door. But I'm pretty sure they were yellow. Not sure how Grandma felt about that. Anyway, my mom always loved irises, as well. And again, they were most always purple. As a kid, and even as a young adult, I could never figure out why they loved them so much. My mom swore they smelled amazing. I thought they stunk. Mom always said, "Oh, your grandma would LOVE that!" whenever we passed them on the road. I never could figure out why.

Fast forward many, many years (I'm 40 now). Where my husband and I live now, we have to drive past a certain property multiple times a day. This particular property had some of the most amazing irises I'd ever seen. And every single time I drove past, I'd think to myself, "God, Mom and Grandma would LOVE those!" I swore to myself that if the property owner ever decided to sell any, I'd have to stop by and get a few, just for Grandma. Well, lo and behold, last summer, I saw a sign in the lady's yard that said "Irises and daffodils for sale". I screeched to a stop in the middle of the street, threw it into reverse and pulled into her yard (I was SUPPOSED to be going to the grocery store that's five minutes from my house). It turned out that the lady who lived there had decided to sell the property to the city, who had been after her to sell it for many, many years. But she wasn't willing to let the city plow under her beloved irises, so she was selling them all off before the property changed hands. She also happened to be the secretary of the Greater St. Louis Iris Society for many years. We ended up having a very lengthy conversation that evening (I actually forgot to even GO to the grocery store, much to my husband's dismay), and instead of getting 'a few for Grandma', I bought about 60 of them from her at $2.00 a rhizome. I came home with paper grocery bags full of rhizomes and dirt instead of groceries that night! Over the next few weeks, as she continued digging, I stopped several more times, and bought more and more and more.... All in all I think I bought nearly a hundred iris rhizomes from her. I ended up giving a lot of them to my mom and my sister-in-law, because I knew they'd love them. The best part is that they were ALL labeled.

My husband and I own a small property in Southeast Missouri, that we keep for weekend recreation, fishing, swimming, hunting etc.. We have it mainly so that our suburban children will have a place to go run barefoot through the grass, swim in the pond and just be happy, filthy kids. But now, it's turned into something else for me. I'm a nerd at heart, so I immediately got online and did tons of research on EXACTLY what irises liked and needed to thrive. I brutally ripped out a raised bed of perennials (that looked entirely like weeds) that the previous owner had planted, and that was the start of my first iris bed.

This summer, I joined the Greater St. Louis Iris Society myself, and became their social media guru, creating a Facebook page for them. I also just happened to attend the meeting where they auctioned off rhizomes from the Missouri Botanical Garden annual dig and cleanup. If you've ever been to MoBot, you know they have an amazing iris garden! Since I didn't have any room down at our farm for these new acquisitions, I decided I needed to put an iris bed in here at home. This "little iris bed" quickly exploded into a big raised bed at the back edge of our yard that is about 35' long by 5' wide. And because I had so much room, I decided I needed to place some orders with Schreiner's and Commanche Acres, to add to my new collection. I ended up with extras. So I took them down to the farm. Now, I THINK that I have about 80 irises down at the farm and 65 to 70 here. A couple are duplicates, but mostly they're all different.

I guess you could say that my sentimental thoughts about Mom and Grandma loving irises so much put me down a path that I never would have expected. But I've discovered that it makes my soul happy. So I'm going to keep on walking down that path and become a certifiable crazy iris lady.

Good for you. Stay away from MOBT pansies. they are just as addictive.

irisarian said:Did you make Hollyhock dolls? I taught my daughters but it seems to be a lost art.

I have hollyhocks lining the front of my house next to the front porch. Two friends came over this summer and remarked how much they liked hollyhocks, and remembering making hollyhock dolls. But I will let Lucy finish that comment . . .,
Fun memories with hollyhock dolls.

Lucy, I love the Hollyhock dolls, I have never seen this before and thank you Aryln for posting the link.

DoubleDogDare, Nice story of your start in irises. Many of us started because of parents or grand parents who had them.

DoubleDogDare, thanks for sharing your lovely story and hope we get to see photos of your irises!

gemini_sage said:DoubleDogDare, thanks for sharing your lovely story and hope we get to see photos of your irises!

Lovely memories and the making of new memories for your children.

Welcome Double Dog Dare!

What a great story, D3!!! Thank you for sharing.

Paul -- thanks for starting this thread. It's been so much fun learning how we all *got here*!!

Muddymitts said:What a great story, D3!!! Thank you for sharing.

Paul -- thanks for starting this thread. It's been so much fun learning how we all *got here*!!

I agree. Nice to hear those stories with familial roots and fond memories .

I remember as a teenager when my Dad brought a Schrieners catalog home. Maybe in the late 50's. It may have been Cooleys but I could not believe that anyone would give $25 for a new introduction. I hate to think of how much I have spent on iris over the last nearly 50 years.........

Phillipb2 said:

Lovely memories and the making of new memories for your children.

My boys are already very interested in them. They've watched the whole process from the very beginning, and I've answered all their questions as we've gone along. My oldest son is 8 1/2, and while I was planting my new bed, he said, "You know, Mom. I think when I'm a little older, maybe like 12, I'll create my own iris and name it "Mommy's Song". It'll be pink, because that's soft, like you." Darn near melted my heart!!

lovely idea

Awwwwwwwwwh -- kids can say the best things.............

DoubleDogDare said:

My boys are already very interested in them. They've watched the whole process from the very beginning, and I've answered all their questions as we've gone along. My oldest son is 8 1/2, and while I was planting my new bed, he said, "You know, Mom. I think when I'm a little older, maybe like 12, I'll create my own iris and name it "Mommy's Song". It'll be pink, because that's soft, like you." Darn near melted my heart!!

Lovely thought from a sentimental boy.

We have had a number of new contributors show up since this thread went dormant and I have not put in my story. So I think it is time to open this again.

I always helped my mother in the garden as a child, but it was a really small one with roses, lilacs and some annuals. I was the designated Japanese Beetle killer. This was in the southern part of Nassau County on Long Island. Between my junior and senior years of college Mother took me to a flower show in our little town. I was hooked and that last year of college I started growing African Violets on the window sills of our apartment. Mother came to Utah for my graduation and then we visited relatives and friends she hadn't seen in twelve years. It was Iris season and as we went from relative to relative to friend, we accumulated iris. Can't remember all the names, but do remember Ola Kala, Minnie Colquitt and Chantilly. Within two to three years I was ordering from Melrose Gardens and had attended iris shows and iris meetings in members houses. I didn't drive at that time, but kind members would pick me up. One variety I know I got about then was Pacific Panorama, I think as a bonus. I grew that one into the 80s.

When we moved to Utah in 1969, I got to start over from scratch as we found our New York garden had the bad nematodes. I arrived in October and by January I had found the local club. My big thing was showing my iris, which I had started with our last year in New York. Over the years I grew many types of bearded and beardless iris from miniature dwarfs to siberians, spurias, pseudacoras and graminia. Love the medians and dwarfs and was able to convince others to start an early show. Now there is a lot of interest in them. We were very lucky in having Melba Hamblen's Mission Bell Gardens about 35 miles north. She traded with other hybridizers so we saw a lot of newer varieties there. I have hundreds of slides. Also got to attend three iris conventions in California and Washington in the 70s and 80s. More recently we have had the Kaspareks, first in our valley about 30 minutes from my home and now further north so have only been there once or twice. Five others of our members hybridized and have introduced iris. Les Peterson with Gala Madrid and arilbred Bangladesh and others, Hyram Ames with Walkara and others, DC Anderson with Dazzling Gold. Keith Wagstaff with Touch of Class, Don Nebeker with Zandria, Amazing Don and others.

I am rebuilding my garden which had gone to pot; the myrtle and morning glory took over. I have had help in recent years. Unfortunately most of my 2015 acquisitions were planted very late. Spent considerable time on a bed in the front but the morning glory was so bad I had to start over in the back and my help wasn't available for several weeks. I should have potted them up but as well as being short of money I am short of energy. So I may not have many make it through the winter.

On a more up note, I am very much enjoying reading all the comments here. Haven't been able to contribute much lately as have been doing a lot of genealogy for my client. Got some extra Christmas money so am going to order from Blue J soon.

I bought my first Iris in 1991 at an Iris Farm located in the outskirt's of Norman,OK owned by a couple who were hybryders. The farm was on the national Iris tour. The reason I remember the experience was they were getting divorced after many years and she was VERY angry at her husband. She was selling them for a dollar and I bought quite a few. I planted them at a home I had in Red Oak, Texas. When I sold the home in 1997 the Iris went with it.

We purchased our current home in 2012 and planted the first garden in 2013, they were all NOid's. Our first named were bought in 2014 and have been buying named ever since. This year I'll pay more than $20 for one Iris for the first time.

Blessings

Charlotte, look at my Have list before you order. I had previously put on you the share list for a few and was holding off on listing others from your wish list until I see what else makes it through the rains.

Our neighbor in WI had nothing but irises in his back yard. I used to stand on the lower bar of our picket fence & chat with him as kids do. We just had a few purple & 'dirty yellow' discards in our garden, Mom was more interested in ferns & WWII came so we had a few veggies. My husband's grandmother had the early species now known as Iris lutescens. He found an add for Melrose Gardens & spoke the immortal words 'Oh, they have the little ones', so we ordered from Melrose. Joined the iris club here in MA & met Bee Warburton & Currier McEwen (for Siberians). Great people.

Charlotte, I'm so glad you revived this thread and so enjoyed reading your story As you rebuild your garden, don't hesitate to let me know if I post something you're interested in- always happy to share.

Lucy, its wonderful that you witnessed a true passion for irises as a young girl! I recall a few flower enthusiasts growing up, one who had a back yard entirely of irises (the others were passionate about dahlias and roses). It was so good to see at a young age my enthusiastic love of flowers didn't make me totally crazy, LOL.