Be very careful what you plant from other countries, Linnea. We have so many imported plants that were thought to be beneficial to us but have only eaten their way through our native land.

I got a big pile of seeds from China. Most are veggies and I recognize the seeds as such. Some in the list were bad and I had intended to throw them in the trash, but whoever processed the order, gave me a different seed mix so I didn't get those - just the bad yellow iris, I think. I will start 3 seeds and see if they are the naughty ones. They can have their own corner with the raspberries and easily go away if they are.

We have the dreaded Japanese Knotweed all over Maine. It is a horrible invasive.

Would love to see the "list" of iris addicts levels again, if possible, please.

Just checked my plant list. I'm at 398 iris "haves" - with 5 more on the way.
Over half of these were planted this year, and of these, about a third were
gifts or trades, - with many from Brad! Half a dozen noids not included.
Over 400 may just be it for me. (she said).

This chart is the one Tom started with, but he might have added to it later in the thread. Nearly 1200 replies, so I didn't skim through them all.
The thread "Final Tallies!" in Irises forum

tveguy3 said:Well, now that I have gotten my last order in I thought I would brave a count and see just how nutty I am on the "how many irises did you really order" scale from slightly sane to totally wacked, well here goes.

New (to me) irises purchased 112
New (to me) irises recieved in trades 66

Grand total = 178 new to me irises.
P/S: I did recieve several duplicates and ordered some duplicates to increase some clumps, and these are not included in the total, as they are not new to me, I will have to recheck my numbers on them, but I think its around 10 of these.

Here is the "How many irises did you really order" scale

1 to 30 = Just kid stuff
31 to 50 = A good start
51 to 75 = Slightly off balance
76 to 100 = On the Edge!
101 to 125 = Over the Edge
126 to 150 = Pretty messed up
151 to 175 = You need your head examined
176 to 200 = Bring on the paddy wagon!
over 200 = Men in white coats coming with strait jacket.

Soooooo, Lets see the final tallies, We want accurate figrures here, no fuzzy math allowed.

I am the acorn on his list. I only started filling my past wish lists with good intentions. Then there were the ones that I 'filled out' the order with. Then there were a few must haves and then gifts, trades and for postage irises. That put me over 200 new to me cultivars. sigh Next year I will buy, trade, steal far less....... cause there just ain't nuff room for 200 more. LOL

I think we are 'off to a good start' because of extras sent. does a peony count?

I went "Over the Edge" at 110 new cultivars; and this was with me trying to cut back! ha ha. I am not counting all of my losses as it is too hard and i don't have a good feel for that yet, but my guess would be around 40-50 cultivars.

I was trying to be good! I swear I really was! Somehow I ended up in the category.

Once again, I blame all of you for this.

That tally list is just for new to you this year iris BTW. Not total owned, which would put Arlyn, Brad, Tom, Greg in the stratosphere.

I just finished potting up Bonnie's 10 last night, so will have a final tally tonight. I already know it is over 200, how very very far over is going to be scary. I planned on about 100 for this year, but extremely generous gift boxes (Brad! Arlene! Bonnie! Tom! Mary Ann! Dave! Arlyn! Neal! Celia!), and extremely generous bonuses with orders (Dee!, Blue J!, Iris Sisters!) really put me into a whole new level of iris ownership.

In my defense not ALL of them are bearded iris. Some are Louisianas and Sibs!

A whole bunch are dwarfs and medians.

A mountain are tall bearded.

you might see another box, me thinks!

Oh dear! As long as the occupants don't mind living in pots for a few months.....

LOL, Greg! Put her in a whole new category........300 = 'leader at the iris funny farm'.

Queen of the Rhizomes if you don't mind!!!

La's, Ji's, and SIB's are all ' iris'....so they count, as do the "bulb sorts" whether they be reliculatae, Dutch, or English ( if you buy a dozen Dutch bulbs, you wouldn't count it as a 'dozen", just as 'one cultivar", though !)

I'm glad that we're not 'required' to divulge how many iris PLANTS we have.....as many of my cultivars grow in *several* places, around the property ! It's rather *strange*, that when I dig a plant, for division, or "sharing", I find it VERY hard to discard the "crumbs".....those spent mothers, disfigured, or super small daughters, or even the ones shot full of borer holes, and affected by rot..........I just can't seem to help myself, and pretty soon......there are two, or three (or maybe more )places where it's growing !

I still have some digging to do, so anyone looking for some more....keep that tally sheet open!

Keep me in mind, Rob.

I've got one more box coming so I don't have a final count but let's just say when I see the men in the white coats coming I'll hide in my iris garden

Don't worry Arlyn - I am counting the LA's and Sibs in my tally.

And I am as bad as you when it comes to not throwing away the super smalls, etc. I have three in pots right now that only have teeny little leaves starting, but I just can't get myself to give up on them and toss them.

I would hate to have to count all the individual iris, even all the individuals from this year since Dee gave me 12 rhizomes of Island Waters, and I have at least 8 rhizomes of Double Your Fun from you, Arlyn, and multiples of all the others you and Dee sent me too. The multiple rhizomes, counted individually, would add easily another 100 to the total. The dwarf ring I created this year has less different iris in it than planned since so many of them had multiple rhizomes. The clumps will sure be pretty though!

Add 15 to my previous total of 112 = 127 so now I'm "Pretty Messed Up."