It took a couple of seasons after planting Gingerbread Man for it to bloom in my garden.

Bloomed right away for me. Sure grows well.

thank you pam, i'll check back with you nxt. spring. i'm anxiously waiting on (what) my garden might do this spring.

i think i have to water more, but have been afraid to, after hearing all the probs with rot. but i am not experiencing the tremendous growth that i see being posted by others.

i think i only had rot once, in my other garden. the irises were in dapple shade with plenty of mulch on their rhizomes. (didn't know any better at the time) but, considering all, it was only one smelly, mushy , rhizome and the bed got overhead auto water 3x a wk.

I think this was a usual type of year for weather too. Alot of the my losses and there weren't many came from not acclimating them long enough. @irisarian Lucy warned and warned, but myself and others kept buying and potting almost into December, me almost to January. This year all were planted in a more traditional time of year. Almost all are doing great, but any individual loss is personal when spotted.

I express education in the culture and paying attention to weather patterns too. You don't need a farmer's almanac, but be aware of the annual trends in climate. I'm still learning daily, but feel I've improved since joining here last October. My plants are thriving now and I anticipate a better bloom season and higher percentage of new stock blooms this year than the previous.

Cuzz4short said:I'm still learning daily, but feel I've improved since joining here last October.....

Happy one year anniversary Gabe.

And what a good enabler you have become in one short year!

Hurried home after work and got stone down and filled half of the enlarged back bed with soil. That 2 cubic meters of soil that the vendor added more to, "maybe 2 1/2 to 3 cubic meters" appears to be closer to 5 meters. I filled 13 wheelbarrow loads. It filled about half of the new garden but only made about a third of the soil go away. Gads. Need the soil to be a goner.

I wish they would add soil onto my order!

Happy 1st Gabe!

Don't think I can fit in a priority mail box but if you want some....

Lestv said:Don't think I can fit in a priority mail box but if you want some....

I hope you can't fit into a priority mail box!

You will have to make the bed larger then planned and use up that soil. You will always find more irises to plant.

We all know Tom is absolutely right!

UndertheSun said:
I hope you can't fit into a priority mail box!

my phone left out the it. As in fit it in a box. Lordy but that gave it a whole new very embarrassing meaning. Sorry all.

Finished the bed today and still have about 3 cubic meters of soil. I guess a new bed will have to be started soon.

Chris made a new bed for my seedling crosses! Digging beds is hard work!

Yes it is Jan!! But I do need a bed for my future JI seedlings, so while they refrigerate I can make a bed at my leisure. So glad you mentioned seedlings!!

Good news for those who don't give up on iris with rot. Last year I got Noble Dragon but quickly lost the mother to rot. I saved three increases. Two of the increases later succumbed to rot. The third one's rhizome was lightly covered by dirt to help it stand upright. Well, that one survived and I planted it yesterday! Over a year later, but I saved a dragon.

Maybe it is Blyth's dragons in general. I thought I lost Puff The Magic this year, but it has two really nice increases now. They are tough!

So happy to hear that Leslie! I had to do major surgery on Drinks at Sunset which I just recieved this year, cutting 85-90% of it off, but the little increase I saved is making a real come back It stinks to lose so much of a rhizome, but really rewarding when the surgery works.