You are the most industrious person I know, Arlyn. You put busy bees to shame. You would be able to do everything you do plus measure your multitude of irises while I sat in the shade a-restin'........ and a-dreamin'. smiles.....

grannysgarden said:Alan, I don't measure my irises either. With all the other garden work, watering, weeding, planting, hoeing...... I would never get anything done if I measured plants. A great deal of my bloom stalks have been shorter than average this year and I made an 'overall note' in this years records.

I agree, Bonnie I don't want to turn this into a Career I just retired and am looking for some relaxation with my Hobbies and Gardening. With Iris, Roses and Clematis to look after
I have to keep my record-keeping to very basics.

Well, Bonnie, I'll tell you.......I spent a great many years working for a living....I *turned wrenches* on just about every kind of *mobile equipment* (and lots of stuff that didn't 'move" ) that you can name (no airplanes, though !!), and I have to say that, while I enjoyed the "work".....I *hated* the 'job". Retirement was (as I imagine)!) just like being let out of prison !! So, now that I'm "paroled", I've found a new career ! It's also *work* that I enjoy, but, I LOVE this job ! Instead of 50 hours, or so a week turning wrenches, I spend 20-30 hours a week trying to coax things into growing ! (and, if you do the math..)...that leaves me about 20 "working hours" left over for fishing !!

I usually remember the color & hybridizer. but the brain is getting old so may have to do something to jack it up.

I keep a list that includes a photo, where I got it, where I planted it, and when & how it died. UHHHH....I mean.... if it had problems. I just started keeping track of when I divide them. I keep basically the same notes on all my plants - roses, hydrangeas, daylilies etc. I don't plan on hybridizing, but sounds like I should start keeping more detailed notes.

Phillipb2 said:I'm still learning, so my question is if an given name Iris has 3 or 4 blooms per stalk this year will it have 3 or 4 blooms next year. I'm guessing yes, because that's why the hybridizers cull them.
Edit to change the number count per bloom stalk.

Barbara, I don't think the number of bloom stalks for the maiden year would be reliable but for other years it might be similar. I don't count stalks. I just remember the ones that are super productive and the ones that are underachievers. That being said there are variations between years for example one plant is stressed for some reason so there might not be as many stalks.

I started out keeping a detailed Excel spreadsheet with more categories than you want to know so that someday I could search by the various fields (e.g. type, hybridizer, season, rebloomer, PBF...etc.) I found that I rarely have time to fill all the fields so I log the most important information (Name, Intro Year, Hybridizer, Type, Season, and where it come from) right away and then when I find spare time or if I'm watching TV (especially when DH has his sports games on ) I work on filling it in. I also use the ATP list. I keep simplified bloom notes in a column each year, and comments about growth etc. in the comments field.

I don't count blooms or measure stalks. I would never be able to keep up with that.

Unfortunately I occasionally find one that didn't get logged.

As for maps that's where my organization is sorely lacking. I would love to know what computer methods the rest of you are using to draw maps. I have a Mac and don't currently have any graphics program on it. So far I've been lucky. My cats stay indoors; my dog is not allowed in the iris area (for other reasons but it works out well); I don't have turkeys, rabbits, or squirrels; my kids are adults and with no grandkids in sight; and the neighbors don't come inside my fenced field to mess with the markers. I occasionally have workers in that area but no problems so far. Still I know I need to make maps.

Thank you Marilyn.
I don't have maps either, except for one bed that I have not even finish planting yet. I followed Sherry's advice last year and plotted the Iris (with pictures) In the computer side by side and about four to five deep. The one thing I didn't do was to check bloom time in the database. so I won't know until they bloom how this all turns out. My map making is on a "future" to do list.

Marilyn, short of buying a graphics program I just looked at each bed, row by column view, picturing a table in the Word or similar word processor. Then I make a table of say 32 rows by 6 columns and place the name and hybridizer of each in a cell. I try to keep each to a page or split it nicely to more than a page. Each page can have a label of garden area, such as "side" or "behind AC" or whatever. Printing each page lets me take it in a folder to garden and make notes directly on the sheets to later be put into the various info files. Not the greatest but it works, at least somewhat.

@moiris - I have a mac and I use "Icon logo and avatar designer". I create the bed shape, put in circles for each plant I have , then can add a letter or number in the circles. Underneath, I have a legend that is easy to change as I add and take things out.

That's actually a very easy solution Dave! I will also check out "Icon logo and avatar designer" . Thanks to both of you for the tips!

Most of y'all are much more detailed than am I. Moved here [ North Carolina ] 3 yrs ago and had no idea what was what or when it would bloom.
Took daily photos of flower bed - end to end and side to side - then waited. As things bloomed, photographed them and looked for a name - at first just called them all "Iris"... stop laughing !
With lots of help / online and in here, most have 'proper' names -- others do not.
At the end of blooming for each one, put a large chopstick in the ground with #on it [ order it bloomed; date it bloomed; color and name, if I had it.
Have at least 11 varieties -- the lady who lived here before me liked her Iris plants !
Of course, the following year - most of that info held true with the occasional Iris that sent a 'tuber' to another location - totally confusing this person. Here I thought they stayed put !
Have begun the photo process this year [ as it has been done yearly ] - 1st to bloom is bright yellow - Golddigger .. I think.
There are purple buds, but weather is colder than usual and they don't look happy about it.

Hi Peggy. It is fun taking over another persons garden and finding treasures blooming there. The tuber on an iris is called a rhizome and is just an underground stem that saves energy for the next bloom season. The new rhizomes stay attached to the 'mother' rhizome until they are detached. If you find them in other places it could be that one was growing there originally or a tiny piece of a rhizome was left, or dropped, when moving them. I hope the weather warms up for all the plants and people that need it.

Hi Peggy! Maybe you have been on before and I just don't remember...but just in case...

Your yellow iris is very pretty!

I'm sorry to say the name Golddigger is not correct. There is not an iris with that name spelled as one word, but there is one spelled 'Gold Digger'. It is a dwarf variety that is usually 10 inches tall (see below).




If you have more pictures in different light and from different angles you could try posting them on the thread about Historic Irises. Maybe someone who grows a lot of them might recognize it. But to be honest it is very difficult to identify an iris from a photograph unless it is an unusual cultivar. There have been many hundreds of yellow irises introduced and the database of photographs is not complete. At best what you get is an educated guess.

It's normal to want to put a name to them. You may just need to enjoy your irises for what they are, beautiful flowers that have been left in your care. Good Luck!

Hi Peggy, may I mention looking up Thelma Boose's iris patch in Winston-Salem. She has several named cultivars on her acre lot. Google her or type the name in forum search. She's in your neck of the woods. PS. Is anyone actually NC these days

I ran across this thread the other day and thought it might be useful. I am always attempting to "keep it simple ".

How do you keep your inventory organized?

I use an excel spreadsheet to record the basic characteristics such as hybridizer, height, bloom season etc plus my annual observations such as the exact start and end dates of the blooms and which hybrids need dividing. I also record my hybridizing information in an excel spreadsheet.

In regard to where everything is planted, I use microsoft paint. I used to try to create nice colour and pattern combinations but lately I just plant things where I can find space.

My irises are listed on a spreadsheet in alphabetical order. I list the hybridizer, date of introduction, registered height, bloom time, parentage and last award received. Then I list date acquired, where purchased, and where I planted it. After I plant it, I note down the date it first 'gave me the finger'. Then each year, I enter the date it first bloomed, the date of its last bloom, and number of fans and bud stalks. If I move an iris, I enter the number of rhizomes I moved and where I moved them to. The nice thing about the spreadsheet is that I can enter more rows when I need them. It is nice to have a history of each iris and how it fares in my garden. I was going to measure stalks and count buds, but that didn't happen.

I don't put pictures in the spreadsheet, but keep an annual album on my computer of each iris that bloomed that year .

I also keep a general iris garden journal, which includes the dates when I fertilized and climate events like unseasonal weather or unusual rainfall.

I use the notes section in my plant list here. Since I don't hybridize or do anything with or to my Irises, I don't really need much else.

I, too, use the plant list here in my profile. I just updated it yesterday after I got all of my new iris planted. I find that the notes in my plant list has the space I need. I mainly just make a notation as to the supplier's name and date received.

With my yard as small as it is, I don't have a huge number of different iris. So I just put labels in with them as I plant them rather than do mapping. I am now on my third type of garden label, and I can tell this third brand is much sturdier than the first two brands. I will try to fpfind the thread we had on garden labels and add a comment about this there.