I want to give a kudos shout out (a big hand) to everyone out there who have hundreds upon hundreds of different irises and keeping the tags strait for them all along with a map of some kind as a reference. I only have 30 to 40 in 2 small beds but trying to keep the tags all straight is no easy job. I had birds going thru the bed helping remove irises or in not irises they were moving the rhizomes and I was finding them all over the bed. Frustrating to say the least, I have comfirm some in the beds so far with pictures, etc.,

You do the best you can, Rich -- and that's all. It helps a lot to have quality markers that are difficult to displace. And despite your best efforts, things are bound to go wrong now and then. As an example -- I have detailed information on where each and every one of my Irises is planted -- and I have detailed maps showing what each and every Iris is -- and yet? I have an Iris growing in the front row of the Fencebed -- and I have no CLUE what it is. It has no tag. I have no reference for it in my database, and the Iris that was supposed to be there has died.

Go figure.

That is all we can do is out best. I have names for them all but one which was a surprise bonus in a grab bag. I have pictures for them all but two of which I cant locate anywhere. I did check with historic iris preservation to see if they had any info and they don't. Not even a picture. As they flower I will retag and get them all labeled along with the historics I have. Thank you Mary Ann for the blue reflection. Its spot on with my blue historic. The noid red I got from you and the Silverado are blooming also.

Currently none of my irises are labeled, but I do have a map. Believe it or not I know where they all are from memory since I've looked at them every day since I planted them. Now that I have a huge new batch coming in, that will not hold, and I'm planning on moving a bunch of things around. I love all of the nice labels that many of you have. I definitely need to invest in them once I've placed things more permanently. Also Richard I completely empathize with you about birds moving things around. I have squirrels that do the same thing and it drives me crazy!

I just this week had a mysterious addition in my mapped and documented gardens. I received the lovely Snow Maiden from Arlyn a couple years back and planted it in my (then) new ATP bed. It never moved until last summer when I built a new dwarf ring at the end of the ATP bed. Snow Maiden was at the base of the ring so I moved it up from the ATP bed to the ring right above. Simple no?
Well, hmmmmmmmmm. Snow Maiden had a maiden bloom this week and.... it is Muggles and not Snow Maiden. I checked with Arlyn and he doesn't grow Muggles. So where the heck did they come from and where oh where is my Snow Maiden? Arlyn sagely suggested Garden Gnomes, and we all know the mischief they create! But I wonder .... I also was suppose to have Dumbledore and he disapparated and left me with Muggles in another section of the garden. Did he take Snow Maiden with him and leave me with yet more Muggles? I think magic trumps Gnomes but who knows??!!

I hate the Gnomes. Best way to keep them out pictures of Donald trump around the garden wearing a fairies hat. Since I put them pictures up no Gnomes. But the birds here not much will keep them away. I put up chicken wire baskets/smaller milk crates/etc and it still happened for about 3 weeks where something kept disrupting the irises and or tags.

Well, if I had a chance to run off with a Maiden....even in the snow....I'd take it !!!

Rich -- I'm so glad that they're all doing well for you. The NOID red is Tom's Famous NOID Red -- it has been shared from coast to coast!!! And I'm glad that my Blue Reflection has helped you to identify your NOID blue.

The Case of the Mysterious Disappearing Rhizomes......................

Mary Ann, sounds like a.case.for Shirlock rhizomes to me.

Maybe the "Muggles" in question were next to the Snow Maiden. Muggles seem to be everywhere and probably annoyed the Snow Maiden so she up and left (or shrank in size). Did you check the last spot you left her? If she is still there but you have not properly "mapped" her, what does this say about your work in the field? Hmmm.....things to ponder. Dumbledore is another subject altogether. He is tricky to keep track of, don't you know!

He disapperated.

As for my garden, he is in the "not revitalized" area. So he should turn up again and I will try again to send him to NC. Since he is GAY, he may not want to go there based on the State legislatures recent work. Just saying!

Oh Greg - our governor is an ass. What can I say.

Snow Maiden is definitely not in her old home (the last spot I left her) as the wall of the dwarf ring was right up to her spot in the garden. She literally traveled about three feet up and over the wall into her current spot - and still transfigured herself into Muggles. Except for her and Dumbledore turning into Muggles, my gardens have been free of mischief (discounting the three iris sent by Schreiners that were not as labelled). I don't count the digging by the squirrels as mischief, it is down right vandalism.

Don't get me started on critter damages to my garden.

Dumbledore didn't do well here, so I sent him to Jumper 2s garden in Ohio (daughter) where he seems quite happy. They are all fantasy people there.

Misawa77 said:As for my garden, he is in the "not revitalized" area. So he should turn up again and I will try again to send him to NC. Since he is GAY, he may not want to go there based on the State legislatures recent work. Just saying!

Wait a minute...are you saying that Dumbledore is gay? What does that say about all the time he spend alone with Harry potter?

I think someone needs to name an iris for Harry,...and Hagrid!

So we have disappearing irises as well as magically appearing ones. One of those trade rats or the mystery gnome? I have unknowingly left a small start in soil after removing an entire clump and guess what happened the next season? A mystery iris appears where none should be. I also took a start from another clump, sent it to another garden and it does not look like any in the clump I sent it from or like any other I have in the garden! I do remove all bee pods so that is not the cause. That area was previously claimed by non-irises, "native" tiger lilies from previous owner of the property.
Maybe a slo-mo camera needs to be placed in these gardens to watch them and record those mysterious happenings.

To keep with the theme of this thread I should say that all 200+ are now looking quite well after the weird winter weather here. Hoping for a nice colorful few weeks ahead.

I see the makings of a new iris story for next winter.

Midnight Mischief; The Case of the Mysterious Disappearing Rhizomes. (credit for inspiration goes to Mary Ann )

The main characters being:

Snow Maiden (who was kidnapped)


Muggles


Dumbledore


Gizmo The Gremlin



The story opens:

Under the...

Moon At Midnight



Some possible minor characters (no pictures):
Handsome Harry, Garden Gnome, Snow Elf, Snow Troll, Night Thief

Throw in a little Fairy Magic, a touch of Elfin Magic, a good dose of Wizard's Magic, lots of Mischief...the possibilities are Endless.

Who knows...if we try maybe we could keep this one PG rated so that everyone would enjoy participating!

For anyone who is new this is a reference to a previous thread started during the winter of 2014: "Amazing Don, Private Eye - Case of the missing Teenybopper"...which seems to have mysteriously disappeared. The story was hijacked by certain 'creative' ATP members and took a serious turn for the X-rated category. You can get the gist of the hilarity here: The thread "Amazing Dan Companion thread" in Irises forum.