Thanks, Neal. I just went out to check on it, and after heavy rains the bloom was all mush. But I can stick a label on the plant and see if further flowers (if there are any!) are double, failing which if it does the same party trick next year. All the other pseudacorus finished blooming some time ago, but this one is in the shade (self seeded), which may explain the late bloom.

cliftoncat said:Thanks, Neal. I just went out to check on it, and after heavy rains the bloom was all mush. But I can stick a label on the plant and see if further flowers (if there are any!) are double, failing which if it does the same party trick next year. All the other pseudacorus finished blooming some time ago, but this one is in the shade (self seeded), which may explain the late bloom.

Well you have a beautiful seedling there..,

I had to look twice to know it was an iris.

It could be a real hit.

I love when unusual seedlings pop up on there own! I had an unusual self seeded Iris show up and I just happened upon a listing at Plants Delight that looked just like it.
http://www.plantdelights.com/I...

Those are really pretty Meredith!

They sure are! How could they *just pop up on their own*????? Nothing like that ever happens to me.............

Right?! The best thing that just 'popped up' here was milkweed.

Lol, I have lots of Milkweed popping up on it's own here as well! I noticed the seedling there but I didn't pull it so I could see what it turned out to be. I sometimes forget to cut off the seed heads on my plants. I was really good this year with the Iris but I am behind on a lot of other stuff. Never enough time to do everything that needs to be done in the gardens.

I have never seen a double pseudacorus. That is very nice. It will be interesting to follow its progress.

I had an unusual Oriental poppy show up in the garden this year. It is quite tiny, and the pale pink flowers had red spots (instead of the usual dark blotches).

My iris will grow a seed pod on their own but NEVER germinate or pop up on their own. I have to soak and stratify... and transplant.

I have had MTB's seed themselves.

Our pseudacorus, sibirica and versicolor all self seed readily. I have some seedling beardeds from bee pods, but I overwintered them outside in a seed tray before they germinated. I didn't soak the seeds or put them in the fridge, so I guess that in theory we could get bearded irises just 'popping up'.

cliftoncat said:Our pseudacorus, sibirica and versicolor all self seed readily. I have some seedling beardeds from bee pods, but I overwintered them outside in a seed tray before they germinated. I didn't soak the seeds or put them in the fridge, so I guess that in theory we could get bearded irises just 'popping up'.

Not enough rain fall here for that. It's possible if conditions were just right but I'd have to wait 6 year intervals for that.

I let one seedpod on the germanica stay. I'm curious what they'll look like.

On the milkweed issue, at least the flowers are pretty. They grew under the fence into the nieghbors yard and he likes them too! He and I are always back and forth into each others yards cutting off pods on them as the flowers fade.

We used to play with the milkweed pods all the time as kids. They have all that downy fluff inside. And since they attracted all the Monarch butterflies, we used to bring the butterfly chrysalis inside on the milkweed and put them in glass tanks to watch them emerge from the chrysalis. I think all the grade school classrooms did this too. We had lots of milkweed growing on the dune next to out house.

Monarch butterflies require Milkweed plants to survive. The loss of Milkweed plants, as prairies turned into subdivisions, has drastically reduced the population of Monarch butterflies. I think they are an endangered species now.....??? I know of several movements encouraging people to grow Milkweed in their gardens to try to help. I don't see many/any Milkweed plants here in Kentucky, even though we have acres of land. When I was 11 years old, we moved from the city to a brand new subdivision in the far western suburbs of Chicago. Our block of homes was the first in what had been prairie-land for years, and we were surrounded by prairie and farmland. Milkweed flourished. That first year there, I witnessed a Monarch migration.. It was incredible. One could stand still, and be surrounded by clouds of Monarchs -- and as far as you could see, the sky was filled with fluttering orange wings. They would alight on you and rest there. Magical. I've never forgotten that, and I've never seen one again.

I have lots of milkweed here in the pastures. I never cut them down. The monarchs although not as numerous as years ago, still are around here. We used to make a big deal out of ordering caterpillars at school and watching them develop. It was always a big celebration when we released them. It was a part of our second grade science curriculum.

Please Check the Internet on Milkweed! I was going to plant the seeds I was given once, because of the butterflies. Then was told they are poisonous to horses. We had horses at that time.

tveguy3 said:... We used to make a big deal out of ordering caterpillars at school and watching them develop. It was always a big celebration when we released them. It was a part of our second grade science curriculum.

I remember doing this in grade school.

They grew everywhere in Michigan. I never see any milkweed down here in NC,, though there should be areas that it grows. I never see monarchs either unfortunately. Lots of Tiger swallowtails but no monarchs.

Lestv said:We used to play with the milkweed pods all the time as kids. They have all that downy fluff inside. And since they attracted all the Monarch butterflies, we used to bring the butterfly chrysalis inside on the milkweed and put them in glass tanks to watch them emerge from the chrysalis. I think all the grade school classrooms did this too. We had lots of milkweed growing on the dune next to out house.

Your school had out houses?