Thank you everyone for your good wishes. It's not a good situation. He's in Cardiac Care. His heartbeat is going from double heart rate -- to fibrillation -- back to double heart rate. He has COPD -- and the heart issues are exacerbating that. They have him on heavy-duty heart meds to try to get the heartbeat under control. He's nauseated -- probably from the drugs -- so he's not eating. I was at the hospital for an hour and a half today -- and was able to talk to him for about ten minutes. The rest of the time he was sleeping. I'm trying to stay positive.

Thank you'all for caring.

Thinking and praying for you and your husband Mary Ann.

Wish you and your hubby the best Mary Ann.

Thoughts and prayers as well here, too.

Sending lots of prayers and positive vibes your direction Mary ann!!!!

oh dang. So sorry to hear he is in such distress.

in late. but sending you, mary ann and hubby positive thoughts.

Mary Ann, Stay strong, thoughts and prayers are for you.

Prayers for your Husband, Mary Ann, and for everyone who loves him. Remember to take care of yourself too. Keep us posted on how he is doing.

That sounds scary Mary Ann! Wishing you both healing, strength, and comfort during this difficult time.

I join with everyone above in sending best wishes to Mary Ann. I'm not on here that much, but occasionally check in and this situation needs all our care and concern! Please know you are not alone!

Prayers

Muddymitts Sending prayers for your husband and your family.

Joining this thread very late... so sorry to hear about your husband's health problems, Mary Ann! Prayers that they can do something for him, and that he can come home quickly!

My name is Marilyn. I realize that there is another poster with the user name of "Marilyn", so you can continue to call me "Poly" if you wish. (Just not "Polly", as that reads too much like "Pollyanna", which is 180 degrees away from my personality! )

I was born and raised in Chicago, was educated at various universities in Illinois, but came out here (the south San Francisco Bay Area, specifically "Silicon Valley") to work and live with my husband in the early 80s. (I worked as an R&D computer engineer for a large company for many years.) At present I live with only my husband and our dog Warp, whom you have "met". We have one daughter, who currently lives and works in Austin.

My main horticultural interest is in daylilies (which can't handle drought as well as irises do, and now we have rust to contend with), and I do a little pollen dabbing in that vein and try to have some new seedlings in bloom each year. I used to be active in one of the N. CA daylily clubs, but have not been for years.

Much as I like daylilies, I dislike monoculture and want the garden to be interesting in all seasons, so I also grow a variety of perennials. I love daffodils and have a few varieties here. I like dahlias very much, but have had little success at growing them. I also like chrysanthemums, but the rabbits make growing the landscaping/garden types problematic, and I have had indifferent success with growing the large "florist" types. (Basically those latter mums require a lot of finicky attention, at a time when I am busy with the daylilies.) I like Heuchera but have found that the rabbits also like most kinds (thankfully they shun a couple of cultivars, or I would have none left in the garden).

Lest you think that the rabbits (and gophers) Eat All, there are many other plants here which the critters ignore, including Society Garlic (one variegated cultivar with lavender flowers (from which we have weeded out but are also growing separately non-variegated lavender flowered sports), and two white flowered cultivars), Gaura, Bergenia, Euphorbia, Penstemon, Salvia, Stachys, Osteospermum, Iberis, Pelargonium, Helichrysum (with which I have a love/hate relationship), ferns, some NOID Shasta Daisies, a limited selection of roses, ornamental grasses, some flowering shrubs and sub-shrubs, and what-all-else. (I should mention that I have multiple varieties of some of those genera.)

Despite the critters and the shade, I also try to have a kitchen garden of sorts every year, though the selection of things that I grow is rather narrow. (Currently I have 6 different tomatoes, 3 varieties of peppers, struggling cucumbers and herbs (drought), a nice small patch of Japanese bunching onion (seed purchased pre-Fukushima), and arugula. Some cool seasons I also grow a variety of lettuces.)

I have grown a small number of irises for many years (some of them bought for my daughter when she was a little girl), and I have a large clump of an unregistered seedling iris that I hybridized many years ago from two of those older irises. Early this year I joined an iris club for the first time ever; nice people. (Also nice people on this forum!) This is the first year that I have bought new irises in maybe about 15 years, and unfortunately I seem to have bit off more than I can chew there.

Apart from my horticultural interests, I like hiking (when and to the extent that my knees or the rest of me is up to it), love the Sierra Nevada (though I only get up there once a year, tops), and like some dogs. (I have to be honest here and say that there are some breeds which I simply can't stand, and others which I can't understand others' interest in. ) I am not a cat person (though DH and DD are), but I can appreciate their beauty and grace, and the companion value they have to others. I confess to being an Internet addict (also, sigh, a carbohydrate addict, who keeps falling off the low-carb bandwagon). When I get off the Web and read for pleasure, it is mostly in the SF or fantasy genre. Similarly, with TV and movies, our tastes run to SF, fantasy, or action/thrillers.

I am not talented in the arts/crafts sense, but a few times a year I bestir myself and make handcrafted soap (largely because that is what my skin does best with, particularly in the winter, and I have found that my skin likes "my" recipes better than soap that I can buy from handcrafted soap sellers - not to mention that it is cheaper to make it myself ).

Without delving into religion or politics (you see that I am doing my best to keep things calm here ), that pretty much sums it up.

Hi: My name is Elsa and I hope I don't hold the lurking record for this forum, as I have been enjoying and learning from your posts for at least 3 years. But I just can't stay away any more. There are too many interesting conversations going on here. And I hope at some point, maybe I will have something to give instead of just taking all the time

As a young girl, I loved the Irises my mom would grow. They were so Majestic! Growing up in the same house, I remember marveling at the detail that God put in our world, as I gazed at my Mother's garden. The business of life made me forget about Irises till I moved into a short sale house that had sat vacant for at least 5 months through the hottest months of the year. Moving in, in the Fall, there were some very withered Iris clumps trying to survive. So I watered. And in the Spring, from these once withered old plants, I was rewarded with multiple blooms. Now considering I live in a desert where we have approx. 15 or 20 days a year of 100+ temps, the fact that these plants were still fighting to live and put out blooms like that just stirred something deep inside of me and I didn't know it yet, but the bug was born.

So you all know the bug well...I bought a few more the next year and I started finding detail in this flower I never knew existed. That second year of blooms, I found that some sparkled in the sun (Diamond dusting). I had never seen that in any flower and did not even know there was such as thing. Sadly I was also just learning to grow Iris and I didn't get to see that one bloom again cause I think I killed it:) But it's OK cause I have found the same effect on many others since then.

So the next year I bought even more and started finding that some had broken color. I remember both my son and I just gawking at Alpha-Gnu the first time we saw it. Then I also heard that Green Irises existed (thus my name) and started my hunt for a Green Iris and Yes, I found them (Green and Gifted, Sue Zee, Teagan) and the Love grew stronger. I also found Black ones( Before the Storm, Coal Seams) which had their own "Is this for real" moments. I also got it in my head that there were not true Blue and true Pink Irises, from things I read. OK I know I know - You all in the forum said they existed but I thought you might be suffering from "Wishful Thinking" or "Group Denial". But then I saw my first true Blue Absolute Treasure bloom. And I also saw my first true Pink Bachelor Party bloom. I have found many others since then and in summary have found the Rainbow.

But it doesn't end there, I found dotted iris, laced iris, iris with lines, textured iris (Daughter of Stars), curly iris. Irises that bloom 1/2 the months of the year. Oh and if that weren't enough, I found Irises with confetti. That was another trait I thought was photo-shopped but then one April day, there it was, as real as in the internet photos. I may not know all the correct names for all the traits, and I am here to learn but I am also here because I adore your passion for this flower and I get it.

I crossed my first Iris last year (Clarence X Ecstatic Echo). Out of approx. 20 seeds, I had one come up this Spring. I think I have a few things to learn there too:) I crossed my second this year. It's so fun.

Finally, Just like to say "Nice to finally meet you all" and especially Thanks for all the tips and wisdom you have unknowingly imparted to me that has really enriched my Iris garden. Also Thank you much for the pictures you have shared as well that have helped me make great choices for the next years garden!

wow poly/marilyn thank you for sharing your interests in the garden. they are quite diverse, and to do hybridizing as well. i applaud all those in our group that do!

i feel like i've accomplished something when i propagate a plant from a leaf or a stem, but to have a brand new hybrid, i am in awe of you all. i loved the bay area when we lived there for 40+ years, and it seemed that everything i planted grew. ( struggling a bit now.)

Elsa, As they say better late than never. Glad you finally joined in. I'm not sure how long I lurked before posting but I know you have me beat. I've learned so much from the people on the Iris forum and I thank them daily. again.

elsa,

i didn't lurk but jumped in with both feet, eyes wide open, but mind blank. so i ask a lot of questions that may have been asked a hundred times before. but, the questions may be too far back in the early days of the iris forum for me to dig through, and don't know how to go that far.

so please bear with me.

Daphne, I'm still a newbie compared to most on the forum, but I have found the star at the bottom of the post (next to the acorn and thumbs up icons) is my friend to remember posts.