Still waiting for the supposed start of rain... * tapping foot * Overcast but not too cool - had a nice walk with Warp around noon, wearing only a heavy waffle Henley shirt.

Marilyn ~ Same here, no storm yet. (tap, tap...) It was cool and breezy 50°.
Maybe something will happen overnight.

This is the time of year that the San Joaquin Valley gets socked in with 'Tule Fog'. It's been a little worse this year (but nothing like it was 25 years ago) due to the recent rains. We got a few minutes of sun peeking through this afternoon, first time in a week, and second time in about 2 weeks. It looks like we might get a little rain tonight but the storm system is supposed to push away the high pressure system that holds the fog in, so hopefully tomorrow we will get some sunshine tomorrow!

Our temps are pretty mild compared to most of you, between the high 30's and mid 50's for the next few days.

I finally got out to the garden for a short while yesterday afternoon. I was able to see that the losses from my 'year of neglect' won't be quite as bad as I had feared. About 1/3 to 1/2 have at least one rhizome that is pushing up new leaves. I'm sure a few are still dormant. Still I will have a lot of clean-up and a huge 'goners' list. Ah well, there will be other years.

I wasn't paying attention, but I think our rain stopped around 1:30. We had a few sprinkles after that but not enough to even turn the windshield wipers on. My husband said we got about 2" of rain in the gauge.
Edit to say: Sprinkling now.

Marilyn ~ I am happy that your garden isn't as bad as you thought it would be. The ones that remain are the survivors, the ones that are the ones that are worth your time. If, of course, you have lost some that you really love, I am sure that many of the members here will be able to give you what they can spare if they have them. I just started to grow irises in quantity, but if I have any that you are looking for, I will be happy to share when they are up to size. Take care!

Guess what? It finally started raining about an hour ago!

It looks a little wet outside, so it must have rained (or misted, or drizzled) at least a little bit.

I'm hoping for heavy rain tonight and tomorrow, so I can go to sleep by the sound of rain, and sleep in.

Marylin, I'm happy your losses were less than you feared and you are right - there will be other years ...and other irises.

[Edited to add: It has not been raining today! ]

It rained last night and now it is sunny. Currently it is 40°.

Light rain yesterday and into the night. Today it's nice and sunny, so I'm going for a hike.

Sunny and 32 today, of course irises are still snow covered for the time being. I'm worried about what this up and down weather is going to do to my irises, but guess I have to wait and see.

Up and down weather has killed other plants before, especially after a snow and the sun is shining the next day, followed by a hard frost at night. I imagine that the iris don't like it either, but I am hoping that they are more resilient.

Tom ~ Please let us know how this scenario
plays out for you. Maybe some will be better than others? The commercial iris growers, what do they do?

We got 2 1/2" of rain in the last storm.

Wow Barbara, that's a lot! My gauge shows 1/2" fell in the last 24 hours.

Instead of a hike, I hopped the fence and set some gopher traps in the open field. It's not my property, but I'm no longer waiting for the gophers to cross the property line. War knows no boundaries....

Little bit of rain, littler bit of hail. Cold (low 50's).
We're supposed to get a lot of rain on Sunday.

Party cloudy here, with a high of 45°. There is another storm on the way.

My gardening will have to consist of charting the genetics of every iris that I have. I learn a lot when doing this, but I am nowhere finished.

...and the ones to arrive here in July!

Rob, I think you got at least twice as much rain as we did in that last big storm, the one that did so much damage in LA.

More roller coaster weather. The iris have been snuggled under a new 4 inches of snow for a couple of days. Now the warm up starts. Should be in the 50s over the weekend and then a deluge coming for Monday and Tuesday. Hope it doesn't wash the iris down the hill! Yesterday a had to chase a yearling buck out of the garden. He was taste testing Awesome Alex and Absolute Treasure. I guess they weren't very good as he only took one bite of each!

Time to change the horse blankets...again!

Currently it's 30, with a high of 57. Sunny today with more rain coming tomorrow.

snow