The iris look wonderful! Stay safe and feel better! Hope the weather cools down for you! I am in no great hurry for my iris either.

I can wait as well.

Timothy, please take care of yourself!!!

Tim-
These are wise words from all of the above! Heat stroke & heat exhaustion are dangerous for anyone. So please do heed the warnings! Life is too short. And I am sure everyone can wait a little longer for their plants.

Anyone doubt Global Warming any more?

Yeah, "You know who!" Or, "he who must not be named".

evelyninthegarden said:I can wait as well.

Timothy, please take care of yourself!!!

I can wait, too.

So can I.

I just came back inside, after going out for just a few minutes. I wanted to go get a pitchfork and fertilizer out of the sheds, but got sidetracked by a) moving my sickly/dying dahlia off the ceramic saucer/hot patio, b) yanking out some Gaura which was flopping over the main garden walkway (which DH wanted removed), and c) irises. I yanked out the stems (stalks?) of most of that Gaura , though it should really be dug out. (Some is still left because it wouldn't yank. I'll get to that later. ) This was volunteer Gaura, which I'd rather have back with the main line/hedge, but Gaura mostly has not transplanted well for me.

While I was in that bed, I noticed that something (most likely the rabbits) had eaten my Bergenia down to stubs. Grrrrrr.

As for the irises, I went and harvested my tiny seeds from the Iris confusa (I had a small mesh bag over that pod), and discovered that part of that iris had fried. I need to divide that this week or next. On the way back to the house (because, hot ) I checked on 'Peggy Sue' and harvested 2 large pods by 'Snow Day'.

While I was baking outside, box from vendor #3 (Superstition) came. You can read about that on the "I Got a Box" thread.

Hopefully I'll get back outside in another couple of hours. Hopefully it will be cooler then, or at least cool enough to do some potting. (And I don't want to even think about pot watering, though I guess I need to do some of that, too.)

I learned last year that during the hot and dry summers in this part of the country, irises do need water. I had divided and watered in about 75 irises, and my past experience in a different locale told me they would be happy without much more attention. I watered them perhaps once a month during that summer, but too late I noticed that probably half of them died. Last month I replaced the dead ones, and I'm watering once a week, and so far, no mortality. Our loose, sandy soil dries out almost instantly.

Sometimes I have felt so faint in the heat while hand watering that I water bent over, with my head near my knees! It must look very odd. I don't understand my body's reaction, because I spent my teen years in Southern Arizona, were temps in the 90s feel COOL, and everyone loves 100, compared to the higher alternatives.

You take care of yourself, Tim. What if you'd whacked your head on a shovel when you collapsed!

@LynnDel ...

Even a wet t-shirt will cool your core body. When I first moved up here, I used to dunk my t-shirt in slightly warm water and then put it on ... it did make a difference.

Day temps here hover around 100F daily for months.

I have a portable fan with a mister attached that I set up when I am working outside in this heat, these days.

I want to love my garden. Can't do that, if working in it makes me sick ..

As strange as it sounds I wear socks in really hot weather with my crocs while doing gardening chores and I frequently immerse my feet in a bucket of cold water. My wet cool feet keep me from feeling the heat like I do when I wear closed shoes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009IDBCQ6/

I use these and I can really tell a difference. I mix them w water about 2 cups and then mix in 1 cup of some kind of juice, usually grape, real juice not corn syrup stuff.

Edit to say, I don't just use them, I LIKE them, they taste nice, not gritty or weird, and supposed to not have anything artificial in them. They are powdered, in a tough packet so you can carry them in your purse,wallet ect. They make different flavors-all kinds. Even my kids like them. The are sweeter than I like, but still only a very small amount overall and sweetened w steevia. I think the ones I picked up at the local health food store were like 45c each, but they may be a tad cheaper w amazon, I order them that way, so I don't have to drive to the store, cause I don't live close and they don't carry the flavors I like locally.

This is one of the reasons I don't like to buy iris. They always ship them in the hottest part of the year and when I plant them they just sit there drying up in the heat, if I water them they start to rot. I loose probably 1/2 of all new iris. If you plant them too late they don't have time to root before winter and heave up out of the ground. I've seriously thought about buying them and is there anyway to store them over the winter to plant them in the spring, say the first of April or May?
When I divide mine I always do it the min they are done blooming, they move nicely, and have time to root before summer gets too hot. Of course this year doesn't count-we had record temps in the 90's in May after having record ice/snow in April.

:crying:

We do use a portable gazebo like shade thing, it goes up like a tent, it does kind of go up better w two people. But it really does help w shade.

I think Ebay buyers are sometimes impatient because they are afraid they have been scammed if they don't get the item right away, plus ebay pressures them to leave feedback ect and they only have a limited time to file complaint if they do not receive an item, ect. I have bought a lot of things over ebay over the years, but there are bad apples. I have never purchased plants, too afraid to! I guess if I knew I was dealing w someone reputable, but who knows. I am just leary of it. I think when it started out it was a great way for small businesses to get customers, but nowadays having your own website is so easy and affordable mostly. So ebay is used more to selling pre-owned items, misc stuff and not so much for business maybe.

Lynn and Bonnie, Good ideas for how to cope with very hot weather.

👍lyn , bonnie, and frillylily on staying cool and healthy tips!

@Frillylilly ~ So far this season I have potted up about 100 iris rhizomes. I will plant them out in September. They are under the shade of an oak tree, with a little filtered sun instead of being planted in straight heat. The only ones I planted in the sun right away were the arilbreds, which are in large pots.

and a reminder to everyone who is hydrating.... very cold beverages feel good but your body will not use it until your stomach warms it up. so if you 'slosh' after drinking ice water and still feel thirsty it is because your body is warming the fluid you drank so it can use it to hydrate your body. Cold water is for pouring over your body, room temp water is for hydrating/drinking.

Do misters and mister fans help any to keep the bugs away? I am afraid they might invite more mosquitoes into my life.....

grannysgarden said:As strange as it sounds I wear socks in really hot weather with my crocs while doing gardening chores and I frequently immerse my feet in a bucket of cold water. My wet cool feet keep me from feeling the heat like I do when I wear closed shoes.

I dip my head into the pool and put my baseball cap back on.

maybe a thin towel w/a bag of ice on top, under your cap might keep you cooler longer?