Well -- I did it. Placed an online order with Aitken last night for *Gypsy Lord*. The $13.00 shipping fee included six rhizomes -- so I also ordered *Code Red*, *Dance Recital*, * LaScala*, *Beach Dance* and *Spice Lord*. A nice variety of colors. I hope he can ship them all -- this is my third try this year for *Code Red*. For bonuses I suggested *Got Milk*, *Crackling Caldera*, *Resonance*, *Solar Fire*, *Saturn*, *Pirate Ahoy* or *Musician*. I would be happy with any of those. So -- we'll see.
Now the immediate problem is that I have no place to plant them. Seriously. So I have begun the project of resurrecting the Iris bed alongside the riding arena. This was to have been a long, slow, winter project -- beginning with a spraying of grass killer three weeks ago. Once all the (Bermuda) grass died, and after we'd had some Fall rains to soften the soil, I was going to pull the remaining weeds and dig out the dead Bermuda roots -- a big job, but not difficult. Well the grass killer isn't -- the Bermuda is nice and green and healthy. And even though we had a little bit of rain several days ago, the ground is like concrete. Nevertheless, last night I started digging out an 8-foot section and got about half of it done. I'm sure that I haven't found all the Bermuda roots, but I figure that I'll plant the rhizomes far apart -- so that when the little green sprouts of Bermuda pop up, I'll have room to Round-Up them without accidentally spraying my Irises. Then, over the winter, I'll pursue my original plan and (hopefully) have everything under control by next Spring.
Oh my goodness -- what is the matter with me? I haven't even finished the work I planned to do on Iris Lane yet, and here I go with another project.
Sigh. Oh well -- it'll all be worth it next Spring, right? Right?
