5.75" of rain in two days - I have iris falling over from the weight of the wet blooms and will have to go buy some bricks or something to shore them back up. But in the mean time I was able to see a FFO on Medal Of Honor - I was iffy about buying this one but I am so glad I did. The bloom is quite large and striking. I also added two pics of Fairy to the database, one just to show it's height - which averages 36" in my garden - because I never saw any info on how tall it was and I was expecting a short little plant about 10" tall, haha. So I planted them at the very front of my flower beds. I have to rethink that, lol. And last, my old, noid peonies are going to go downhill fast now.

Cindy,

I feel your pain. We have had the wettest year in history here in Tennessee. I am sooo over it. The majority of my irises fell down from the weight of the rain on the flowers. The same with my peonies—the ones that are not supposed to need staking. I need to clip roses and clean up iris, but I do not want to be cutting anything while it is so wet. I worked in the rain this morning because I simply could not stand looking at weeds anymore. I got soaked and cold. I should have taken a hot bath as soon as I got in. Instead I sat around shivering.

Record rainfall and coldest April I can remember, and May has been the same. Not a good year for irises here in southern OH.

I will probably lose some to rot, particularly if I cannot get out and clean beds properly.

Yep, we're all in the same boat. I have dear friends that moved to Gatlinburg a few years back and whatever weather they get, I get the next day. Although sometimes they get snow and I don't. Last year I went crazy and bought about 200 iris - I was so excited to see how many would bloom this year! If the weather dries out I still have a chance - lots of stalks and buds that are stalled due to the cold, but still healthy (so far). We had 3 nights in the 20s last week and I was too c'est la vie too bother with socks/coverings. I lucked out because my buds sailed through it.

urania1 said:I will probably lose some to rot, particularly if I cannot get out and clean beds properly.

I am worried about rot - we're jumping into the hot, muggy 80s next week after flooding conditions here and the chance of rain every day next week. I'll be on vacation so maybe I'll be able to keep an eye out.

So sorry to hear of all of your rain and its effects on the flowers. I've been fairly dry this spring, though cool. But getting rain now. Coming down heavy at the moment, but not a thunderstorm, thankfully.

I have my fingers crossed for you Cindy that your irises don't suffer from rot .

Usually when my friends in this forum in USA talk about the extremes of weather it is the opposite to what is going on here in Melbourne. This time it is similar. Melbourne is on track set records for the wettest first 5 months of the year. I believe the drought affected areas are getting plenty of rain too

Robin, Australia's had some pretty serious fires recently, haven't they? So good you are getting some rain!

Totally_Amazing said:I have my fingers crossed for you Cindy that your irises don't suffer from rot .

Usually when my friends in this forum in USA talk about the extremes of weather it is the opposite to what is going on here in Melbourne. This time it is similar. Melbourne is on track set records for the wettest first 5 months of the year. I believe the drought affected areas are getting plenty of rain too

Did you make it through the fires unscathed? You have such interesting ecosystems there. I hope you do not get extinctions because of it. And I hope the people affected are okay. In this country, when we have natural disasters, those who are well off usually bounce back. The Camp Fire that ravaged parts of California last year left some economically disenfranchised homeless and they were told there will be no place for them as things are rebuilt. I could say some ugly words now, but I won't

Mary,
I live in suburbia in Melbourne which is about a 4 hour drive away from the fires. The areas that were impacted by fires have received a decent amount of rain too . My nephew is a plumber working for a roofing company and he has just travelled to the fire impacted area this week to work. The coronavirus restrictions would have delayed the rebuild effort over the last 3 months. I've seen some lovely images of new green growth on the trees in the burnt areas but I haven't heard anything about the people.