Needing a system to keep track of my irises, the years that they bloomed and when they were transplanted, I came up with two forms. One is a blooming record by year and the other is alphabetical and tracks when they were purchased, transplanted, and bloomed. I only have about 30 different irises so these forms work well for me. What do some of you use to keep your iris records other than NGA?

Yearly notebooks and an old fashioned card catalog - along with an extensive set of photos on my computer.

Looks great Sherri! I have a spread sheet that shows the name of the iris, when I bought it, who I bought it from, who was the hybridzer, what year it was introduced, if it has children and was it pollen or pod fertile (or both), I have one blank space at the end of the row that I have added the date of first bloom. That's where I've failed in adding this information. That said, until this year, I went outside everyday after work to take pictures of each new bloom. I have my irises listed by date of bloom in the computer so the information could be retrieved.
I'm not sure if your new to the iris forum but or again.

great ideas sherri, and pam.

i just keep a notebook/binder with a page for each iris. photo of iris at the top left hand corner of the page, followed by a description of the flower, hybridizer, time of bloom, and registered year.

under the heading i have three columns, year, significant event, acquisition and placement.

I use an Excel spread sheet, Much of the information similar to Barbs. I use cell notes to add any additional information if needed. When I part ways with an iris either through choice or expiration of the iris, I assign it to "Bed X" I like how I can sort and re-arrange data quickly. I can do it for a quick look at something, and then not save it and it all goes back to the way it was. For example if I want to know how many Keppel irises I have, I can sort by hybridizer, and there it is. Works for me anyway.

I too, use an Excel spreadsheet.

When you have a lot if irises you will find it difficult to look them up quickly without a spread sheet on the computer. I keep the iris by name , height, hybridizer, year introduced, year I got it, where I got it, EML bloom, date of bloom in my garden, known to Rebloom and and date of RE in my garden. I keep a huge binder with all this information as backup and all paper orders and correspondence going back years. I have another computer folder with photos of all my irises. These are kept in sub folders such as TB, BB, IB, etc. I have a computer folder each year of all iris blooms for that year. There's more but I am beginning to see my addiction showing so.....

Your notes are a lot prettier than mine Sherri.

I use an excel spreadsheet too and I record all of the characteristics of my irises and the days they flowered each year.

iciris said:Looks great Sherri! I have a spread sheet that shows the name of the iris, when I bought it, who I bought it from, who was the hybridzer, what year it was introduced, if it has children and was it pollen or pod fertile (or both), I have one blank space at the end of the row that I have added the date of first bloom. That's where I've failed in adding this information. That said, until this year, I went outside everyday after work to take pictures of each new bloom. I have my irises listed by date of bloom in the computer so the information could be retrieved.
I'm not sure if your new to the iris forum but or again.

Thank you for your information and your welcome to me. I'm just a newbie to NGA and joined almost a year ago. Mostly I have just posted photos of my irises. I'm just now learning how to post comments and a few of the other things associated with this website. I love it. Why did you stop taking pictures?

grannysgarden said:When you have a lot if irises you will find it difficult to look them up quickly without a spread sheet on the computer. I keep the iris by name , height, hybridizer, year introduced, year I got it, where I got it, EML bloom, date of bloom in my garden, known to Rebloom and and date of RE in my garden. I keep a huge binder with all this information as backup and all paper orders and correspondence going back years. I have another computer folder with photos of all my irises. These are kept in sub folders such as TB, BB, IB, etc. I have a computer folder each year of all iris blooms for that year. There's more but I am beginning to see my addiction showing so.....

Thank you for the information, it's very helpful. I know how you feel about "addiction". I have reports for how and when I supplement my soil, the date of blooms, photos of all my irises, dates of each irises blooms in addition to the reports I already posted. Seems like overkill considering I only have 31 different irises species.

Totally_Amazing said:Your notes are a lot prettier than mine Sherri.

I use an excel spreadsheet too and I record all of the characteristics of my irises and the days they flowered each year.

Thank you but I'd say that yours is more colorful.

I'm a little embarrassed by the simplicity of my forms compared to all of yours. The Excel spreadsheets are certainly the way to go. I keep several documents that could all be contained on the one spreadsheet. Thanks to all of you for sharing your recordkeeping with me. Now if only I knew how to use Excel.

If you like puzzles at all you will love Excel.

SherriRaye said:
Why did you stop taking pictures?

In spring so many of us post pictures that I thought I'd start posting some of them this summer or in the fall. Funny you mentioned that because yesterday I was going through some photos and was going to post a picture of Cherry Sparkle. I'll have to get on that.

grannysgarden said:If you like puzzles at all you will love Excel.

Well goodness but you are all far too organized. I have lists on my computer of purchases by year, then within the list by category - ie TB, IB, LA, etc., and within each category by where I got it.

Example:
2017 Iris

Tall Bearded

Shady Spot
Cuttin' Zzzzs
Judy Schneider

Superstition
Big City Kitty
Peach Pearl


I take pictures of everything that blooms so I have a yearly record of pictures, I also keep a spiral notebook where I enter the date each starts blooming.

And my NGA plant list has the year I got it, the vendor/person who sent it and the the hybridizer. I also mark in there when I lose an iris and how - i.e. rot, dried up.

That is as fancy as I have gotten with it all. Very old school and bare bones compared to some. I do also map my gardens, and update them every time I transplant any.

iciris said:
In spring so many of us post pictures that I thought I'd start posting some of them this summer or in the fall. Funny you mentioned that because yesterday I was going through some photos and was going to post a picture of Cherry Sparkle. I'll have to get on that.

I was hoping that you hadn't given up photography. Glad that you explained. Looking forward to seeing your Cherry Sparkle.

Lestv said:Well goodness but you are all far too organized. I have lists on my computer of purchases by year, then within the list by category - ie TB, IB, LA, etc., and within each category by where I got it.

Example:
2017 Iris

Tall Bearded

Shady Spot
Cuttin' Zzzzs
Judy Schneider

Superstition
Big City Kitty
Peach Pearl


I take pictures of everything that blooms so I have a yearly record of pictures, I also keep a spiral notebook where I enter the date each starts blooming.

And my NGA plant list has the year I got it, the vendor/person who sent it and the the hybridizer. I also mark in there when I lose an iris and how - i.e. rot, dried up.

That is as fancy as I have gotten with it all. Very old school and bare bones compared to some. I do also map my gardens, and update them every time I transplant any.

Leslie ~ That looks pretty organized to me. You have all the important things covered.

evelyninthegarden said:

Leslie ~ That looks pretty organized to me. You have all the important things covered.

I agree ! I'm satisfied when I remember to add the new irises to my profile list.
But this does get done. The database is so useful; I use it all the time - but it works best for me if my info is up-to-date. I also have several notebooks in which I keep information about crosses...and notes about blooms and bloom times...and who's fertile and who isn't... and other random comments.
I do try to map the beds, but my maps are not pretty. Furthermore, I wouldn't know an Excel if it jumped up and bit me! There's something in me that doesn't like a graph.