So far so good! Keeping my fingers crossed.

Glad there is no clot, Monty.

I'm very glad, of course. Now that some of the scare is gone, time for an update for my garden.

This requires those who are good with MDBs maybe.
My brand new little MDB 'Midnight' looks rather odd like this. I've noticed prior that TBs seem to separate their leaves maybe slightly when a bloomstalk is about to arise from the leaves. With this, I'm not sure if this is about to throw a bloomstalk up as I've never had anything but TBs with my gardens.


What do y'all think?

Here's another update on my garden of...briars!

I made a very makeshift bed for the 33 new iris plantlings given to me by the awesome Sherry, and Busy Being Blue was also replaced with them. Another nice blue for the area.
They all look nice, but the bed is very makeshift and cheap as stated. Just a bunch a dirt.

For now, until I can find myself a job, I'll willingly go the cheaper route and have at least a start before I can go all out and give my irises the best, which is what I really want to do. For now, I can at least try my best to water and weed, or fertilize or whatever they need to prosper at the current moment. Take it as a work in progress, perhaps.

Regardless, I took an approach with the bed to help me stay identified. Shorter irises towards the front, border and intermediate beardeds, and most of the tall beardeds at the back.
Certain sections have a specific colour genre. Right at the middle of the 'L,' the blue irises are planted. So the likes of Busy Being Blue, Perfection, Absolute Treasure, and a few others that have blue hues are in the middle.

Going towards the top of the L, there's the oranges and yellow/reds. The TBs consist of oranges like Mango Queen, Nessun Dorma, Earthborn and a few others make up the oranges. I am particularly excited for this section, because this will be the first year I have really had any orange bloom for me.
IBs Honey Glazed and Hot Spice are in front with BB Cranapple in the middle.

Towards the highest part of the L, the yellows and reds are. Kathy Chilton, Pride of Ireland, Shakedown and reds or dark reds like Smoldering Fire there as well.

To the right of the L, the upper line has the two rebloomer TBs there, as well as variegated iris pallida's of Argentea and Aurea below them (extending the blueish purple). Below Feed Back and Grape Echo is Concertina.

Towards the furthest right is the ID iris attempts. Jean Cayeux, Quaker Lady and Easter Bonnet are placed to try and identify the tan noids, and Gay Paree and Gay Pal (at the end of the L) to try and identify the very obviously Gay Paree noid.
Above those is Tobacco Chew and Thornbird. Those might make some nice contrasty-tan beige to the tan identifiers.
I need to take more pictures!...to give a better example of what I mean. I'll re-edit later.

Now you may ask, "Well, where's the purples?" They reside in a tire just to the left of the L-shaped bed. This may very well be the best section. IB Micro Burst, and TBs Sharp Dressed Man and Epicenter are planted in the tire. I feel like it will make a really beautiful bed...or tire!

I may shift the order around though, because I feel that Micro Burst will be over shadowed at the back like that.
Eventually, I may put the daylilies in the small plastic pots with the L-shaped bed, as well as some daffodils to help the area.

I'll keep updating. Especially when the next iris bloom season comes up again, as well as the other various little blooms around my yard. Any suggestions? Thanks for the comments so far, and the well wishes on my leg and foot.

Monty, Your planting looks good to me. You say it's just a bunch of dirt, but if you have never grown irises in that dirt before, the new plantings are likely to be happy. There's probably a lot of good nutrients in that virgin (as far as iris are concerned) soil.

Your new bed looks good Monty
Your irises in the tyre look close to the edge. They will grow closer to the edge.

I didn't notice that, I hope the increases don't grow under the rim of the tire.

I would not plant more than one TB in a tire. The sun will heat the black surface of the tire and if an irises roots or leaves are touching it they will burn. Good luck.

Hi Monty
Glad you included comments on 2 MTB's. I am in process of preparing a program on MTB's for National and those 2 look good to include. I understand that you grow MTB's just as TB's but require a better drainage. They too like to have rhizome exposed to Sun. I am trying to grow 2 Spanish Coins in a trough and so far leaves are thriving and new plants coming off main rhizomes. Can fin little info on this. I greatly appreciated comments from forum members on suggested good MTB cultivar!

our MTBs don't need any special requirements. they are usually tougher than some TBs here.

My MTBs thrive here too, Lucy. I plant and treat them just like the TBs and get better overall bloom than I do from the TBs. Maybe they try harder?

Blooming today is Lady Emma. I shared this one out so much this summer I thought I would not get a fall bloom but I did.



LE has never failed to bloom in both spring and fall here and is always a welcome sight.

I did not take the best pictures ever, but it at least gives a grasp of an idea, ha.
Regardless, thanks for the comments and advice, everyone!

Robin and Barbara - Good point, y'all. I have had two other tires like that filled with irises, and they multiplied SO fast. Hard to believe that only two or three rhizomes of two varieties could do that. Though, I haven't seen in either of the other two tires, where they continued to grow backwards and under the rim of the tire, but I am not sure.

Andrea - I have been using this same top soil for every planting this year (that I recall) for irises, and all of the irises *seem* to be doing well. There was some uncertainty because
the leaves on some did brown out, but they have since recovered well.

I mentioned two other tires just above, and they had I suppose regular dirt in them, and boy did those irises take well. I can't remember if I had a first year bloom or not, but they filled both tires in less than three years. I still need to transplant the other tire....but an invasion of red ants is preventing that for a small while...

Bonnie - Thank you for the suggestion, Bonnie! I have had up to three TBs (all noid) in any tire at any given point, and while that tire filled up really quickly, I never noticed any issues really - then again, those tires were spray-painted blue. Hopefully, because Micro Burst is a smaller iris, it won't take up as much room, perhaps.

Iclehman - I am not sure if I have any MTBs, actually. I do have MDB and SDB, as well as BB and IB, but I believe my only MTB may be Lucy Doodle. I appreciate everything you're doing, though! Keep it up!

How do BB and IB compare to the likes of TBs? Are they easier, or more fussy? One of my IBs is a rebloomer!

I am still very inexperienced - Believe it or not, before this year, I have only ever had a TB, and I have purchased VERY few TBs even though I've loved them always. Joining this site has been amazing. All of you have been very kind and insightful, and now here I am, one month later and I have added *54* varieties of iris to my collection. What a site to see! I will update some more later on, of course!

Monty, Hang in there. You're doing great. They "grow" on you.
BTW How is your leg problem? Better?

I wish I could say it got better. The camping trip made it worse, but it wasn't of my own doing actually. That is besides the point, though. I will probably have my leg and foot re-evaluated Monday.
Thanks for the concern, Leon!

I took a lot of pictures today to sort-of document what my plants are doing - everything seems to be alive, well and growing!

Diamond Blush and Ida Red are doing well! They both have rooted well.


Cat's Eye (rhizome with many increases) and Edith Wolford, as well as the purple/white bicolour noid are doing well, and I am especially happy that Edith Wolford has made a quick and stark recovery!


Nordica, which is planted in front of three ceramic pots, two of the large rhizomes have begun sprouting up fans! The third (the farthest left one) hasn't done much yet. These girls may bloom for the first time nex year if I am not careful!


I was planning to move Metro Blue and Mesmerizer into the L-shaped bed, but I didn't expect both to be so well rooted already. I decided that they were having their way!

I did take up the third and final Busy Being Blue rhizome and dispatched it with the other two in the blue section of the L-shaped bed!

This one pink/red bicolour that looks like Indian Chief is really a nice rhizome. The fan is large and green, and she's been sending up four increases, but if you look closer, there's a fifth increase (fan) showing up!

I'm expecting maybe a few more, because the entire left side of the rhizome doesn't have any, and the small extension behind the larger fan doesn't have its own fan yet.

Lucy Doodle, Gay Paree (the noid one) and a yellow noid as well as a few more Indian Chief lookalikes have also sent up a few increases!


Now, I said I was going to make a more in-depth and close-up approach to the L-shaped bed, so here's all the lovely irises!

The two IDs to try and ID my Gay Paree lookalike noid is the furthest right in the bed, and they face towards the right, unlike all the other irises in this bed. Gay Paree looks like he needs a hair-cut already!



The small rebloomer section of Grape Echo and Feedback, as well as IB Concertina! I am hopeful for this part.


Thornbird and Tobacco Chew tower over the three attempts to ID my tan noid: Jean Cayeux, Easter Bonnet, and Quaker Lady!


Variegated foliage of Argentea and Aurea, or Zebra begin the mark of the blue section of the L-shaped bed! I am looking forward to these two...I am sure I'll love the change in foliage colour!


As aforementioned, the Busy Being Blue clan is now all residing at the very tip of the L. I added in the third rhizome, and he was already forming three increases! I almost feel bad for pulling him out of the comfy cozy ceramic pot!


A beautiful blue beginning section for the blue group consisting of Stairway to Heaven, Conjuration, Splashacata and border bearded Blackbeard in front!


Splashacata, Perfection and Absolute Treasure end out the blue section! This section will be one pretty one for sure!


The orange section begins with Smoldering Fire, Oil Painting, and Mango Queen behind, and IBs Hot Spice and Honey Glazed beside BB Cranapple!


Finishing the orange section is Nessun Dorma and Earthborn, and beginning the yellow/red section is Kathy Chilton and Shakedown behind, and Pride of Ireland and Terracotta Bay in front!

Oh...that ended the yellow/red section...AND the L-shaped bed!

Here are some more shots of the bed. I have some TLC to do to these beds.


The purples in the tire has had arrangement changes! Microburst is now the center of the show, and Sharp Dressed Man and Epicenter face diagonall outward on either side! Hopefully, this will discourage very much growth towards the hot black rubber!


There's something blooming in our yard other than some mums! Petunias!
They're so charming and quaint.



Glitter Repink is doing fine, and she has now rooted well!


As have Beverly Sills, Acoma and Golden Tiger!


Harvest of Memories and Patriotic Heart are doing fine also.


Closing out my update, one of the beds was overgrown with weeds, and it was cut back. That led to me noticing that some of the irises mothers' were rotting, and I cut those off. Now, two and a half weeks later, these irises sure are growing very, very well!


I'll keep updating the thread of course, the more and more my plants grow and prosper, hopefully!

Monty, take care of that swollen leg and foot.

IB's generally speaking grows faster than TB's. They are also overall more tolerant of wet and cold. In my cold and wet climate they are definitely easier to grow than TB's.

I don't grow enough BB's to have a well based personal opinion about them, but I don't think there are that much differences between BB's and TB's - it is mostly about the size.

Monty ~ Do you have signs or labels for your irises? I didn't see any in your pictures.

William - I'll continue trying to take care of it, but it has not gotten any better. On day 11 of problems now.

I haven't had BBs, IBs, MTBs or anything really other than TB, so having a few IBs and a few BBs now will provide some interesting results. I even now have a few SDBs and an MDB!
I have mostly TB of course, but I have at least four IBs and two BBs. Three SDBs and an MDB. Not too shabby. I do also have an MTB. I do want to continue getting the smaller varieties, perhaps even more than some TBs. Will TBs always be more in numbers? Definitely.

Thanks for the comment, William!

Evelyn - Other than what is visible on the leaves, no. No labels. I want to get labels, but luckily enough for me, I have an odd ability to remember almost exactly what I placed down and the ID name of the plants with just a small amount of assessing the known rhizomes in the area.
Oh, Honey Glazed and Hot Spice are here, that must mean Cranapple is right *here*, and X is here, and Y is there, and Z is everywhere. Kind of that sort of assessing, I suppose.
I still want labels to be absolutely sure, but my memory helps me out quite a lot.

I will get labels in the future, when I have more funds and more prominent skills to gardening. Thank you for the comment, Evelyn!

Don't trust your memory, it's easy to get confused once they start growing. If it takes them 2-3 years to bloom, you wont know what was what. We have all gone through "I will remember what they are" phase and have learned the hard way to make labels (and maps).

You're probably right, but leave it to 56 new varieties of iris and I remember where every one of them are. It's kind of freaky.

I'm also going to take photo-IDs of the irises - Diamond Blush? Snap a picture of where I planted the rhizome(s). Busy Being Blue? Same deal. I suppose it works as a bonus to my freakish memory thing just in case my memory does fail me.