PLEASE, God....Please! Couldn't we just have an inch or two of rain this week....and next??
It is SO dry here that we need to worry about the jerks who will shoot off fireworks during the week of the Fourth of July. Everything will go up like tinder.
I've lost a clematis because I didn't start watering soon enough. I'll have to start a daily regimen of sprinkling until the city announces a water ban.
I've been using a watering wand to water the few plants that aren't in the ground yet, the plants that went into the herb garden two weeks ago, and the plants in containers.
I started digging out iris last week. Generally you divide iris in August, but I have a lot of them to divide, and my research tells me that you can divide them any time, as long as they have enough time to settle in before the frost. One of my nephews spaded up an area four by six feet wide, and lifted out the iris. I did a second area that was roughly three by ten feet. And that's only FOUR of the twenty iris in my gardens. I need to get them replanted, and keep working my way through the renovation. It won't be completed this year, but I think I'll get a lot of it done.
So....Please send your rain this way!
Comments (6)
From my experience, you don't even need to get them in the ground until next spring (as long as you keep them in a cool sunless spot).
Oh I know that the experts say that they need lots of time after blooming to recover enough for a transplant, but they just coddle their plants too much!
Posted by bogie | June 21, 2005 4:27 AM
Posted on June 21, 2005 04:27
Well, yes. At least twice in the last six years I've kept buckets of iris thingies (tubers/rhizomes/buls--I keep forgetting what) in the downstairs refrigerator for at least 10 months. Many of those were shipped to Bogie. Did they survive?
Posted by Cop Car | June 21, 2005 11:06 AM
Posted on June 21, 2005 11:06
Actually, I know that irises do not have buls (and I think that Buffy said that they don't have bulbs, either!)
Posted by Cop Car | June 21, 2005 11:06 AM
Posted on June 21, 2005 11:06
RHIZOMES!!!
I hadn't thought about keeping them in the fridge. I wonder what Dear husband would say to having to eat out for the next few months because I need a place to store the iris.
Bogie.....given that you have to be hardy to live in NH...I suppose your plants must be hardy too. I've had friends fret that I was dividing my iris too soon, but as near as I can tell you can divide them anytime. I do mine early in the hope that I'll have blooms next year.
Of course, TODAY we were slapped with a watering ban. Bummer!
Posted by buffy | June 22, 2005 10:39 PM
Posted on June 22, 2005 22:39
Cop Car - The irises that you kept in the fridge gave me a wonderful show! The show isn't quite over yet, but it is starting to wind down.
I've kept irises in a shed (temps range from -15 to 100 degrees) for a couple of years and still had them survive (I had actually forgotten about them). A few month in the fridge should be easy for them!
Posted by bogie | June 23, 2005 4:29 AM
Posted on June 23, 2005 04:29
Bogie, that's reassuring. I was concerned that the heat we are experiencing would kill them off if I couldn't get them into the ground.
Posted by buffy | June 23, 2005 8:14 AM
Posted on June 23, 2005 08:14