Thank you pondbucket. um..I havent fertilized, lol. I figured the fish poop, etc..would be enuf? was I wrong? Well, the ones in the lotus pond I suppose get fert. I stick Jobe's tomato fert sticks in all the Thalia Dealbata, Waterlily pots and the lotus pond like every 3-4 weeks, the Lotus pond gets 4-5 sticks. The Iris that are in the lotus pond are not in pots. The iris inground there gets MG runoff from the brug, plus whenever I rinse out the prefilter on the pump, that bucket of water gets dumped on that iris and surrounding plants. The Iris in the bigger pond is in a pot which it totally outgrew this spring, very pot bound..I think the plastic pot is actually cracking. But I didnt want to repot it till after it bloomed, thinking if I messed with it, it wouldnt bloom yet again. That one's crown is at water level, coming up out of the pea rocks. It is visible. That area gets full sun all spring and the first half of the summer. In a couple weeks when its boiling hot and the sun is on a dif path, it will get more shade, uh oh, I hope..I did lotsa tree trimming this year :/ I was worried putting the hostas there thinking it may be too sunny for them, but they made it through last year just fine...if I remember correctly..I dont remember any burning. O wait a minute..I just realized the hosta you mean..the only one you can see, lol..in pic #1. That area gets morning sun till about noon? and late afternoon sun, is only shaded at the hottest part of the day, and not deeply shaded. I am pretty sure that Hosta is, I have no clue, lol. That Hosta is in a new spot now as of this spring so we'll see how it does. I just did the stream addition this spring..last year that was basically a pile of dirt with a couple plants and some mulch. If you wanna see more of my hosta pix, as well as a couple other plants, I have some I just posted the other day in the brug forum..follow the link.. Here is a link that might be useful: recent pix from the other day

I wonder what you will come home with, I can't wait to see. I went out this morning &, like you, I see more spikes coming out on my tall beardeds. One that was already out for a couple of weeks & just stopped in its tracks is showing yellow at the tip. Not what is supposed to be there, so what else is new :) I swear those garden gremlins are out there moving my stuff around. I think I see purple showing on Daughter of Stars buds too. Coolish today, but supposed to be in the 70's & 80's the rest of the week, YAH! Should be perfect planting weather for all that you get. I don't think we will get a heavy enough frost to hurt iris buds. It has frosted a couple of times since the buds have been out on mine. Of course, the only tall bearded iris that has bloomed is Crimson King, & maybe that on is really an intermediate size. One plant has 2 severely twisted stalks. I don't know if that is due to cold or what.

Laurie, that is very informative. I am glad it is different because I already have some LA irises growing in my goldfish pond and I really wanted something a little different. The original plant was beside a rose garden and was very tall and magestic looking. I have the tiny babies planted around a angel water fountain. When I was a child, I loved bearded irises, but I can't grow them in zone 9 NE Florida. We are planning to move back to zone 8 where I have noticed others growing bearded irises. I can't wait. Thanks again. I know my way around many plants, but the irises, for the most part are new to me. However, I did buy a huge bucket of white with violet centered African Irises today. I have them planted in front of some red rose bushes.

laura, from all that i've read about pseudocorus, you would be spending a lot of money and time to clean up the invasion after it overtook your pond. pseudocorus is listed as an invasive plant/an invader in many states. many states have banned the planting of it (check your state's guidelines). it chokes waterways and native flora and fauna. you will probably not be able to clip every seed pod to keep it in check. i think there are other water-loving irises that would be far better for what you want, without the financial and time headaches afterwards. cheers --