flowerbrackob Molly Price, and others, have recommended division as soon as bloom is finished. This advice seems to have been lost. I have always waited a couple of months in the past and had little to none bloom the following year. I have friends in the area with better soil and they've had the same results. Excepting some very vigorous cultivars. After division a soaking is required. I mean thorough. Overnight if needed. Then no water until the top 6 inches of soil dries. Bearded rhizomes cannot be compared to other plants. I don't know why Melle's turned to mush after 10 days. Something was going on. I do know that hardiness is not an issue for tall beardeds in Sunset zone 14. No fresh manure, good drainage, full sun, deep irrigation - these are mandatory for good health.

I used a sharpie for most of my garden last year (not knowing it would fade) now most of my labels are blank and I'm worse off than I was when I started. I used a paint pen on the few remaining labels and those are still intact. I'm planning on moving out of the labeling this year. I made a raised bed last year that was 4'X12' and planted one per square foot. It's so much easier to keep track of them this way! I just wrote out a grid with 48 squares and wrote the names in each spot. I hope to pull up all my others and plant them in the same manner then mark them down on my grid as they bloom. Since almost every one of my tags is ruined I can't be sure of their id's other than unique ones (like 'Thornbird') At least I'll have a way to keep track of their appearance and keep photos of them even if I might never rejoin them with their rightful name. I'll still be able to identify a plant for it's bloom, even if not for it's name. Of course I would never share them as anything other than a noid, but at least I won't have to just scrap all of the plants I've added to my collection over the last few years. Brock

Before the Storm was taken with my old Kodak which for some reason had trouble with some colors at times. I know somewhere I have a truer picture. Somewhere I have a picture of Matt McNames. Here is Old Black Magic and a poor picture of Midnight Oil. Colors are accurate. I use my camera to date bloom times. Both of these are Late Season here. This can sometimes be a problem because our weather usually warms signicantly in the late season leaving burnt edges on the bloom. Midnight Oil Old Black Magic

JI irises are the easiest to grow and they come more easily from seed than any irises I know. I love them and they grow well this far south. The drawbacks are: They bloom very late after the onset of heat in the South. Many blooms last only a day. Sometimes with the multifalled ones, in the humidity they get all tangled up and do not 'fall' or bloom properly. They soon exhaust the soil they are in and have to be moved to another area, not just replanted in the same spot unless you had another foot of soil to the bed. Otherwise, they are fantastic, and I continue to have a nice patch of them, knowing all of the problems I have to contend with. A good selling point: Many of the older varieties can pass for modern ones, so you don't have to spend a wad to get good looking varieties. Surprisingly, they can tolerate drought quite well. When you plant seed from modern cultivars, you will be surprised at the number of keepers you'll get, unlike most bearded. I try to get early bloom, three falled varieties. There are some three falled varieties that are so big, they look like they have six falls. Hatsu Kagami is a great parent for getting wide falls. Try your luck with Iris City Gardens near Nashville, TN. Walter Moores