Berrytea I hope to get a few more of the taller spurias from Commanche Acres Irises this year, Different colors of course and hopefully in a few years be hybridizing to see what I can come up with. Jwist be patient. I've had my spuria about 7 years. They were given to me and I had no idea what they were other than they looked like an iris. The 4th year of seeing 5 foot flags and no blooms I was ready to compost them. Well I got busy that 4th year and didn't get them dug up and then one day I was surprised with a beautiful bloom and I've been hooked ever since. I don't do anything special for them. Other than weed around them and water them occasionally during really dry spells. Because they are so tall I have them planted behind a 1ft rock wall that is the back of one of my flower beds that borders our woods. It is also at the base of a hill so the irises get natural mulch from the trees in the winter. Every spring I have to remove about a foot of leaves that collect on top of them. Not sure if the decaying leaves are fertilizing them or not but they never bloomed for me until I move them to this spot. Iris gal I'm glad there is someone else that love spuria. Was beginning to think I was the only one. I love my daughter's hair also Alisande and she keeps wanting me to let her dye it. She's only 13, I tell her when she is 18 and moved out she can dye it what ever she wants. lol

You've got it. The rhizome that has sent up a bloom stalk will not send up another. Exception: some cultivars will send up more than one blm.slk. per rhizome. The rhizome that has bloomed is now reproducing. Some are very vigorous, producing lots of babies that grow to blooming size quickly (Thornbird is one). Others may produce only 1-3 babies. Mine take at least 2 years to grow large enuf to bloom. When the babies have established their own root systems the mother rhizome withers away and dies. When you dig one up you will see pinholes on the bottom where roots used to be.

I had the same thought, Maire. But I'd have to use such narrow strips of wool to do all that shading--not to mention a lot of precise dyeing. I've avoided hooking flowers, except in a rather primitive way, for these reasons. If I were still doing needlepoint, though, that would be a possibility. These irises are really lovely.

That quiz is cool. But it says that I sound like North Central. Don't know about that! When dh lived in NC the people there thought he was from Virginia. Apparently our Cdn accent sounds like Virginians....