Now, as most anyone who knows me, knows I love the Iris flower. And I point them out everywhere we go. I have seen them in every country we have traveled to with the exception of Saudi Arabia! I have Iris pictures, plates, etc. all over my house in Odessa. And six years ago I planted 60 Iris tubers all around the outside of the house. Just 60, which have all produced beautiful flowers, purple, salmon, black, yellow, champagne and purple, white and purple, etc. Now, to grow iris sucessfully, apparently you are suppose to dig them up every 3 years or so and "split" them and re plant. NO ONE TOLD ME THIS when I planted mine. WHAT??? It requires addition time and work after the initial planting???? AARRGGG! But, but, I'm retired! I have no time for this nonsense!
Well, after feeling "guilty" for the last year because my poor iris were being "crowded" I decided this year would be the year I would dig them up, split them and transplant them. Little did I know what I was getting into, besides one hell of a lot of work!!!! First of all, these things reproduce like rabbits! After digging them all up, which was a chore in itself and took nearly a week of dig some, rest, dig some, rest, repeat for better than 6 days I finally had them all out of the ground. Al and our son Jerry were really a big help here as I discovered my "digging" talents were lacking...in other words, I must have missed that class in school. Then I looked at all the iris...holy smoke! As Jerry put it "do you really need all of these?" Uh...no! I had over 200 tubers that we staring at me and that was before I split them! I could have Al dig up our extra corner lot and I could plant all of these iris and go into business as an iris farm....not damn likely! Everywhere I looked there were iris...I even dreamed about them.
Well, as of 20 minutes ago, I am officially done with iris! I have split and replanted 120 tubers, which left me with about 500 left over! I have decided I won't battle weeds in my flower beds again, so I planted tubers, then layed black landscaping material over it, being very careful to cut holes where my iris are to come up and then I have spread 22 bags of bark over the entire mess. And while doing this all I could think of "I bet my brother Johnny would tell me I am not doing this correctly" since he was in his past life a landscaper. Oh well....
My back, knees, hips and generally any other place on my body is screaming at me "you stupid old lady, you are too damn old to do this kind of work and not expect us to hurt!" and hurt they do. I hurt in places I didn't know I had! BUT IT IS DONE...at least for another 3-4 years...then I think I will find some young kid and hire him to do this!
Now, what to do with all the tubers I have left over????? I have given so many away that when people in town see me coming they go hide...it's like somebody trying to give away zuchinni...after a point no one wants it. I have even mailed iris to my cousin in Colorado...that's how desperate I am! If you get a box in the mail from me, better not open it unless you want iris! Wonder if they would grow in Arizona??? NO, I am not crazy enough to have two houses full of iris...besides they take more work than advertised!
We have had beautiful fall weather here in Odessa. The days have been warm and sunny and the nights cold and crisp. About 50% of the leaves have fallen off our trees and I love the crunch as I walk on the fallen leaves....and no, I haven't raked them up yet and probably won't -- I will just pray for a good stiff wind to blow them away. The apples are in season and we have a few fresh goldens, reds, gala's and johngolds...just waiting for an apple pie or crisp.
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