Laughing Ravens

  This year's iris seedlings have reached the point where it is time to move them from the seedling trays and into the new beds. Last year, we planted them far too close. As a result, this spring it was apparent that they were so close it was going to be difficult to distinguish one plant from another. Some irises were easy enough to lift early in the spring, while we were getting rain nearly every day. Other irises will just have to wait a few more weeks to be moved. Normally, I would wait until late summer to move an iris... but this year we need the bed space. For some of the larger irises, there might be some transplant shock. I plan on moving them right before a long rain, but that's never a guarantee. One of the other things I anticipate making use of this year: Miracle-Gro Quick Start (4-12-4). I started using it on my seedlings last year as a way to help build strong roots mid-summer.    One of the things we discovered last winter/early this spring is that critter...

Seeds are another gateway drug. Heck, I'd put dahlias into that category too. Seeds are definitely the Doritos of the plant world. You can't plant just one. Seeds are relatively cheap, easy to store, last a while, and when they grow, they make you feel awesome. I wish antidepressants made me feel as good. (Maybe you have to add water and warm soil to make antidepressants work?) Seeds are cool. For less than $5.00, you can get a pinch of seeds that let you attempt to grow a real plant. No guarantees. Chances are, you'll kill more than you grow. At least at first you will. In a perfect world, all those dead seedlings will teach you something. Either you should have stuck with accounting, or maybe you need to learn some basics about plant biology. I love folks who think gardening is easy.  Seeds come in so many flavors, shapes and sizes! I had a conversation with a friend the other day and we were talking about 'kid seeds'. Things that young kids (and newbies to garden...

  Seeds of various irises, from SIGNA, from friends on Facebook, and from fellow hybridizers I have been waiting for the SIGNA seed exchange to open since 2023. They cancelled the seed exchange last year due to low participation numbers. Not enough folks were excited enough to send seeds. This year, I kept checking the SIGNA website with baited breath.  For other seed loving, iris growing enthusiasts, here is the link: http://www.signa.org/index.pl?Membership So why am I so excited? I guess it helps to understand what SIGNA is. "Species Iris Group of North America is devoted to studying the Iris family in the wild as well as enjoying them in the garden. We're equally interested in species and hybrids. We promote them through our seed exchange while supporting their conservation in the wild. We disseminate scientific and cultural information about them through our members-only publications and to the public at large via this website." - from the SIGNA website. What this re...

 This post is meant to be a quick stab at the topic of starting iris seeds. On the surface, this should be straight forward. Stick seeds in dirt, watch them come up, poof! Irises. My first experiments with growing irises from seed started with Siberian iris, 'Caesar's Brother' which had plentiful seeds the year before.   And the truth of the matter is that it is a little bit more complex than that... but not that terribly difficult. The first question is where does one get iris seeds? What sort of iris seeds are you wanting to try to grow? Do you have enough room to grow a lot of plants or just a few? Wait, I thought I said this was going to be simple. Okay, the simplest place to get iris seeds is from your own irises. If bees have pollinated your plants, you'll see lovely swollen seed pods where the flowers used to be. Let those seed pods dry until just before they crack open. Then harvest them (with notes about what the name of the variety you gathered them from [this...