View Full Version : Iris hoarding--a personal confession
Here is a life lesson that even gardening can become a hoarding experience.
My main iris growing place is chock full 'o iris. I mean, it is excessive. WHO NEEDS THIS MUCH IRIS!!!!???? no one, I tell you. I dig it up extra plants and move them to a vacant lot and bang--within 2 years I've got too much iris there, too.
So now it looks as though I've got bad leave spot disease--AGAIN--in my main iris growing facility. The iris are wet (from this horrifically wet spring) and crowded. I fought this disease before and cleaned out a bunch of iris.
Believe me, I am putting out the word to neighborhood and iris society people to come and dig up iris, I've got excess. Over the weekend people came with three large pick-up trucks to dig and haul it away. I"m still left with 200+ plants.
I've got to get a grip on this iris addiction. Cwazy. And, it is leading to unhealthy iris. This situation reminds me of those cat collectors who are found with 100 cats who are all sickly and malnourished. Do not let me go down that path.
Send them here! It's the only thing the deer haven't eaten.
Are you personally attached to each one? It's a lot easier to find a home for a gorgeous iris than a stray cat. Find the silver lining! You could be the Johnny Appleseed of St. Louis. "Katie Irisbulb", perhaps.
Or this guy: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933392819?ie=UTF8&tag=lifecrafting-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1933392819
I, too, have various plant addictions.....especially water plants. But I'm learning that its okay to divide them and THROW THE EXTRA STUFF OUT........I don't have replant it somewhere else or try to find another home for it. Could that help you? When I feel like its all such a burden, that tells me that I need to rethink what I'm doing. Could you just throw the extra stuff out? I know how hard that is........but I think you'll get used to it.
You mean that I can throw away all those extra hens and chickens. (I am talking about plants with that name)
Yes you can! lol. Do as I say, not as I do. :~)
(Let's put it this way......I'm TRYING to throw those extras out. But sometimes they call to me.....they cry....."save us, save us".) :help:
I'll take the stray cat...
I, too, have various plant addictions.....especially water plants. But I'm learning that its okay to divide them and THROW THE EXTRA STUFF OUT........I don't have replant it somewhere else or try to find another home for it. Could that help you? When I feel like its all such a burden, that tells me that I need to rethink what I'm doing. Could you just throw the extra stuff out? I know how hard that is........but I think you'll get used to it.
Yes, your words help. I have actually put iris in the compost dumpster before, but it's always been these old grandma-type irises. Last year when I was cleaning out I dug them, separated them, cleaned them, cut leaves, and piled them behind my house. Then, sent a note out to our neighborhood listserve to come and get them.
This year I think I'll just dig them, set them in the alley, and send notes to our neighborhood AND Craigslist. I forgot about Craigslist. I think that exposure will will cause most to disappear.
Oh, also--like a hoarder, I've been lying to you as to how many plants there were. There's more like 400 that need to go. I need Iris Anonymous.
Today in this perfect weather I had a grand old time all day thinning iris, moving them around, setting out craploads of them in the alley for people to come and take.
The vacant lot across the street has been cleaned out by 80%. I think there are people who are coming back every few days to dig more after seeing what comes into bloom. this is fine with me. It's funny that they are consistently leaving one iris I adore called Kevin's Theme. I love that thing. I've got 200 cultivars and this guy is in my top ten. Funny how people have different tastes in color.
Meanwhile, I am thinning iris at my main iris growing facility which is like fairyland right now at peak iris bloom, yet, it no longer makes me giddy with joy, I just see a lot of iris, many of which I don't even like that much. I am disturbed about the number of cultivars that pop up all over the place and I dont' even LIKE them. What is I've learned that yes I can grow iris, that challenge is over, so now what.
If you're looking for a new challenge and potential for hoarding, I suggest roses. If I remember my useless trivia correctly, there are around 30,000 named cultivars of roses, so lots to choose from and you have the potential of blooms spring through fall, unlike those spring-only iris. Plus, people think roses are fussy and hard to grow, so they'll think you're a gardening rock star. C'mon over IL, addiction is fun in in the rose garden! ;)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_dp0PWyNAeVY/Tc_345xwgBI/AAAAAAAADrM/VbuPzk23Q5M/s400/IMG_6020a.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_dp0PWyNAeVY/Tc_3-UxZBDI/AAAAAAAADrQ/N_PyZmeW-AY/s400/IMG_8385a.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_dp0PWyNAeVY/Tc_5qExrBbI/AAAAAAAADrY/2HP3jtJYIrs/s400/IMG_4776a.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_dp0PWyNAeVY/Tc_55qJXabI/AAAAAAAADrc/sYn--CPU-Fs/s400/IMG_4448a.JPG
That pale orange one is really pretty!
But I don't do roses, hate their stickers. Yours are lovely to look at!
Iris. Having something you truly and deeply love is a good thing! You were made to be the Iris queen! It's an attribute that suits you so well! You even look like an Iris!!! ROTFLMAO! Nah, just kidding, but still, I can tell you really live for your gardening goodies and I think that's great.
Daisy. I LOVE your roses!!! I can almost smell them! (All colours for me)! :)
Today I dug more, tons actually, I'd say 6 wheelbarrows full, of iris out of the main beds. I'm putting some of it in the dumpster. I may alert Cargislisters to come and get it.
What's shocking is that I am even digging out ones that I adore. I've got to get some airflow around the iris that stay. It's so wet, they will get disease. I finaly have 5 - 10 plants of each variety I love, I mean c;mon, how many do I really need!!!!!!!?
Originally posted by Iris Lily.
I mean c;mon, how many do I really need!!!!!!!?As many as makes you happy! :)
All of those other pictures you shared recently. The masses of iris were so lovely and a colorful and frilly moment about simpler times.
Now that you are down significantly, their overall health should improve, yes?
I can never decide which plant, at least here, is the most hopeful, rhubarb or iris.
I planted a few iris bulbs when my daughter was, gosh, maybe ten years old...she is thirty-six now. They grew beautifully and we always had plenty to share. Then, about ten years ago they just stopped growing very well. I thought that it was winter damage, a combination of bad weather and critters looking for food. Some years would bring a few leaf shards, other years more, sometimes less. I could never bring myself to dig up the area and replace them. I would think about it, even get out the shovel, but could not actually do it.
Four years ago, the stubbly little leaf shards did not push up out of the ground. They blew out of the soil and were nearly three feet tall and it was amazing. No blooms, but tons of green. The next year there were so many blooms and they were so huge that they just fell over. Last year, more green and dozens of flowers. This year the patch looks to be thicker than ever and there are tons of flower heads ready to open, although everything is very short, barely knee high. I have long since stopped trying to figure out was is going on with these miracle flowers.
Four years ago my daughter decided that she no longer wanted rhubarb in her garden. She dug up all of the perennial vegetables and fruits and gave them away. I got the rhubarb and planted the crowns along the back of the house. They have been trampled (on purpose), mown to stubs, slashed, mashed and abused every way you can think of. Yet, they keep coming back and this year I can finally harvest them.
Anyone who wants a jar of miracle rhubarb jam and a bouquet of miracle iris, just let me know. I swear, these two plants have been lessons in perseverance, trust and patience, but mostly that if you want to survive, you can find it in you to do just that.
oneroomlife
7-11-11, 2:24pm
Oh i empathise. For me it was climbing ivy-type houseplants. Then one day I looked outside and said crikey, i live in a rainforest and am smothered by vegetation outside, why do I need plants in the house that need care and watering and space and take up all the sunny spots? yes, I know plants are GOOD for the air, but this is a mild marine climate; I get plenty of fresh air through my open windows and leaky cottage walls. Out they went to the compost pile, and the pots got donated to a thrift. Repeat after me: It is OK to compost unneeded plants. Nothing is wasted, you are not a bad person. Freecycling and craigslisting are great. So is just heaping them up to rot into dirt. there is beauty in space, there is freedom in absence. Do not overbusy your life or you'll miss it. :)
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