Japanese iris 2013

If you have a soggy area around your place that you don’t know what to do with, have I got a plant for you?  However if you aren’t willing to water during dry spells, stop reading right now and go off to another section of the Quad Cities Daily as this plant is not very forgiving.  

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Japanese iris (Iris ensata) has the largest flowers of all irises, anywhere from four to eight inches across.  They have lovely large flat either single, double and peony-type forms, in various colors and patterns. Singles have three falls (the lower flower petals of iris), doubles have six and peony-type has nine or more.  Bloom time is from late June to July about a month after the tall bearded and Siberian iris

 Japanese iris leaves are taller and thinner than bearded iris leaves and similar to Siberian iris.  A good way to distinguish Japanese iris is by the rib that runs lengthwise down the leaves.

They require full sun, a rich, acidic soil and ample water.  They prefer a rich soil containing organic matter, which helps in water retention as well as adding nutrients. Japanese irises are heavy feeders.  Use an azalea-type fertilizer in the spring, just after bloom. I like to use cotton seed meal.  You can get a 50 pound bag at the Co-op and use left over’s on your blueberries and azaleas. Keep the pH between 5.0 and 6.5. Do not use lime as it raises the pH and will kill the plants eventually. Use a biweekly application of a water soluble acid fertilizer such as Miracid on the leaves and around weak plants. Japanese are generally vigorous growers and a spacing of three or four feet between plants is needed.  Two to three inches of mulch will help hold in water and reduce weeds.  Two to three year old clumps usually have the best blooms. They grow in zones 4 through 9.  The Shoals area and the top half of Alabama is in zone 7 on the new USDA plant hardiness map.  Zone 7 is smack dab in the middle of their comfort zone. 

I have mine in a low area that gets the runoff from the down spout drain of the barn as well as run off from my Mom’s yard.  They really like water.  Lack of water will stunt the plants and produce miniature blooms. A good place to plant them is near a pond or stream. 

When planting Japanese iris allow plenty of room for to spread. They should be planted two to three inches deep in a depression which will allow it to catch water.  Mulch well and do not let the plant dry out.  New roots will grow above the old roots and after three or four years the roots will start coming out of the ground, a signal that it’s time to divide. Another sign that division is needed is a clump that has formed a solid ring with a bare center. Best time to divide is in the spring.  After the plants have been divided, trim the leaves to a height of four to six inches.  Do no plant in an area where other Japanese iris have grown as the plants will be stunted and eventually die, unless it is an area that has lots of water leaching through it such as soil under a downspout or by the side of a stream.  They can be replanted in pots if fresh potting soil is used and the old soil discarded. Apparently they secrete some sort of toxin into the soil while growing that is toxic to other iris.  When replanting in an area which contained Japanese iris, plant something else beside iris.  

For overwintering, remove and destroy old foliage after the first hard frost which may contain borer eggs or thrips. 

Check out my GRIT magazine blog post:

 

 

New iris arrivals Part 2

Some of my new iris I’ve obtained in the last year or two are blooming.  The tall bearded are just about finished and the Siberian, Spuria and Louisiana are starting.  Daylilies will be blooming soon.  A few of my favorites this year have been a tall bearded called Flopsy, a tall bearded that is almost as large as a magnolia blossom, Tour De France a gold and white and Throb, a brilliant stand out yellow.

Check out my GRIT magazine blog post:

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New iris arrivals

The calendar says May but ………

the last couple of days I’ve had my heat on in the house.  Frost warnings were issued for the eastern part of the state last weekend, unheard of in Alabama for the month of May.  Looking at some of my flower pictures from last year, iris and peony are blooming two to three weeks behind previous years.  Farmers are three to four weeks behind planting corn and cotton.  Wilson Dam is spilling water until further notice.  A TVA statistical website giving the amount of cubic feet of water per second going through the spillways is found at this link.  One cubic foot = 7.48051948 gallons.  The shore birds migrating through the area have enjoyed the flooded fields.  I saw a pair of Solitary Sandpipers in a flood low spot in the corn field across the road having a great time eating earthworms trying to escape the flood.

 We’ve had around four inches of rain this month.  This weekend, I volunteered as a photographer for 150^th anniversary of the burning of Lagrange College near Leighton.   Rain was predicted all weekend, but the rain didn’t show up after Friday’s programs and stopped just as Saturday’s program started and stayed sunny the rest of the day until after the event when rain returned.

I’ve planted my corn twice each time just before a two inch rain.  Maybe the third time will be the charm.   Mice ate three fourths of my cucumber seeds in the greenhouse and those I planted with the second planting of corn haven’t made an appearance.  The ground just squishes when you walk  across it.  I had the flu during a nice warm spell in March. Since then it’s been either cold or rainy.  My flower beds look like they belong in a nature preserve. 

Through the weeds, I have some of my iris that I bought last year blooming and I share those plus a couple of oldies and garden sign from Custom Engraved Stones when I open my iris and daylily nursery.  Check out my GRIT magazine post to see why I haven’t posted in a while.  I’ve been doing a lot of volunteer photography around Colbert County.

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Bluebirds

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebirds are starting to nest.  They are vigorous insect eaters and are good birds to have around. It’s not too late to get up a bluebird box.  A cedar box with a one and a half inch hole is needed.  Avoid boxes with metal decorations as this will help cook the babies in the hot summer. Place in a sunny open spot with the door facing south.  Placing near a tree or fence comes in handy for the young when they fledge.

Daylilies and Japanese iris with nest box with guard

I like to put mine on metal fence posts to prevent snakes from crawling up to the box like they can do with wood posts.  You’ll need to drill a larger hole through the box and the post and use a carriage bolt long enough to go through both.  I don’t tighten the nut down all the way due to a frustrating experience sawing the bolt and nut lengthwise trying to remove a box. You want to leave enough space to get a hacksaw blade between the post and nut, as it will rust or corrode.  If you are a city slicker who has never driven in a metal post, the little triangular part on the post needs to go all the way into the ground.  Use a small sledge hammer to beat it in.  Using a hatchet even though it has a bigger head than a hammer can be kinda dangerous if it accidently slips out of your hand.   If you have problems with grackles a door guard to prevent them from reaching in and killing the young may be needed.

oops

I have a couple I need to replace.  Last summer while in a hurry to get my three acres mowed with a finishing mower I accidently popped a couple of them off of the poles.  The wheels on a finishing mower will turn 360 degrees, so if youback up near something and go forward, sometimes the mower will shimmy.  This one day I was in a big hurry and backed near a box and shot forward.  The mower did a big shimmy and swung around and popped the pole.   The bluebird box minus the back wall shot off the pole like a missile and broke apart when it hit the ground.  I turned off the tractor and hopped off and ran to the box hoping there weren’t any babies in the box.  I lucked out.  They had just finished building the nest and hadn’t laid eggs yet.  I threw the box in the front end loader and continued mowing.  When I came back around, the angry birds were sitting on the fence near the empty pole fussing and glaring at me.    Another box was lost at the end of the season when I cut around too short and popped it off.   I seem to do the same thing around curbs with my truck.  The white lettering has been rubbed off. 

Almon bush

Almon bush bloom

Cat’s Eye iris

Fortissimo

This past weekend was going to be nice and I have plans to transplant tomatoes into larger containers, start seeds, haul off limbs that I had trimmed back in February that the Hooligans considered chew toys and drug all over the yard and driveway, cut or dig out volunteer hackberry trees out of my flower beds and get up a new bluebird box, and put a new back on another and re-hang.   

gerber daisy new color

gerber daisy new color

Friday afternoon I got home late and decided to separate two varieties of daffodils in one of the front flower beds that I somehow overlapped when planting.  While moving mulch to dig a hole, I tumbled up a small rat snake about 8 inches long. By the time I saw it, it was very irritated and reared back in the striking position.  I shoed it off and finished up my work.

Tahiti

Bad Blackie

trying to catch bumblebees

Patches

Levi up on tractor

Saturday before getting to yard work I took pictures of some new gerber daises, daffodils, cat’s eye iris, Summer Wine Ninebark, and Almon bush which were in bloom. I decided to divide transplant my Cherokee chocolate tomato seedlings into larger containers.  I’ve found the front end loader of the tractor parked under a shade tree makes a good mixer and potting bench.  Bad Hooligan Blackie was rooting around in the grass a couple of feet away. When looked to see what she was after thinking lizard, she grabbed up a small corn snake popped it like a whip and off she ran. I tried to save it, but it was toast when she whipped it. Ed, one of the Editors of the Quad Cities Daily posted a comment on my Facebook page that “Blackie turned it into a good snake!”  After dispatching of the snake she wore herself out trying to catch bumble bees, while Patches and Levi slept.  Levi sleeps until I turn off the tractor and he joins me up on the seat. I used to think it was cute. 

I purchased one cedar nest along with some gerbers in new colors.  I was planning to repair one of the broken boxes and re-hang.  When I went to the shed to get it, a Carolina wren already had laid claim to it.  I decided to replace the one by the fence for the angry birds and take the back wall board off of the other pole getting it ready of a box. The horses next door decided to supervise while I worked and also tease the Hooligans. 

 

Right after I got the box up and was working on the other pole, I noticed the bluebirds were already checking out the new digs.   Growing up on the farm, we rarely saw any bluebirds.  When I was in college, I put up a couple of nesting boxes; now I have them everywhere.  Because of territorial claims, place boxes around 75 feet apart.

 

Bluebirds will lay 4 to 5 blue eggs which won’t be incubated until all are laid.  All eggs will hatch at the same time in about 13-14 days.  The young will remain in the nest around 15 days and will be fed by both parents. After fledging they will be fed by the parents for another 7 to 14 days.  Another nest is built on top of the old one and the cycle starts over. As many as three broods may be raised each year.   Chickadees will also use bluebird boxes  using moss as nesting materials.  Allow these to stay.  Sparrows will use straw and fill the box up.  Wait until they start laying eggs and throw the bums out, nest and eggs. They aren’t native birds and were partially responsible for the decline in bluebirds.

Another birding note: according to the migration maps and friends, hummingbirds are in the Shoals area.

 

 

 

Spring happenings

My wireless internet has been down for a while. My tower was blown down in a wind storm, so it’s great to be back up and blogging.  Before that I had Influenza B.  They really guessed wrong when they made up the strains that were going to be in the shots this year.

The heralds of spring, the ruby-throated hummingbirds are on the way back to the valley.   According to the latest migration maps, on March 19, ruby-throated hummers are all way up the state. 

When feeding hummingbirds don’t use the red dye stuff you find in the store. It’s very simple to make your own.  Use one part sugar and four parts of very hot to boiling water.  Mix well, cool and fill feeders.  It’s important to change out feeders frequently, especially during hot weather. If the water becomes cloudy it’s past time to change it.  At the first of the spring until I start seeing hummingbirds at my feeder, I’ll use 1/8 C sugar and ½ water.  As I have more birds, I’ll start putting more feeders out.

One interesting fact about migration, hummers will travel 25 mph hour while migrating from Mexico across the gulf and up the panhandle.  It’s an amazing feat for something that only weighs a few ounces. They don’t ride on the backs of migrating geese as some wise tails have it.  The wings will flap 55 times a second.  The average lifespan of a hummingbird is around four years. 

This past weekend was beautiful but windy, however Influenza b decided to pay a visit and  I was sick and didn’t get to enjoy working out in the yard.  The last warm spell I did a lot of tree trimming of the Heritage birches in the front yard before the the sap started to run.  I didn’t want have to put a tourniquet on one like I did last year when the sap started  dripping out of a cut limb so that it was puddling on  the ground. How do you put a tourniquet on a tree you ask?  I took a long bandage, wrapped it around and over the cut, then wrapped some plastic bags around that, then wrapped and wrapped it with rope and tied it tight over the cut.  After about three or four days, it finally crusted over the cut and I was able to take everything loose.

My daffodils, star magnolias, saucer magnolias, lenten rose, anemone and plum trees  are in bloom.  The star magnolias were hit by a freeze and aren’t as nice as last year.  The one at the corner of the house was only blooming up the side nearest the house and I thought the other side wasn’t going to bloom because of the freeze damage, but it came out nicely during the warm temperatures two weekends ago.  During the freeze this week with snow flurries, the blooms are history.

I took the tractor to some over grown azalea along the back of the house and moved them along the creek. Now a decision is needed as to what is going back in there.  But first I’ll have to let it dry up a little before I can haul a lot of compost and dig everything up.  After 16 years, most of organic matter is gone and slick red clay is left.  While taking pictures of the after removal and before new beds, I slipped and fell into the water filled tractor tire ruts with my new Canon 7D less than a month after getting it for Christmas. The old chimney bricks I’m going to use in a walk through in one of the front beds.

Check out some of my bald eagle photos on my GRIT magazine post.

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The rush to finish last years flowers

With a new season of new flowers to photograph with a new Canon 7D, I find myself in a rush to weed through and label the keepers.  When I take a picture of a flower, I take several from different angles and then the plant tag.  Later I’ll go through and decide which shot I like the best, label it with the plant name and compost the rest.  I don’t like using the word trash, but they go to the recycle bin on my computer, only to be clicked away to oblivion.

In going through my files which are by dates, I’ll label and move into either my iris, daylily, lilium or some other folder to organize.  Until I do that, I’m going “I know I have a photo of that, but which day is it in?”

These I just finished are from April 16, 2012.  I’m actually in July as far as weeding, but somehow I skipped that date, a mix of various flower types.

Check out my GRIT Magazine blog post on trimming crepe myrtles.

Quadcitiesdaily.com how I got hooked on Classical Music.

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Photography part III

The rain continues. I did manage to take the John Deere to some 15 yr old azaleas along the back of the house and move them along the dry creek just before we had a cycle of over an inch of rain, then sun, then rain and over and over.  I made a muddy mess, water is standing in the tractor tracks.  After one spell of rain, I was out taking pictures for a before and after post whenever I decide what goes back, and slipped on the wet clay and fell new Canon 7D, camera first into the muddy tracks and wallered around a little trying to get out from under the hooligans.  When ever you are on the ground, they think it’s time to play.

The daffodils and star magnolias are starting to bloom, so I have a few of them, plus some sights around the area. Hope you enjoy.

Check out our historical blog The Tuscumbian.

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Photography part II

With all the rain, I haven’t been able to do much gardening.  A couple of warm days, I’ve been pulling or cutting out some of the hackberry and privet coming up in my flower beds.  My daffodils are just starting to open, spring is not far behind.  I’m still looking for a couple of underground fence collars that the hooligans have managed to loose.

I did take time yesterday and got my John Deere out to move six  15 yr old Azalea Krume -Snow from the back of the house to a low area along the creek.  With the soggy ground I made a big mess.  A lot of rain started Sunday, so the azalea’s should be okay in the move and the spillways at Wilson dam should continue to pour a lot of water.  I found an interesting TVA site that gives the amount of water hourly going through the dame.

The rest of the time, I’ve been riding around the area just taking in some of the sights around the Shoals.  On one of my trips I captured the recovery of a fisherman from an overflowing Tennessee River.  A few of these photos may be found on the quad cities daily.

Hope you enjoy.

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One of my rainy day home projects was an all day and half of the night project.  That story on GRIT.com

Photography no gardening Part I

With all the rain, I haven’t been able to do much gardening.  A couple of warm days, I’ve been pulling or cutting out some of the hackberry and privet coming up in my flower beds.   I’m still looking for a couple of underground fence collars that the hooligans have managed to loose.  The rest of the time, I’ve been riding around the area just taking in some of the sights around the Shoals.  Hope you enjoy.

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On one of my photography trips with a friend, we ran into someone not believing we were taking barn pictures .   She thought we were some desperate criminals on the loose.  Here is the link to my Thelma and Louise shoots the barn story on GRIT.com.   There’s a link to photographers right’s that has an extra space in it. Here’s the corrected link.

I paid a visit to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge in Decatur recently to try and photograph some of the whooping cranes at the refuge.  My last post has the story of how I missed out on the shot of a lifetime of two flying by in the middle of a group of sandhill cranes.  The refuge has over 12,000 sandhills in residence for the winter.   I took some video of some of the waterfowl at the refuge during a time when no one else was around so you can hear just nature in this Youtube video: Wheeler Wildlife Refuge

January decisions

Wilson Dam from Colbert side. Notice boat bottom right

Glad I didn’t make a resolution this year not to buy anymore plants until I had everything in the ground. Bulbs aren’t plants yet are they until spring? 

Wilson dam Lauderdale side

I found some more Dutch iris bulbs, one called Eye of the Tiger which went into my Auburn and Deshler sections, and another one called Lion King which went into my University of North Alabama section.

Sandhill cranes flying into Wheeler wildlife

We had days and days of rain, ten or eleven days of it.  Since our rainy spell started, I’ve reported 7.20 inches of rain at my CoCoRaHS AL-CT-10 reporting station south of Tuscumbia.  The usual low lying areas flooded during the onslaught of almost two weeks, such as McFarland Park, the rockpile park at Wilson dam, spring creek.  Saturday with 1.9 million gallons of water flowing through the spillways, a lone boat was on the water. Even the ducks had trouble swimming in the flow.

Sandhill cranes at Wheeler Wildlife Refuge

Bright me decided to go to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge Saturday to get pictures of the sandhill and whooping cranes.  The photography blind and the observation building were under water, but I did manage to get a few pictures of the sandhills in alternate locations. I was presented a once in a lifetime close up of a flyby of a couple of whooping cranes in the middle of a group of sandhills, but made a beginner photographer mistake.  I didn’t check the wheel on my camera after pulling it out of the bag and the wheel was on manual from either being put in or pulled out of the bag.  My photo turned out fuzzy.

handicap parking area at Riverfront Park

Rockpile park at Wilson Dam

Sandhill cranes at Wheeler Wildlife

This weekend temperatures were in the high fifties and nice.  After getting back from Wheeler Wildlife, I worked on digging or cutting out all of the hackberry volunteers coming up in my flower beds.  A very large tree supplies plenty of seed that has a high fertility rate.  The things easily come up everywhere even in flower pots.  Some of the ones I cut down were some I had cut down last spring and had put out several shoots from the stump. This time I cut even lower in the ground.  After I move the iris to a more suitable location, I’ll dig up the area and plant daylilies there. 

hackberry

my dogwood is officially gone

I have a fifteen year old apricot tree that suddenly died last summer and fell over a few weeks later.  I cut off the limbs and hauled off to a burn pile, now I’m debating what I can do with the trunk.  Another plum tree close by died from bleeding sap from all of the cicadas a couple of years ago, but is still upright. I have plans for it.   One of my dogwoods stressed by freeze and then cicadas a couple of years ago died after last summers torrid temperatures. I was debating if it was completely dead or if the roots and lower trunk were still alive, but Blackie pronounce it gone and dug it up chasing after field mice. 

what to do with this dead tree?

crocus

Snowbird daffs ready to bloom

Lenten rose

Crocus and Lenten rose are in bloom, some of my daffs will bloom soon. Spring is close, but first a cold spell hits this week to get through.  The Hooligans are ready to see more of me outside. 

Hooligans Patches, Levi and Blackie waiting for a biscuit