OMGOSH!!!
One of the biggest iris breedres in Michigan who I have been purchasing from for many years came into where I work last week and informed he was done. He also told me that its too hard to upkeep at his age and wants to work on other stuff in his life and only have a smaller scale of a iris bed. He said he reduced his iris patch (2 acres of row after row after row and all labled too) by 73% and was gonna weed kill off the rest!
I about got sick as he has aprox 35,000 iris and aprox 2,000 different kinds from talls, old fashions, double bloomers, mediums, dwarfs, and space ages.
I asked if there was anyway I could give him a hand and I could take some or buy some before he kills them off. He replied, I would be more then happy to give all you want if ya dig them yourself! He said I know how much you love my flowers as almost as much as me, so take what you want, take them all!
So for the last week any and all free time, I have spent digging, and digging. I have almost 30 hrs into it and have about 40% of the garden left. Now im not going through and keeping track of all their names and such BUT HOLY MOLY there's a lot! And cant wait to have them blooming in my field in the next couple of yrs. Sorry I dont have pics YET! But can you imagine the bed of my 1/2 ton chevy pick-up full to the rim of iris toes and have already done 4 trips! Thats a lot!!!
Also to get an ideal of what Im digging up and dedicating my life to at this time.... Go check out www.Blue J Iris.com on the internet. Their on a bigger scale of a farm, but I still have tons of what they sell.
Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you!
Oh... I forgot, I already have about 1000 iris in my field as well that I have been buying/collecting throught the yrs by breeders all over the country.
One of the biggest iris breedres in Michigan who I have been purchasing from for many years came into where I work last week and informed he was done. He also told me that its too hard to upkeep at his age and wants to work on other stuff in his life and only have a smaller scale of a iris bed. He said he reduced his iris patch (2 acres of row after row after row and all labled too) by 73% and was gonna weed kill off the rest!
I about got sick as he has aprox 35,000 iris and aprox 2,000 different kinds from talls, old fashions, double bloomers, mediums, dwarfs, and space ages.
I asked if there was anyway I could give him a hand and I could take some or buy some before he kills them off. He replied, I would be more then happy to give all you want if ya dig them yourself! He said I know how much you love my flowers as almost as much as me, so take what you want, take them all!
So for the last week any and all free time, I have spent digging, and digging. I have almost 30 hrs into it and have about 40% of the garden left. Now im not going through and keeping track of all their names and such BUT HOLY MOLY there's a lot! And cant wait to have them blooming in my field in the next couple of yrs. Sorry I dont have pics YET! But can you imagine the bed of my 1/2 ton chevy pick-up full to the rim of iris toes and have already done 4 trips! Thats a lot!!!
Also to get an ideal of what Im digging up and dedicating my life to at this time.... Go check out www.Blue J Iris.com on the internet. Their on a bigger scale of a farm, but I still have tons of what they sell.
Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you!
Oh... I forgot, I already have about 1000 iris in my field as well that I have been buying/collecting throught the yrs by breeders all over the country.
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