Dragon

I still have hopes for the irises as the first house I lived in here in Red Deer had a batch that grew by the doorway and cameback every year with absolutly no help from anyone living in the house (at least until one of the tennants put a doghouse on top of them). There were also columbines that came back yearly too so I've got my fingers crossed there too. I'll have to see if my friends glads come back this year, she planted lots last year but obviously we won't know until spring. The calla's are the only ones I don't know about at all, I don't know anyone who's tried to grow them, they're just my favorite flower so I thought I'd try them out.

(Oh, and LOL at oui/wee)

Baldur

The columbines should be fine. The glads sound doomed.
There is a stronger cold resistant variety out there but they are more expensive and clearly labeled 'Winter-Hardy'. There is a much narrower color range in that breed, mainly red-salmon-pink-white.
Boughbreak is just about at the edge of their territory so I think they wouldn't work up where you are.
Callas put in planters can be dragged into the basement to overWinter, allow them to die back to the roots and they will still pop up again come Spring.
Gladiolii , Dahlias and other tender bulbs need to be dug up in the Fall, and left to dry out a couple days. Shake off the excess garden soil and bury them in a bin of sawdust or shredded paper and keep them in a cool basement. Replant in the Spring.

I don't grow any of the tender bulbs myself out of lack of storage space in the Winter. There were several huge potted Cannas until last year but they were given to more appreciative homes. We used to drag them into the garage but it was just too crowded in there to continue.
We have gladiolii that Robert is in charge of. Each year I buy another dozen to replace the ones he missed pulling up in the Fall. He never gets them all. Robert likes them and they take up so little room in the garden being narrow upright plants that can get tucked in anywhere.

Dragon

hmmm, like the idea of growing the Calla's in planters and bringing them in. They're not the cheapest bulbs out there and it'd be nice to get more than 1 year out of them (of course I bought them at Wal-mart so they're not expensive either but I'm notoriously cheap). That glads definitly are not marked as winter hardy so I will have to try to remember to pull them up in fall. Do you wait till they die back and stem is mostly dead to pull them or get them while they are still a little green?

Baldur

I wait until the leaves are mostly brown. Even if you get hit with an early frost and the foliage dies overnight the corms will still be good to dig up. The soil will insulate them for a few days.

Baldur

Muhhamad's army defeat the Quraish of Mecca (624)
Earl Grey is born (1764)
Daniel Lambert is born (1770)
The Confederate States of America begins using African American troops (1865)
Susan B. Anthony dies (1906)
L. Ron Hubbard is born (1911)
German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Krakow (1943)
Mysterious lights are seen over Phoenix, Arizona by hundreds of people and millions more on television (1997)
He Pingping dies (2010)

Lizzi

Contraryto popular belief, penguins DO fly!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/penguins-flying-first-class-delight-passengers-delta-flig ht-160855726.html

Lizzi

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/penguins-flying-first-class-delight-passengers-delta-flig ht-160855726.html
Keeping my fingers crossed.

Lizzi

Oh, well. It's a Yahoo! news video. Cute but not earth-shaking.

Baldur

Don't feel bad Lizzi, yahoo videos have always refused to open for me.

Baldur

Sir Thomas Malory dies (1471)
Albert Einstein is born (1879)
Karl Marx dies (1883)
'The Mikado' premieres in London (1885)
Diane Arbus is born (1923)
George Eastman dies (1932)
Balto dies (1933)
Jerry Greenfield is born (1951)
Busby Berkeley dies (1976)
Happy Humphrey dies (1989)

Baldur

Beware the Ides of March

Baldur

Marcus Junius Brutus and co-conspirators stab Julius Caesar to death (44BC)
As an side effect of the Missouri Compromise, Maine is severed from Massachusetts and becomes a separate state (1820)
Eduard Strauss is born (1835)
Macdonald Carey is born (1913)
Harry James is born (1916)
Jimmy Swaggart is born (1935)
H.P. Lovecraft dies (1937)
Ry Cooder is born (1947)
Reunion gets hit with 73 inches of rain (1952)
My Fair Lady premieres on Broadway (1956)
Will.i.am is born (1975)

Happy World Consumer Rights Day

mdawrcn

I live in NC and have an area where I have planted Irises in my yard probably 8 years ago. I was told to plant the bulbs about 4-6 inches deep. Each year the "blades" grow up, but I can only remember 1 or 2 years where they really bloomed beautifully. Every other year just a few of the flowers bloom. I don't really do much to them except cut them in the fall. I am a pretty lazy gardener. I probably need to feed them. What does Baldur think?

Baldur

It depends on the type of Iris. If they are Dutch Iris (these grow from a bulb) they probably need as good feeding.
However if they are German Iris, the type that grows from a rhizome that looks rather like a ginger root you have planted them too deeply.
The tops of the rhizomes should be at the soil surface. Burying them deeper will prevent flowering.

Baldur

Here is a fascinating video of how the moon when from a smooth ball lava to what we see each night.
They animated millions of years of impacts and eruptions into just 3 minutes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/moon-evolution-history-video-nasa_n_1347087.html?icid =maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D143803

Hazer

A tip for Dragon regarding the gladiolas. With our short growing season, I give them a head start by filling a shallow pan with small stones and placing the corms on top. I add enough water to keep the roots wet, but not enough to submerse the corms. They will root nicely and can be planted once they have sprouted 10 cm, or so. If your planting site is exposed to the wind, you may need to stake them, depending how strong the stems are. They are one of my favorites and I've grown them sucessfully for many years. I have kept the same corms for several years but find that after a few years all I have left are whites and yellows and I have to replenish the reds and salmon, etc.
The bearded iris is the hardiest and most common in our area. You probably know someone who grows them and would be willing to share some with you.
Happy gardening, Dragon!

Baldur

when - h + t = went

Baldur

The Babylonians capture Jerusalem (597 BC)
A Mohegan named Samoset greets the pilgrims at Plymouth Colony, speaking English (1621)
Caroline Herschel is born (1750)
Jurgis Bielinis is born (1846)
Aubrey Beardsley dies (1898)
Henny Youngman is born (1906)
The US Calvary crosses the Mexican border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa (1916)
The first liquid fueled rocket is launched by Robert Goddard (1926)
Jerry Lewis is born (1926)
Sergeant Stubby dies (1926)
British bombers destroy 90% of Wurzburg, Germany, in just 20 minutes (1945)
Erik Estrada is born (1949)
Flavor Flav is born (1959)
T-Bone Walker dies (1975)
Terry Anderson of the AP is taken hostage in Beirut (1985)
Saddam Hussein deploys chemical warfare on the Kurdish town of Halabjah, Iraq, killing 5,000+ and injuring 10,000+ (1988)
Mississippi ratifies the 13th ammendment, abolishing slavery (1995)
Minnie Pwerle dies (2006)
Ivan Dixon dies (2008)

Happy Bacchanalia!

Lizzi

Further to the 'iris' discussion~http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-plant-iris-rhizomes-in-your.html
I enjoyed the moon video but it was too short!

bluemoon

Great moon video