Here’s a question that will expose my ignorance of New World gardening. Sunday I was out back dividing a huge patch of old Bearded Irises that my predecessors planted countless years ago (they look like Copper Classic, Kay, with something rich and very deep blue — maybe Tom Johnson? Gorgeous, whatever it is!). There I was, whacking away (serious iris borer problem; I believe I’m going to move them to the other border in back, and I may still have to treat them next spring), when my next door neighbor the Master Gardener saw me and recoiled in horror, as if I’d been out bludgeoning small animals. He said something about the "Memorial Day to Labor Day rule," then stalked off. Well, to tell you truth, I was in no mood for banter, and may have encouraged him to leave. But putting all that aside, I thought the Memorial Day/Labor Day thing was about wearing white shoes. I know we just had Labor Day, but wasn’t Memorial Day in spring? What is he talking about?
By the way, I’d share the divisions, but I had to throw out so many iris borer-drilled rhizomes that I don’t have enough. That border looked like a scrap heap when I moved in, so it’s anyone’s guess how long the borers have been feasting on my Irises!
Cheers,
Tamsin