I'm glad we spent so much time getting ready for the iris division on Saturday and despite some quick adjustments, the work day went as planned and was very successful. We had over 50 volunteers helping throughout the morning and had each stage well represented with talented volunteers and supervised
by a grounds staff member. Big John had the first group of 15 or so diggers in the wishing well garden. They made quick work of digging and cleaning those irises then the diggers moved to the iris planting near the arboretum. Stage 1 was the digging and rinsing, then the irises moved to the gazebo garden where Janice & Marianne helped coordinate the physical division of the irises (as seen above with Cindy and Alice). Marianne also supervised the diggers in the arboretum area. Processed irises in the gazebo then wen
t to the horticulture center yard where they were processed by four members of the Madison Area Iris Society, led by John B. They needed to pull out rhizomes for their display garden and process all the irises that will be returned to the hybridizers (that shipping bill will be huge!). This stage was initially slow but Marianne helped expedite the process and the last stage for our irises was a dip in a bleach solution, drying and packing up in boxes. After an 8 am start, I was on the way by 12:30 pm with the truck and trailer (packed with irises) with Bob and Bev following in their car (also full of irises). We met Dan & Tom down in Beloit and unpacked the irises and arranged the boxes in Dan's cool and dry warehouse. We'll later process and further package these irises as we get near the sale date of August 28th. Nice shot to the left of Jumbo Jim who was a great help hauling irises through their various stages and he brought four RECAP ladies out to help as well. There's Lily to the right who was keeping her Grandma working hard at division. Below are Shirley and Sandy who were in charge of the bleach dip tanks (to sterilize the irises prior to storage). It was a great turnout and we fell in to a perfect rhythm. Special thanks to Big John, Marianne, Janice and Bev for helping coordinate this work day with so many volunteers. And of course, a big
THANK YOU to all the volunteers that helped out and contributed to a streamlined group effort!!!
by a grounds staff member. Big John had the first group of 15 or so diggers in the wishing well garden. They made quick work of digging and cleaning those irises then the diggers moved to the iris planting near the arboretum. Stage 1 was the digging and rinsing, then the irises moved to the gazebo garden where Janice & Marianne helped coordinate the physical division of the irises (as seen above with Cindy and Alice). Marianne also supervised the diggers in the arboretum area. Processed irises in the gazebo then wen
t to the horticulture center yard where they were processed by four members of the Madison Area Iris Society, led by John B. They needed to pull out rhizomes for their display garden and process all the irises that will be returned to the hybridizers (that shipping bill will be huge!). This stage was initially slow but Marianne helped expedite the process and the last stage for our irises was a dip in a bleach solution, drying and packing up in boxes. After an 8 am start, I was on the way by 12:30 pm with the truck and trailer (packed with irises) with Bob and Bev following in their car (also full of irises). We met Dan & Tom down in Beloit and unpacked the irises and arranged the boxes in Dan's cool and dry warehouse. We'll later process and further package these irises as we get near the sale date of August 28th. Nice shot to the left of Jumbo Jim who was a great help hauling irises through their various stages and he brought four RECAP ladies out to help as well. There's Lily to the right who was keeping her Grandma working hard at division. Below are Shirley and Sandy who were in charge of the bleach dip tanks (to sterilize the irises prior to storage). It was a great turnout and we fell in to a perfect rhythm. Special thanks to Big John, Marianne, Janice and Bev for helping coordinate this work day with so many volunteers. And of course, a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers that helped out and contributed to a streamlined group effort!!! 
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