OT-BIO: Kathie Day-Nski

Hello!  My name is Kathie Day-Nski.  I'm originally from Bonita, Ca, a
suburb of San Diego.  My husband and I moved to southeastern Wisconsin
several years ago. I've had a big adjustment in learning what I can grow
here in this zone. I've always been a vegetable gardner and more recently,
flowers.  When I was growing up, my dad always had beautiful Irises that a
neighbor had given him over the years. Iris have always been one of my
favorites and I now have enough room to start growing them myself. I feel
that it's part of my "heritage" to grow them since they have always been
something that my father loves. My dad recently divided some up for me and
mailed them out and I just received  them.T (I believe they are TBs. One is
a new one they bought for me: Beverly Sills.)   I'm preparing my bed this
week and have a few questions and was so happy to find this list.  I know
nothing about Iris except from what I've learned this past week on web
pages, by 'lurking' here on this list and a few things my dad has passed
along.   I have a couple very basic questions that I'm hoping you all won't
mind me asking..... And of course, I'm sure I'll have more as I go.  

1)  We have a lot of squirrels and chipmonks in our neighborhood.  A
neighbor has suggested dipping the bulbs in Ro-Pel BulbProtect-R to keep
them from being eaten up by the critters.  Does anyone have experience with
this product? Does it work or is there another alternative that would work
better?  

2) We are roto-tilling up a space on the edge of our lawn for my bed.  I've
bought black landscaping fabric to lay on the bed to prevent weeds.  I then
plan on planting the bulbs and putting mulch on top of the fabric.  Will
this work with Iris? (I would have like to have roto-tilled and then used
round-up or something to kill the grass/weeds but I don't have the time. 
My dad divided the bulbs about a week ago and I should get them in this
week, right?)

3)  I've also bought some bone meal and was going to plant a small amount
with each bulb. Is this right? 

I'd appreciate any advice, site suggestions, reference books, etc to help
me get started on this.  Thanks for taking the time to read this!  Kathie

Kathie Day-Nski
kday2@bbw.tds.net
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