I found a websit today called the World Iris Association and one of the links they had was an article about id'ing irises. This guy had a 3 page outline to fill out for an iris that needs an id. What I want to know is if I can answer all these questions, can I submit it to someone and get an id? Or atleast a list of possibilities?
Central TX RU 4/23 "afterglow"
Iris rhizomes are usually not shipped until after the spring blooming season is past. The clumps can be dug & separated in late July through early September. They can be rinsed and then left outdoors for several days to dry. This allows the places were the clumps were broken apart to scab over. They are mailed bare root, usually just cushioned with something like shredded newspaper. The leaves grow in a "fan" which is trimmd back by half.
There are so many hundreds, maybe thousands, of varieties that getting an ironclad guaranteed ID can't be anticipated. You can pass a variety along as a "maybe" but should not represent it as positively identified unless it has been steadily maintained by name from the original source.
Yuska, from your post, I gather that the irises I received at the CTRU and just planted shouldn't be expected to bloom this year. Should I also trim back the fans? I notice the top third of the fans are a little floppy.
The usual bloom season for bearded iris runs from about mid-April through mid-June. Each variety has its preferred time slot: some will be listed as early, mid-season or late. Weather conditions will cause variation in those dates. A few varieties are classified as rebloomers and will often put on a great show in the fall. Commercial growers usually ship their orders in September, so that plants can go in the ground before cool weather and establish enough new roots to bloom in spring, though first year bloom may not happen in every case. Rhizomes should not be planted too deeply or they will rot. In our climate, the top of the rhizome should show above the soil line.
I've never liked the practice of cutting back the fan when replanting, because the remaining leaf structure continues to wither and turn brown. The theory is though that there is some inevitable root loss in the dividing process and the remaining ones cannot support the full fan without strain. New leaves will soon appear at the center of the fan as a signal the plant is establishing itself.
The authoritative resource in the U.S. is the American Iris Society - http://www.irises.org/index.htm
My mother grew hundreds of varieties and served as a regional judge on new varieties vying for the Dykes Medal and Award of Merit slots. There are many chapters - possibly one near you - and the locations are listed in the website. The members are really good about answering questions.
This message was edited May 12, 2005 9:35 AM
Maggiemoo, I think that iris I gave you is President Pinlkington. I'm not sure, but if you look that one up atleast you'll have an idea of what it looks like. The blooms will be about 22" tall I think.
htop, I goofed when I told you it was Ballerina that I took to the RU. I have a solid pink one in my yard now that I think is Ballerina. I found a really good book called the Garderner's Iris Book by William Shear. It's really very interesting. It's written way down on my level (kindergarten).LOL It explains a lot about irises in a very conversational way, very easy to understand.
Kip, did you keep the zebra plant that I received from you inside or outside? Are our summers too hot for it outside is what I am wondering about. If you left it outside, does it take filtered shade or all shade? Thanks ...it is a beautiful plant and I do want it to be as happy with me as it was with you.
htop, The zebra's were kept out on my back patio that faces west. The patio is covered and the only direct sun that the twin gets is between 5:30 - 7:00ish. Usually I mist and or splash some water on it @ every other day. You can see them peekin' out on the right side of the image of the columbine, in front of the bicycle wheels and behind the upright support of the cover.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=1353181
PS: Well, I collected the last seeds off of the columbine a couple o'weeks ago, pruned the bald stalks off, and guess what??? The dang things got 3 new bloom stalks on it !! What have I created?? It got to be a chore collecting the seeds and I know that there will be babys growing up off the edge of the patio since many got wind blown while I was here at the store. What's a mother to do...OH What's a mother to do??? ;o)~
Thanks for the information and the photo. I had not been misting it so I'll start doing that especially since the weather appears to be warming up finally. Your columbine is putting out new bloom stalks in the middle of May ... amazing. It must really love you and the care you have given it. Seed collecting is a real pain in the ... back. I have been stooping over collecting lots of seeds from lots of spring annuals and perennials which I usually don't do. You will probably have a jungle of giant beautiful columbine around your patio next year. :o) So, I guess a Mother just needs to hire a columbine sitter to keep them in check while at work.
Htop, You're HIRED !!!
Dstartz, if you want some of the seeds email me with the address. Warning, they are some tiny little buggers that are smaller than a 16th of a inch.
Was that a cut?!
;-)
Tom told me to collect seeds from my red and white columbine and see what kind of results we get. I don't know if they'll come true or not. That would be somethin' if they did. It's an awsome plant. The red is really a dark marroon. Great plant for an Aggie. LOL
htop, I have a question for you about the Texas Betony. I need to know if I can plant it near a rose. I have planted a few things near roses that caused problems because they stole nutrients and water from the roses. Germander seems to do that. I have a rose that gets morning sun only, so I was hoping to put atleast some Betony there.
BTW I read about collecting columbine seeds on the seed collecting form. It's very interesting how some people do that. I would post a link but I still don't know how to do that. I would like to know if anybody here has tried those techniques? One person said that you can plant them in a seed tray and put ice cubes on top (for chill hours?).
Sorry about that double post. Don't know what happened. I thought I posted it, but when I went back to the post it was still in the box. So I edited it and clicked on send. ???????
Donna, I am glad to see you back. DH has geneology info for your DH. Should we send it to you or his nephew?
The 2nd version was better anyway. ;-)
Mary Lee, I'm glad you asked that question about planting something near a rose. It reminds me to ask a similar question:
In the interest of having some nice green groundcover for the unplanted places around my roses, I planted some mother-of-thyme at different points in the bed. My thought was that they are not water hogs (as far as I can tell, therefore not in competition with the roses), their tiny foliage is a nice contrast to the roses, and I thought the mat of foliage would act as a "green mulch" (shading the soil from the sun and holding moisture in.) They are really filling in nicely... maybe too nicely. They seem to be poised to over-run the bed if I'm not careful. I don't have a problem with giving them haircuts and cutting them back where they are trying to get too pushy (more compost material!), but I wonder if my theory is flawed. Will they be a problem? Will they compete for nutrients?
Any thoughts out there?
Mary Lee, I don't think that you should plant the Texas betony by the rose because the betony tends to spread out and will block the light from the rose as well as the air circulation. The rose takes a lot of water and the betony doesn't once it is established. The betony with that much water might overpower your rose. I would plant it somewhere that it can spread all it wants. Of course you could prune it, but then you lose the blooms and the beauty of its natural shape.
Here's a good shot of its growth habit. You are able to judge its height and width.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/coastalplants/stachys.html
Thanks, htop. I didn't think it got that tall and dense. I think I'll plant it around my crepe myrtles. They are not in a bed and are ignored most of the time. They are way at the back of the lot and the lawn mower doesn't make it out there very often. (Of course, that's because DH doesn't want to push it out there!)LOL
Maggie, I have quite a few roses and I can tell you what I have tried. I have Mother of Thyme planted around my New Dawn climber. They get along very well. Don't know if they help each other or just co-habitate.HMMMMMMMMM. I have Juniper thyme planted around my Etoile d'Holland. They would both be doing a lot better if they both got more sun. I don't think the thyme hampers the rose at all. I have the herb St. John's wort planted around my Madame Alfred, and they are both happy. In that case though, the herb is actually behind the rose. They are on the east side of our house and the herb grows between the house and the rose. I had to put the rose atleast 2' from the house to get it out from under the eaves of the house. St. John's wort I think needs a lot of shade especially in the summer.
I have prostrate germander around Martha Gonzales and I think that may be a problem. The rose has never gotten more than a foot tall. But we did have a big problem with gopher tunnels too in that spot.
I have upright Germander around my Felicia and that seems to be a problem too. She wasn't bloomming much last year, so I cleared out some of it and she bloommed more this year. So when the next RU comes around I'll have some Germander to trade.
I have irises and lillies next to most of my other roses and they all seem pretty happy. Just have to remember to fertilize them enough.
Oh I do have some groundcover type oregano near a Buff Beauty that was a problem. I pulled everything out within about 15 " of the rose last year and this year it doubled in size and is still bloomming.
I hope this helps.
And, yes, way-2-dumb, the second one was betterLOL.
Thanks Mary Lee, that makes me feel better. I think the thyme then is probably more of a problem for the other, smaller plants (Dahlberg Daisy, Four Nerve Daisy, Neirembergia, and Rain Lilies.) It just seems to blissfully run right over them, so I'll just keep it in check. I'm really glad to know they won't be infringing on the roses.
I have drip irrigation in that bed, and it is currently set up to water only the roses, nice and deep. I just occasionally splash water on the rest of the bed, and since those plants are drought tolerant, they get along fine. (Except, I've realized the Rain Lilies need more water to bloom, so I'll either have to re-locate them or water them more.)
You plant Rain Lilies? They just come up all over the place when it rains.
Yea, they come up here too. I almost bought some once til I realized what they were. I told the lady at the nursery, "No thanks, I already have rain lilies that don't bloom." It doesn't rain enough here usually to make them bloom very much.
Maggie, just don't plant any germander around your roses. Anybody want any at the next RU? They are beautiful plants, very tuff, and have a nice flower. I think I'll eventually relocate all that are near the rose and put something else in there. Maybe some sort of salvia
Trois, this used to be heavily forested, very dense shade here. No Rain Lilies in my yard unless I plant them. Even without the blooms though, in the rose bed they look a little like miniature ornamenal grass, so they add some interest.
Mary Lee, just consider the mature size of the salvia. Most of them get quite large, so I wonder if they might crowd or shade the rose.
I have several types of rain lilies (pink, white) with large blooms. I love them. I have just planted yellow ones and hope they do as well as the others. I sorta just stick them in a bare spot and leave them alone after I have watered them for awhile so that they will sprout. I am always impressed with their large blooms as compared to the size of their foliage. I have dwarf chrysanthemums around some roses which do not bother the roses and are easily trimmed if need be. They are not tall so they do not affect the air circulation except right at the base of the rose bushes. I trim them away from the base of the rose bush allowing about a 6 inch clear space in all directions. After they bloom, I trim them back by half or more so they never crowd the roses.
This message was edited May 21, 2005 6:51 PM
George (Jester), how's the job going?
Ladys, you've got to see the sign that Caroline (just turned 12) made me this weekend for my garden. Yep, that's her attitude.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/513169/
kip, that's a great sign! I think you could market that and make a bundle.
Making about half of what I need but prayerful that it will work out. I am just trying to get used to the hours and new rules ect. It has been a tough move but I am sure that some years from now I will look back and say it worked out for the best.
George
BTW, whatever happened to our plans to meet and tour some of the neat nurseries in SA? I've been gone for a awhile, maybe I missed something?
Mary Lee, I was just thinking about that earlier today. Maybe sometime this next month, June?
Just wanted to let ya'll from the CTRU see a couple of the orphans that I took home. First are the 3 Coral Dwarf Salvia.
Second are the 3 Mexican Milkweed. All started at the same height but it seems that I got a runt of the litter.
They're looking good! Isn't that coral nymph salvia something? It just blooms its head off, and grows very quickly. I kept trimming my Henry Duelberg back to get more branching, and it's finally starting to bloom (I guess it was scared of meeting the snippers again.)
Can you believe I still haven't planted some of the plants from the RU? I was out of comission for a while due to my back, then I had to figure where they were going to go, now I need some more containers.
"I still haven't planted some of the plants from the RU"
Me either. (I'm looking for just the right place for them, too.)
Speaking of containers, I was at my aunt and uncle's in ALB this last week and I hit the Mother Lode of containers. My uncle had been squirreling away all the containers from all his plantings, but didn't want them. As he was giving them to me he commented that he couldn't figure out why he had even been saving them.
The Lord provides. ;->
Oy!! Motherlode is right!
Nice Uncle, dstartz. whew Magiemoo, you're right on the name, it does sound so much more PC. Was talking to htop about the rain here andI must ask magiemoo, How did you fair yesterday evening?? I got 4.75 inches in 1.25 hours with 30 to 40 mph gusts. The last 4 days this is what has happened each evening and, Yes, I'm getting a little tired of it. Still smiling tho. ;o)~
This message was edited May 31, 2005 6:36 AM
Kip, is that a cut? Oh I see, just bragging! ;-)
The whole time everyone has been getting rain I have gotten little more than a spit or two. Everything is bone dry under the trees, even on the ground under the rims of the pots! My son lives just 10 miles south, in The Woodlands, and said they had very heavy rains. I think Veronica (bettydee) said it just rained all around her. Go figure.
The good thing about was, it was cooler, and the humidity was laying on the ground instead of suspended in the air. While my plants and lawn didn't get watered, they at least didn't have the water sucked out of them!