Re: CULT: "Blooming Out"

On Apr 15, 2006, at 11:24 AM, Williams, Michael wrote:


If someone could explain what it means
when an iris blooms out, I would most appreciate it.
Each individual iris rhizome will only bloom once during its lifetime. However, it will also normally grow new rhizomes (increases) along its side. Those increases will then mature and bloom and grow more increases of their own. That is now a single rhizome eventually becomes a clump of rhizomes at varying stages of maturity.

Bloom out occurs when a single rhizome blooms but fails to produce increases. Since the single rhizome will not bloom again, and if it fails to ever produce any additional rhizomes, eventually the rz will die and rot away, and the plant will be lost.

Occasionally rhizomes will bloom and then take an inordinately long period of time to grow any new increases, fooling the gardener into believing the rz has bloomed out when actually it's just reproducing extremely slowly.

The moral to this story is to not discount your chickens before they die, or some other such twisted version.

Does that help?

Laurie
---------------
lauriefr@localnet.com
http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg
http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisintro.html
USDA zone 3b, AHS zone 4 - northern Minnesota
normal annual precipitation 26-27"
slightly acid, potassium deficient, clay soil

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