Well, you'd sure be welcome here, Sharon. <smile>
Maureen Mark & Sandy Ives stayed here in 2008, while they taught some
AIS judge courses for us, plus used my garden for garden training.
They helped me finish up my own AIS judge training, plus helped judge our first
CWIS iris show.
The next spring, 2009, Kate Brewitt and Terry Laurin came here to do
more judge training for us and helped judge our 2nd CWIS iris show. So we
now have 2 AIS sanctioned iris judges in Manitoba. My friend and fellow
isarian, Barbara Jean Jackson, more commonly known as BJ, is the other
judge.
El, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Z3
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 10:51
AM
Subject: Re: [iris-photos] Re: TB: I.
germanica
In a message dated 4/20/2010 6:02:21 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
eleanore@mts.net writes:
Thanks for the info, Sharon. Any
suggestions re the AB's that bloomed, then died the next season?
Should I have transplanted and/or divided them right after bloom?
Or perhaps it was just too rainy and cool
those years. It was a bad few years for iris here. Some iris
started to rot after bloom, when I hadn't expected it, nor checked
diligently for it like I do in early spring.
As for getting AB's any earlier than mid
August, perhaps I'll have to pot those, and overwinter them in the house,
although I don't usually have great luck doing that.
My only other thought was to try to get my
hands on some seeds and give that a try.
As I obviously can't perform an onsite
post-mortem, I'll just offer a few possibilities:
If iris are crowded -- whether with increase, by the
incursion of neighbors, or competition of ground cover -- they benefit from
being moved. I have found that arilbreds tend to be less tolerant
of crowded conditions than other types.
If all or part of a planting is dwindling instead of
increasing normally, digging all clumps in that area may reveal an
otherwise unknown probem -- like competition from tree roots, compacted or
depleted soil. (I'm sure you already know that if a bed doesn't support
a healthy growth of weeds, it's not going to support iris!)
If the problem is bloomout, digging and potting in sand may
stimulate growth of increase.
If the medians and TBs are suffering from rot, ABs are apt
to be afflicted as well.
I used to ship to northern customers in July. I know
that Malevil starts shipping the first of July and am confident there are
others who can handle requests for early shipments as well. I had the
opposite problem with planting imports. I'd pot the rhizomes and grow
them under lights until after Labor Day when it was cool enough to plant
outside. By then, they'd have a well-established root system and settle
into the garden quite nicely.
Growing from seeds is certainly an option. How about
getting your hands on some arilbred pollen to use on your TBs &
medians?
Sharon McAllister
