Re: domestica, dichotoma, and x norrisii

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Iris domestica was not familiar to me, I do hate those name changes (sigh!) I was able to grow it successfully as Belamcanda chinensis in my former Northern Illinois garden. Bringing seeds with me, id did grow for about 3 years in this garden at 4000 ft. but the seed pods never opened and then it just disappeared. Having tried several times to grow Iris x norrisii, I had to give up. One plant gave me lovely amethyst flowers, None of the plants survived more than one winter. we are supposed to be in zone 6/7 with mild winters compared to the Chicagoland area. However, with snow cover normally 5-6 months and a very short growing season, many plants struggle and normally die because of too much moisture.

Although I do not have Tetra Versatas, just the regular seedlings of my own crosses, I do not think they would benefit from that much water. My Versatas do quite well in the clay soil that has been lightly mulched  with composted pine, spruce and larch wood chips over the past 20 years. The plants can take dry soil in the summer quite well. However, the summer temperatures are cooler, not reaching above 26 º C very often!

Liselotte

below: Iris Versata (not a good picture, but the only one I could find (the only re-bloom I have)

On Aug 2, 2011, at 2:32 AM, Dennis Kramb wrote: