Iris 'Dorothea K. Williamson.' Bred by E. B. Williamson of Bluffton, Indiana, USA. Introduced in 1918 by the breeder. Said to have been "fulv
a x foliosa" ( AIS 1939 CL) where the pod parent is listed first.
I. foliosa Mackenzie and Bush,now considered a synonym of
I. brevicaulis Rafinesque. Greg Mc Cullough has a photo I enjoy on his page at
http://www.iriscitygardens.com/lairis2.html. Anotehr great named iris from this same cross was W. R. Dykes'
Iris 'Fulvala' illustrated in
The Genus Iris. Wilfred Blunt was not very impressed with the illustrations in this book, said to have been done from the life by F. H. Round, the art teacher at Dykes' school, but Wilfred Blunt was wrong.
I had what was represented to me as white I. tridentata seed once, and shared it around, and it was a wrong'un.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Kramb <dkramb@badbear.com>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 11:40 am
Subject: Re: [iris-species] Re: LAs?
I think the name is Dorothea K Williamson. And yes, that's an oldie that's been around for something like 95 years.
Cincinnati is on the northern edge of Zone 6 and I have found Louisianas to be remarkably hardy here. I also grow species like Iris nelsonii, Iris fulva, and Iris brevicaulis and they survive winter just fine without special protection.
My biggest losses occurred during a drought a couple years ago when my pond dried up and they fried in the sun sitting on the exposed black pond liner. Winter cold rarely kills them, but excessive heat+dryness can. With that said, they are not always evergreen during winter. They can get bad winter burn, but will recover as the weather warms up.
Louisianas are some of my favorite irises ever. They are a combination of two favorite things: native wildflowers + irises. I especially love when the hummingbirds visit my stand of Iris fulva. Iris fulva is a far cry from a big foofy TB, but they have a simple charm all their own that many people find endearing. And if the hummingbirds happen to be there while my human garden visitors are admiring the fulva? Yeah, they pretty much go crazy over them just like I do.
But my real favorite is Iris tridentata (not a Louisiana). It's another southern iris that does exceptionally well here in Cincinnati. It might be worth a try in Canada. I'm trying a new experiment with Iris tridentata by growing it in a nutrient poor bog bed with some carnivorous pitcher plants. So far they are loving it. I got the idea after seeing so many random photos on the web of Sarracenia species in the wild growing with Iris tridentata nearby. (I put some Iris fulva in there too and they HATE it.) I will report the results next summer, probably in an article for SIGNA bulletin.
Dennis
On Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 12:47 AM, Chuck Chapman
<i*@aim.com> wrote:
I have managd to keep a few alive for a few years. Black Gamecock is one of the hardier ones, but the most hardy is Eleanor K Wiliamson.
My soil is limesone based, so always resets to ph 7, so I can't keep soil acid like they prefer. So I have given up on them
Chuck Chapman
