Re: Iris borer

 

Thank you Eleanor!

It's nice to be here!

Except for I. douglasiana PCNs  really have a hard time here, but mostly because I am in over my head, growing too many plants on a half acre and being stubborn to try what interests me, not really having time for taking care of everything. I have started PCNI from seed every year, not having much to show for, but the pleasure of the magnificent Iris in bloom is worse the effort. Our property is facing south and sloping south and southwest, growing PCNs under larch trees (Larix decidua) is working out well. The acid needles provide a wonderful mulch and in the summer the soil is  dry under the larches. In winter the snow provides the moisture and protects against frost.

Living so far north, you may have far more complaints about the climate than I do. I can grow all my favorites plants well except for Hemerocallis! 

Mark, you know all about that! Unfortunately this year is one of the 4 bad years out of 5. With night temperatures of 5 º C at night and barely 10  º during the day, Hems have shut down at the heigth of the season, flowers are less than half size,washed out colors and hang on for 3 days.... 

Liselotte, 
Chesières, Switzerland (zone 6/7 in the winter )

On Jul 26, 2011, at 3:26 AM, Eleanor Hutchison wrote:


Welcome to you, Liselotte!
 
I had to read that twice that you grow PCN's there, but I guess it makes sense.  I have only succeeded with 4 Japanese Iris, all historic, no ensatas so far, plus I typhifolia is doing well in its 3rd year here.
 
And while my iris collection is mainly bearded iris and siberians, I've been trying out more species iris over the last 10 yrs.  I'm growing around 30 or so spuria iris too in the last few years, a few of them species spuria halophilia.
 
El, Ste Anne (near Winnipeg), Manitoba, Canada

From: l*@mac.com
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 5:02 PM
To: i*@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [iris-species] Iris borer

 

Hi everyone, 


I am new here, but happy to see familiar names.

Dennis, 
I am so sorry to hear about your loss and want to convey my sincere condolences to you and your family.

On the iris borer, I am glad to say, we don't have the borer here in Switzerland yet. But the very hungry voles will hit during the winter. We are at an altitude of 1300 m (4000 ft.) and on the average get the first snow by mid-October. 2-3 ft of snow cover from 4 1/2 - 6 months is normal. Unfortunately I never manage to get all the foliage cleaned up and field mice will also enjoy the tasty  Iris sibirica and build their nest in the middle of a clump, while the voles hit from below. They hit on Iris ensata first and occasionally go for I. typhifolia.  Last winter they discovered PCNs and destroyed 2/3rd of all plants. Although I invested in some new high tech mousetraps, I only caught 2 in spring. During the growing season they move back to the surrounding meadows. Most likely they hate the vibration from the lawn mower or chipper/shredder....

Liselotte


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