Re: Iris x norrisii

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Hi, Mark. Sorry for the delay. The internet has been down here for several days; not sure how long it will stay up.

I am in SW British Columbia. Joe Pye Weed’s Garden is in Carlisle, MA. We are both in Zone 6, broadly, but Iris x norrisii grows wonderfully there and struggles to survive here. Our seasonal patterns of wet and dry differ and so do our patterns of warm and cold. I have heard that they get colder faster, and that the freeze lasts longer, abating only gradually. At any rate, some eastern shrubs famous for their fall color make a tepid display here, and some eastern bulbs quickly languish.

In my opinion, Iris x norrisii is handsome enough, but not spectacular or heart-stopping. If I lived in Florida, I don’t think I’d put much energy into trying to grow it. But I have noticed from afar that you do seem to like a challenge. I have wondered idly whether you are checking off some kind of life list of “irids I have grown". ;-) If you just must have x norrisii, you might want to check with Joe Pye Weed’s about the precise ecology of their success and then mimic it. There was a rock gardener in California who put a freezer under his bed of alpines. Worked like a charm, apparently.

Paige

> On Jul 5, 2017, at 6:17 PM, Mark Cook hemerocallis1962@gmail.com [iris-species] <iris-species@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> Paige,
>
> I wonder if theirs have lower or high chilling requirements?
> Gardening is rather different here because there can be warm to even hot
> spells in between winter freezes.
>
> Mark A. Cook
>
> Dunnellon, Florida.
>
> On 7/5/2017 3:54 PM, Paige Woodward paige@hillkeep.ca [iris-species] wrote:
> > Joe Pye Weed’s Garden has a range of pardancandas (= Iris x norrisii). http://www.jpwflowers.com/intropardancandas.html
> >
> > Paige
> >
> >
>
>
>