Re: Vic -- Iris tridentata

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There are legends of a cold spell that froze and cracked outdoor hose facets in Concord CA, but I haven't seen it that cold in the nearly two decades that I've been here. A thin layer of ice on exposed water is as much as I've seen. Many winters it doesn't drop much below 30 degrees F.

I grow all kinds moisture loving iris in tubs where the drainage is part way up the side. With our dry summers, I even grow some Siberians that way, although the drainage holes are usually closer to the bottom than for some of the other iris. As long as the roots can tolerate anaerobic conditions at some distance down, it works fine.

Ken Walker
Concord, CA USA

On 6/27/2011 6:51 PM, Mark A. Cook wrote:

 

Vic, Ken,

     Thank you for the information about mosquitoes.  Are there any problems with the tubs freezing in the winter?  I know there are times they would freeze here as we have been as cold as 12° F here.  In 2010, there was even a light dusting of snow.  I wonder if Iris virginica and/or Iris pseudacorus would grow okay in a no drainage tub?

 

Mark A. Cook

b*@bellsouth.net

Dunnellon, Florida. 

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