Re: most popular irids

 

Mark,

There are several hundred species of Moraea, so they grow in a diversity of habitats. Most are from the winter rainfall area of western South Africa, but a decent number of species also occur in the summer rainfall east. A few species extend the range of the genus north, where M. sisyrinchium (formerly IrisÂsisyrinchium or Gynandriris)Âoccurs in Mediterranean Europe. Some of the high-altitude summer rainfall species are even growable here outside in Michigan, so you should be able to pull off a pretty wide selection.

Most of this description applies to Gladiolus as well, except it's a larger genus with more representatives in each area and extends further into Europe. RomuleaÂhas a similar range to Moraea, but is a smaller genus  with almost no summer rainfall species.

Sean Z
Zone 6a
SE Michigan

On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 7:13 AM, k*@astound.net [iris-species] <i*@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Â

It depends some on the species. My understanding is that
there are populations of M. polystachya in both summer-dry
and winter-dry climates. Mine grows during our winter
rains and blooms in early spring; I don't water it in the
summer. I've seen the species in a local public garden
blooming in the summer. I just had M. tripetala bloom. M.
lewisiae will probably bloom in a month. I think most
areas of South Africa where the species originate are wet
in the winter and dry in the summer.

Ken

On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 22:00:12 -0400
"Mark Cook h*@gmail.com [iris-species]"
<i*@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> Ken,
> Does Morea need dry or wet summers?
>
> Mark A. Cook
> Dunnellon, Florida USA
> AHS Region 12 USDA Zone 8b
>
> On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 9:26 PM, k*@astound.net
>[iris-species] <
> i*@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
>> Around here Morea seems very much a specialty plant.
>>I've
>> only seen it a few times (some in my garden :-) . On the
>> other hand, Dietes is far more common than Iris.
>>
>> Ken Walker
>> Concord, CA USA
>>
>>


Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index