Thanks Joan also! (your post didn't show up until after I sent my
reply in even though the time is earlier - go figure?)
Actually the Versicolor down there is quite large. They were planted
last year - 4" pots with foliage only a few inches high - and much of
it is over 5' tall this year. I had read that Versicolor gets only a
few feet tall so if they didn't have the blue blossums right there
for me to see I'd have thought they were the yellow flag. Since the
whole area was scraped clean by bulldozers, with new earth then piled
in and graded, there aren't any other "candidates". Maybe cultivars
of Versicolor in the garden trade were selected for shorter heights?
-Helen
--- In iris-species@yahoogroups.com, "Joan Cooper" <joan78@...> wrote:
>
> It shouldn't be a problem to tell pseudacorus from versicolor--it's
much bigger and more vigorous. I'm sure there are other diferences
too that you'll recognize soon enough.
> Joan C.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: hldlily
> To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:41 AM
> Subject: [iris-species] Hi from New Member who needs help!
Distinguishing Pseudacorus from Versicolor?
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I just joined because our neighborhood has an iris "problem" I'm
> hoping you all can help we with.
>
> Last year a local stream underwent a large restoration project to
> reduce the effects of erosion. The entire stream bed and banks
were
> regraded and various natural barrier (boulders, etc.,) were put
in to
> direct the stream and manage storm water. (Our City's storm water
> system drains directly to the stream.)
>
> As part of this they created a "wetlands" area to spread out
storm
> overflow and planted it with a number of native species. The
> original plan included both Iris versicolor and pseudacorus. When
I
> alerted them to the fact that pseudacorus is not native and is in
> fact an invasive, they removed it from the plans. This happened
only
> at the last minute and this spring it is evident that pseudacorus
DID
> get planted along with the versicolor - as their lovely yellow
> flowers are in bloom right now. (They were planting 700 each of
the
> plants and I'm guessing some trays got mixed up.)
>
> A local watershed group is offering help in removing the
> pseudacorus. At this point they are only one year old and we want
to
> get them out before they become any more firmly established.
>
> My question:
>
> Is there a definitive way to distinguish pseudacorus from
> versicolor? If not, we will have to remove ALL the iris and wait
a
> few years while we check for stray pseudacorus before we plant
more
> versicolor. This wetland overflows to a stream that up until this
> date has had no pseudacorus in it. We have enough other invasive
> plants - we don't need a new one!
>
> Thank you for any help you can give me.
>
> -Helen
>
