This sounds akin to the mixed reputation of
'Purissima'. The AIS Encyclopedia cites two references. One says,
"Thrives and blooms here (Ithaca, NY) if given perfect drainage
and if no covering be used for winter." The other says "Purissima
is for mild climates only, and that garden is fortunate that can
grow it to perfection."
I read in an old AIS Bulletin a southern US irisarian, TN I think,
was complaining that P was not reliable for him but it was for
Grace Sturtevant in [western] Massachusetts.
'Late' spring freezes are just part of the gardening territory in
these parts NC/SC. Typically it is too much warmth in Feb and
March that leads to the trouble. Things began to grow too early.
March was too warm and April was normal with it's two hard freezes
that messed up my blooms. The hard freeze we expect tonight though
is not normal. I am hearing more irisarians further north talking
about 'freeze-thaw' troubles which might be expected in light of
climate change.
Shaub Dunkley
On 5/9/2020 1:14 PM, Ken Walkup
k*@cornell.edu [iris-species] wrote:
Tectorum hardiness is
weird, it’s marginal in some places far south of us
here in upstate NY, where it is pretty reliable. I’m
not growing it right now—it got shaded/crowded out,
but it’s a common pass along plant here. We had about
the same temps as Dennis did, but our season isn’t so
far along.
Ken
From:
i*@yahoogroups.com
i*@yahoogroups.com on behalf of dkramb
d*@badbear.com [iris-species]
i*@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, May 9, 2020 11:18:03 AM
To: i*@yahoogroups.com
i*@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [iris-species] spring weather
We've had some of the worst see-saw freeze-thaw
weather this spring than
in all of the last 20 years. Last night was
another vicious deep freeze
dipping down to 27 deg F (for several hours) after
2 weeks of 40 to 80
deg F temps. I covered my garden as best I could
but my efforts were
not enough for certain things.
My un-named historic irises took the biggest hit,
90% of them are curled
over with the top of the stalks now pointing
straight down to the
ground. Half of my clump of 'Satans Mistress' is
the same. All of
these were on the verge of blooming yesterday!
Iris tectorum was particularly hard hit this
spring. 100% of the plants
I have in beds away from the house look like
tissue paper from the
freezes we had in April. I thought the plants up
against the house
might be able to survive last night, but those
that were in flower look
like tissue paper this morning, except for the
lucky ones I protected.
I never knew tectorum was so marginal here. I
used to only have it in
flower beds against the side of my house. But a
couple years ago as I
grew more varieties from seed I had to put them in
beds farther out.
And now I realize that's just not going to work in
Ohio. They need more
protection.
There's another light freeze forecasted Tuesday.
Ugh......
Dennis in Cincinnati
