Re: Iris Persica in Virginia [2 Attachments]

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As some may recall, Iris persica is an object of interest to me. I am compiling materials for a study of the literary and horticultural history of the species, and I have a little pot of what I have have understood to be a seedling.

 

Now, last year I had the one green shoot, which went dormant betimes. There was some concern that it might have rotted off as we had beaucoup rain last summer and many bulbs objected, but apparently not Iris persica.

 

That said, it is not yet clear to me what is happening in the pot.

 

We had a downpour while the little bulb from last year was dormant, at it floated up in the pot, so that it was visible in the medium. There was also a smaller bulb with it, separate, which looked like a young --later--germinant. I pushed both down a bit further, and left things alone. The "older" bulb was about the size of a flageolet, although round, and white. The smaller, about the size of a very small pea, or perhaps a larger silver dragee.  It had some thin brown skin, as had the earlier last year. 

 

Now, shoots are coming up in the pot. We have the first germinant. We have the second smaller bulb, which may be a germinant, or possibly--unlikely, I think but possibly--an offset.

 

And now there is a third something happening. I had, as I recall, four seeds to begin with. Two germinated promptly, one rotted off.

 

I don't do much for these except hover over them and give them a splash of very dilute balanced Miracle Gro when I wash out the pot that held the stronger solution for the Hellebores. Last year my seedling stayed on the table on the deck except when it got so cold I actually shut the door to the tiny plastic cold greenhouse, then I tucked it onto a shelf therein. I did not fear cold as much as I feared wind and dessication. This is not the original pot. A very look root emerged llast spring from the smaller pot in which it germinated and I thought I needed to pot up, so simply turned out the clump and placed It into this pot, filling in around the edges. The very long root turned out to be a seedling of one of my cutleaf Japanese violets which come up everywhere.

 

What you see is what I know.    

 

A friend took these photos with his Samsung tablet and I do hope they are not too large. If they inconvenience someone, I do apologize. I will try to get some camera shots when I can remember to charge the battery on the digital.

 

Right now, in the garden, the Osmanthus fragrans and the first of the Camellia sasanqua  are blooming. The earliest Helleborus niger are in bud.

  

Cordially,

 

AMW