Thanks for the explanation about the Iris Encyclopedia.
After the snow comes I will have more time to properly check it out. It sounds
like a MOST WONDERFUL resource. Thank you for your vision, dedication, and
work to make it a reality.
To answer the inquiry about what we can
grow in Anchorage,
I will include a few plants that I am dealing with now for you.
I have been away from the computer as much
as I can lately to get the last of my summer chores done before the ground
freezes more than it has already begun to do (about an inch so far.) In another
intense, cold week or less winter will be here. Fall has been nicer and longer
than normal, but still cold compared to what some of you are used to. This is what
I call the “hot chocolate garden season”.
More plants to get in the ground or
healed-in (if I did not find a place for them yet.) it seems that the places that
look like another plant will fit into the garden actually have over crowed spring
bulbs (hardier groups of Narcissus, Scilla, hardier spring Crocus, Chinodoxa) in
place. So, every time I dig I find more bulbs that need dividing, so my to-do
list gets longer not shorter!!!
We can grow many more perennials than will
fit in a large perennial garden or I could list. Probably most things that can
be grown in Minnesota can be grown here in Anchorage – if they
do not require much summer heat. Interior Alaska
has a continental climate, that is, they are colder in winter and hotter in summer
than south central Alaska. Then Southeast “AK
is a rainforest so it is totally different than both areas. Then the
Southwestern, Western, and northern AK are each totally different from the
other areas too. As you would guess for an area that spreads out almost as much
as the Lower 48 dimensions (east coast to west coast and north to south) we
have a lot of variation.
Anchorage has USDA Zones 2, 3, and 4 – depending on how far you are
from the ocean or up in the mountains. I live in 4 and the people higher up on
the mountains have summer a month after I do and winter is already there –
a month be for me. And it only takes about 20 minutes to drive between the two
places.
It is 1:00 pm and it has warmed up to 39*F
so I better go and get more peonies and Asiatic lilies in the ground on the
south side. (and more of those other bulbs that I have found planting other
plants.) Candy and hot chocolate help me face the cold. J I just got to get the
plants in the ground and finish the garden I had to move earlier in the year
for some other work that had to be done.
Debbie Hinchey
Anchorage, Alaska
From: iris-species@yahoogroups.com [mailto:iris-species@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Robert Pries
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011
4:46 PM
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [iris-species]
Setosa!
Dear Anner
and Debbie; I apparently have not explained the Iris Encycopedia well enough.
My dream is that it will pull all the iris information together in one place.
Being a wiki, it means everyone can contribute bits and pieces on top of the
literature that is out there. Of course at present it is just a very crude
beginning. We all could add information to the setosa area and it can contain
multiple pages and scores of pictures. For example, I just added a page for the
synonym brachycuspis and placed a copy of the plate from Curtis's Botanical
Magazine, where it is originally described, on that page. When I get time
I will enter the text that went with it. The wiki has a place for articles as
well that can be linked to the species they address. I am presently working on
a short article for SIGNA about Iris domestica and how it is affected by
Environment. The wiki can assemble small bits of information and pictures and
they can evolve into more comprehensive articles. The Encyclopedia can generate
articles for SIGNA and vice versa. They should not be thought of as an either
or, but as companions in creation.
From: dhinchey@alaska.com
To: ChatOWhitehall@aol.com, iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, October 7, 2011
12:01:39 PM
Subject: Re: [iris-species]
Setosa!
I LOVE that idea of pulling the setosa
literature together!!!!
I have lots of pictures to contribute. I have been trying to collect
setosa information, but have so many other demands it has been pushed lower in
priorities. I have a 10 to 15 minute PowerPoint presentation on setosa
that I have give in different parts of Alaska.
Then folks give me more information and or plants.
Since setosa is our only native iris in all Alaska
some people take it for granted that all are the same while others notice the
little differences.
Along this line. There are folks up here selling I.
setosa nana which, of course, short. The leaves top out at about 5"
and the flower is about the size of I.s. arctica and the leaves are thinner
like arctica. I nave not found nana published anywhere - not that I have
had time to dig very deep.
I would love to go on if someone would put all our comments together.
Maybe ANW would do this?????
Debbie
Sent from my HTC cell phone.
This is all so fascinating.
You know, a lot of folks love
setosa. For many it is the first species they succeed with from seed, after the
water irises and tectorum.
Why doesn't someone take on the task of
writing up a really good article for SIGNA on all this? A noce long
juicy essay with a review of the literature, cultural history, and
the whole shebang? SIGNA badly needs articles; people need good things to read
and learn from, and this is so fascinating! We could take one species at a
time, just as we became aware of interest and of someone's special
knowledge, and do an in depth run down. Rodney's finished a new chunk of the
Index, so seeing what has been published there is easy. I
personally relish opening up a Section publication and finding
something with some length and intricacy to it, especially if there is some
narrative and some adventure, too, and even interesting bits about other
genera.
By the way, I've got a file open here
with an eye to pulling something together for print on that documetnary history
of I. pallida and 'Dalmatica' issue, so if anyone runs into something on
point in your reading, shoot me a little citation or quote, SVP.
-----Original
Message-----
From: dhinchey <dhinchey@alaska.com>
To: Chuck Chapman <irischapman@aim.com>; iris-species <iris-species@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Oct 7, 2011 3:04 am
Subject: Re: [iris-species] I. versicolor
'Murrayana'
Yes,
Chuck is right about the Iris setosa ssp setosa (on the Alaska
coastal areas ie south of the Alaska Range) have a different foliage look
than Iris setosa ssp interior (which are north of the Alaska
Range. Mt. McKinley is in the the Alaska
Range.)
The interior plants are taller and the foliage is not as wide as the coastal
ones. The flowers seem to look alike.
The Alaska Range is a formidable barrier for
plants. It is also what divides the climate zones here. North ward
has a continental climate and south of the AK Range has a more coastal
influence.
I am fairly sure that I saw setosa in the Soviet (now called Russian) Far East in 1989 while traveling with botanists there for
almost three weeks. I will have to dig out my slides.
As would be expected for such a widely distributed species, there is a lot of
variation. There are many plants that we share with the other side of the
Being Ocean
(even though you CANNOT see Russia
from here. Ha ha)
Dr. Murray worked with many Russian Far East plants. I do not remember
the source, but I am fairly sure that he told me that Cornus canadensis in Alaska was more closely related to those in Russian than
those in eastern Canada.
(I was doing research on C. canadensis at the time in early 1980's.)
It seems that other plants that are in common to all three areas followed
this pattern. That was early in genetic testing, so maybe things have
changed. If all that still holds up I think it means that it has been a
longer time since the Alaskan plant populations have been separated from the
eastern Canadian than the Russian ones.
There are two people that have collected some fantastic color variations of I.
setosa ssp. interior in the Fairbanks
area.
Debbie
Anchorage, Alaska
Sent from my HTC cell phone.
Versicolor is setosa X
virginica. according to information current. Not an assumption, a
scientific fact. Check this link.
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/100/2/219.short
Where plant populations are found now is not were plants were found at
time that original speciation of versicolor occurred.
The articles and exploration of origins of versicolor came from were made
previous to separation of I hookeri into its separate species from I. setosa canadesis. I haven't looked into what was used
for comparison of genomes, so it may possibly have been hookeri.
In any case, hookeri, I setosa Alasaka coast and I. setosa Alaska interior are
all distinct populations of setosa population, which is also present in
Japan. All developed from original setosa, which had to relatively close
by before differentiation into these subspecies.
So if setosa was able to cross with virginica, then hookeri could
very well cross as well.
There are lots of isolated populations of "robusta" iris
found throughout Ontario and Quebec in areas quite remote from cultivated
plants. (Tony Huber did study of these as a paid botanist by Canadian
government). Robustas are rarely if ever sold in nurseries. I have never
seen one advertized in any of the general Garden catalogues and never seen one
in a nursary, (Always visit large nursaries where ever I go).
Most of the locations that Tony found robustas in are very remote from the
Canadian location of virginica (Point Pele and in a few isolated areas
close to Point Pele)
Never ever heard of a Robuit being planted in wetlands restorations. Be very
surprised if anyone did this. They are superviswd by botanists who are very
careful that nativel species are being used. If you have any information
on Robustas being ussed this waay this would you forward the information?
In any case this would not apply to "Murrayana" which was found
in 1930's.
Chuck Chapman
-----Original
Message-----
From: Sean A. Zera <z*@umich.edu>
To: iris-species <i*@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Oct 6, 2011 9:51 am
Subject: Re: [iris-species] I. versicolor
'Murrayana'
I
believe the current assumption is that versicolor is a hybrid
between virginica and hookeri (a.k.a. setosa v. canadensis). Not
counting hookeri, the nearest setosa is in southern Alaska,
thousands
of miles away from versicolor or virginica.
Since virginica and versicolor (and probably ×robusta) are mixed up or
simply not distinguished in the nursery trade, and are planted in
large numbers in wetland mitigations and restorations, I'd be
surprised if there aren't lots of populations established outside
their original ranges.
Sean Z
Quoting Chuck Chapman <i*@aim.com>:
> I just looked at article on Murrayana.
>
> Very interesting.
>
> A couple of observations. The offspring of Murrayana X vesicolor
> sound very much like offspring of crosses of virginica x versicolor
> Except that the "Robusta" plants are usually fertile.
>
> Also versicolor were produced from a natural cross of setosa x
> virginica. And hokerii is very closely related to setosa. Hookeri
> and versicolor are both native to Newfoundland.
>
> I found Cast Ashore (a robusta) in an area that has versicolor but
> no virginica. so you can have plant relics or hybrid relics in
> strange locations.
>
> Chuck Chapman
>
> Sometimes
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eleanor Hutchison <e*@mymts.net>
> To: iris-species <i*@yahoogroups...com>
> Sent: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 10:31 pm
> Subject: [iris-species] I. versicolor
'Murrayana'
>
>
> Todd, I rec'd this iris today, so looked up a bit more information
> about it and came across your interesting article at Dave's Garden,
> "The Story of Iris versicolor 'Murrayana'".
>
> I hope I planted it at the correct depth, as it had roots heading
> up one of the stems.
>
> El, Ste Anne, Manitoba, Canada
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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