CULT TB AB IB BB in zone 8
- To: i*@egroups.com
- Subject: CULT TB AB IB BB in zone 8
- From: a*@jump.net
- Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 21:01:02 -0500 (CDT)
> I'm in Plano, Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas, on the line between zones 7 and 8.
> I have no problem with medians (SDB, MTB, IB, BB) at all. In fact they seem to be less affected by rot and other maladies, as a whole, than the TB's. Mine are all in raised beds with enough spacing to get good air circulation. Some can be persnickity about where they are grown, especially the MTB's. After 2 yers, if they are not performing, I will relocate them to a different sun exposure, and/or a different soil composition bed. A few never respond...they are just weaker growers and they get evaluated on whether the bloom is worth the space. Most of these are earlier reds and blacks, which are known slow /weak growers.
Mine certainly need more room. I've a bit of expansion space and I
said to my husband "I need to expand the beds a little and he said
WHAT???? We *do* have an awful lot of grass :-) but going into
the unimproved yuck that is under the grass is going to be tough.
I'm in zone 8b, and I notice quite a bit of different between Dallas
growers. We are actually more akin to Houston in terms of what we
can get away with coldwise... and Dallas can handle the peonies and
certain other cold lovers much better than we can. I do think that
we get significantly fewer chill hours. I'm curious if anyone has
defined this for iris -- is it really hours under 32 F, which I
find hard to believe, because in some years we get *0* hours and
the TBs still bloom, and they won't bloom in Houston's frost free
climate -- though it is more humid there. Most fruiting trees
and tulips it's hours under 40 F. Of course, soil temps are
more telling than air temps, and when we swing low, it's rarely
for long. Having average daytime highs about 5 degrees cooler
than we do up in Dallas, and nighttime lows that regularly hit
below 40 F in Dallas, whereas our nighttime average low for January
is 40 F (coldest month). Zone is one consideration but since it
*averages* things out, it's a bit tricky. I'd like to see a
standard deviation published with each average to show the variability,
as well as average soil temp.
> A few unusual colored iris to consider are
> ROMIE STEWART - Burseen 92 - TB - red-brown, lavender & tan blended S. Creamy tan F., overlaid with S. colors, having red-brown hafts & edges. Violet flash at gold B.
> DRURY LANE
> GAY GESHIA
> STARPLE - Burseen 94 - Straw yellow S. Bright lemon F with red-purple wash. Gold B.
> SILENT RAIN - Burseen 97 - Unique pearl-gray self. Yellow B.
> HUBBUB - Ensminger 89 - IB - Irregular white and violet splashes and streaks.
> BEING BUSY - Hager 93 - SDB - Bright yellow S. Deep maroon F edged grayed mauve. Dusty blue B.
> KERMIT - Ensminger 90 - IB - (blooms like an SDB here) Chartreuse with a blue blaze under the chartreuse, tipped blue, B.
> SQUIDDLER - Innerst 95 - SDB - Moss green with aqua-blue midribs. Aqua-blue F. Orange B, tipped blue.
> DISTANT ROADS - Keppel 91 - Olive-mauve S. White F,with heavy dark plum markings.
Don't have any of these! Whattaya know! More shopping? :-)
--Amy
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