Re: CULT: Resistance is futile....
- Subject: Re: CULT: Resistance is futile....
- From: L* M*
- Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 07:40:50 -0500
I posted some photos of plant bed covered iris beds and a closeup of
post-freeze results, including one dead to the ground, one partially
damaged, and one without damage.
<Names! Give us names! What is the one that's frost tolerant? Christy>
Christy, believe it or not, that <dead to the ground> iris was one of
only a half dozen or less that were damaged that badly, and relatively
few showed much damage, even among those that I was unable to cover.
The worst damage was among newly planted rhizomes (yes, from the west
coast) - partly because they are probably still growing on stored
nutrition from their earlier happy lives, partly because the weak
haven't been frozen out here yet <g>.
Plus, it's way too early to tell whether or not bloom of that <frost
tolerant> individual will be affected. The first clue will be a
withering or stalled growth of the terminal fan, which will eventually
rot. Some will get past that, look normal, but the bloom stalk will
shrivel inside the fan or maybe develop a bit more, then rot out. Some
will get past that, but the stalk will be severely stunted, with blooms
on stalks that can be as short as 3 or 4 inches tall.
I'll try to post some follow up photos of various levels of terminal &
stalk damage.
Now, to answer your question, that particular healthy plant is BERNIE
BRANUM (1989 Connally) a 'try this Linda' iris from Walter Moores.
(Thanks Walter - looks like a good 'un).
I should add that I didn't cover these plants the first night of the
freeze here - temps only dropped to the upper 20s, which I thought
wasn't going to do much damage. The second night, temps dropped to the
low 20s - definitely enough to do a lot of damage to rapidly growing
irises. I don't know if damage to foliage was from the first night of
freeze or if the covers weren't enough protection - they aren't
advertised to provide much protection from severe freezes, but I've
found they are usually adequate to protect rhizomes & subsequent bloom,
if not foliage. So the partially damaged plant may go on to bloom as
well or better than the one with undamaged foliage.
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
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