Re: SDB: Median Convention

Greetings all,

We are one of the tour gardens in Lincoln, and we have had a LOT of 
foliage damage to hundreds of iris clumps.  Fortunately, though, we do 
not yet have many bloom stalks visible.  We are hopeful that the 
severe cold weather (down into the teens the last two nights, and wind 
chill much lower) will be restricted to foliage and that it was a bit 
too early to significantly affect bloom.  As Robin mentioned, the 
damage looks a lot like scorch or leaf spot on the upper few inches of 
the fans. Two days before this weather, everything looked great.  It 
is now four weeks before the Median convention, and I am confident 
that there will be a lot of bloom in the gardens.  We were probably at 
least a week or ten days early, so this has at the least had the 
effect of putting things back on a more normal time schedule.  The 
weather here is to be cool, but not frigid, over the next few days, so 
the plants will have time to gradually recover before very warm 
weather comes our way again. 

Our garden is probably a little later to bloom than most of the other 
gardens on the tour, so am not sure what the overall effect will be.  
The gardens are spread out around Lincoln and east toward the Missouri 
river, so there are a number of micro-climates that will have some 
effect as well.  In addition to iris foliage damage, daylilies don't 
look so well either, and early tulips and daffodils are flat on the 
ground.  Some of the other perennials and vines suffered severe leaf 
damage as well.  The plants that seem to have made it through 
unscathed are peonies and clematis (although a few clematis have 
flower buds visible).

I should say that it seems that every year we get a cold period in 
April (though this was exceptionally cold), yet the irises (especially 
the SDBs and other early irises) recover well and by bloom time, we 
hardly notice the difference.  Three years ago just a week before the 
TBIS tour in Lincoln, one of the gardens had a freak freeze pocket in 
mid-May that damaged a lot of tall bearded buds and foliage in that 
one garden.  Yet, just a week or so later, the irises had recovered to 
an amazing degree and had respectable bloom considering how they 
looked a few days earlier. I believe that this cold period was early 
enough that it will not have a major effect on bloom.  Even in our own 
garden, there are places that don't seem to have been affected by the 
weather.  I'm hopeful and confident that there will be a great deal of 
bloom in the gardens come convention time.

Gary White
Lincoln, Nebraska



----- Original Message -----
From: Robin Shadlow <rshadlow@wildmail.com>
Date: Sunday, April 8, 2007 0:25 am
Subject: [iris] SDB:  Median Convention
To: iris@hort.net

> Sherry asked: Does anyone know how the median irises planted for 
> the May 8 & 9 convention fared in Nebraska?
> 
> Sherry,
> 
> I'm not in Lincoln, but am close in Omaha.  We have been having 
> very bitter temps with wind chills more appropriate for January.  
> As far as bloom goes, a very few of the earliest bloomers may have 
> been open in Lincoln.  I have hundreds of SDB stalks showing- 
> which will likely be lost, but the later SDBs and IBs have not yet 
> started to make visible stalks.  
> 
> Tonight is our last night in the teens.  So we should know fairly 
> soon.   The little guys are tough though and I suspect there will 
> still be bloom by convention time.  As with every one around the 
> country- we were running quite early.  The TBS are more likely to 
> suffer the freeze damage which looks much like scorch.
> 
> Will let you know what happens as it warms up a bit.
> 
> I am so very sorry to hear of the terrible times being had by all 
> of you to our east and south.  It is painful to think of all of 
> the devastation.  Well- maybe 2007 will be a rebloom season to 
> remember! 
> Robin Shadlow
> zone 5 NE
> 
> where I am ever so grateful that I decided not to risk it, all of 
> the seedling pots are huddled in the garage with a heater.  
> Managed to get about 25% germination so far, and with luck will 
> keep going once this blows on by 
> 
> 
> 
> Care2 make the world greener!
> 
> 
> http://toolbar.Care2.com  Make your computer carbon-neutral (free).
> 
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> 
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