Spurias

>Jim Wilson:
>        SPU -- how do you grow them?  They don't seem to want to take to
>Western New York climate -- 5b/6a zone.  Got any secrets to share?  What's in
>bloom down there?
>Carolyn Schaffner, Buffalo NY  
**
I just planted my very first Ohio serious spurias last fall, so I clearly do
not count as experienced.  However, I've seen them growing up at Ensata and at
George Bush's, which are climates in the same league as ours.  In Delaware,
which is a tad warmer, we had some older varieties growing just fine with very
little care.  Getting them established seems to be the trick.

What I did was pick a spot with drainage about the same as my beardeds get,
work in some organic matter, and plant them in late September.  (The
instructions said fall, but even with late Sept. I did have some frost-heaving
problems on a couple of them.)  I didn't do anything to acidify, just left it
at whatever pH 7.0 and some humus ends up to be.  For my starter set, I picked
ones that had been award winners, but some here have recommended a few others
as good ones for a variety of places.  I'll let you know how they turn out--
some here have said that you need two years to know if they will make it.

Here the reticulatas are done, but everything else that I have is agonizingly
slow (especially for a group that scheduled an early show this year).  I
haven't found an SDB bud yet, and the Siberians are just beginning to poke
their leaves above the ground level.

I also have to mention I. graminea, which has been grouped as a Spuria, but
is much smaller than what comes to mind for the class.  I've grown this one
for a few years, and it is one I would never part with.  It already has some
nice leaves on it, narrow ones that make a small fountain, and it makes some
small, exquisitely formed flowers peeking from within that foliage.  It
definitely counts as within the easy category, for me at least.  They made
a nice story too--I once heard my mother telling some others about my 
irises:  "He's got big ones and little ones, and even a couple of grammas."

                                        --Jim
--
Jim Wilson, Miami Valley Iris Society, SW Ohio, USA, Zone 6a, AIS garden judge
growing TBs, medians, SIBs, JIs, & a few SPU & species.   wilsonjh@muohio.edu
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index