Re: irises changing color
- To: i*@Rt66.com
- Subject: Re: irises changing color
- From: t*@Lanl.GOV (Tom Tadfor Little)
- Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 11:56:30 -0600
Philip writes
:Hi, my name is Philip Held and I live in Spring, TX and am a newcomer to
:this group. I have a question I hope someone can shed a little more light
:on it for me. Has anyone had the experience of planting their iris one year,
:and they all come true to their respective colors, and the following year
:they all bloom in one single color? I would certainly appreciate any help.
This is a fairly common experience, but it is not what it seems to be.
The irises do not change color. (They can no more do this than can a
person's eyes change from brown to blue.) What has happened is that some
of the original varieties just didn't bloom the following year, either
because they died out or maybe they just didn't grow well enough to bloom.
The variety you see blooming the second year is probably very vigorous,
making lots of increase, so that it seems to have "taken over".
Chances are that most of the other colors are still there in the iris
patch. The trick will be finding them and keeping them from being
overrun in the future. One way is to dig and divide them all, replanting
with ample space between the plants. That way, when each one blooms, you
can note which color it is and keep it separate from the others.
Happy irising, Tom.
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Tom Tadfor Little tlittle@lanl.gov -or- telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Telperion Productions http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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