CULT: Iris Emergence Here, with some remarks about Spring

Greetings, 

As most of you are aware this has been a peculiar Spring in this part of the
world. We had a bad drought last autumn, and a fairly mild winter and since
the first of the year we've had a lot of rain and unseasonably warm weather
puntuated by a couple of evil freezes, which were then followed by several
days near eighty with hot dry winds. During the last freeze I took the
precaution of covering some irises and other plants very carefully and
initially it looked as if the garden came through unscathed, with the
exception of some perennials and the tectorums and pseudacorus, which I did
not cover, and which got hit hard. I was pleased to see that most of the
bearded irises escaped serious foliar damage, although some has taken a while
to manifest itself, chiefly as dead leaf tips and freeze burn and bud damage.
I have seen no rot as yet, nor any spot to speak of, although I did
--uncharacteristically--give things a little preventive spray when the heat
popped up after the last rain. I figured they might be pretty vulnerable since
growth has been rapid this year. I'm seeing many more fans with caught leaves,
for instance, and I decided I would not fertilize this season since growth was
already fast and I did not want to fight rot in soft tissues.

Now, little JEWEL BABY a modern SDB has been blooming for about a week, and
the stalks of other irises are emerging from fans. Regrettably, THAIS and MA
MIE, both close to the edge of the bed and thus more exposed, are showing
aborted buds, although GOLDFISH, MOONLIGHT, and FANTASY are fine, as is
FRIVOLITE. Other historics beginning to emerge are SHINING WATERS, ALCAZAR,
and an unknown yellow which, to judge by its vigor, will probably turn out to
be CORONATION.   Among the moderns I have early stalks emerging of ELECTRIQUE,
TWIST OF FATE, and Tasco's SONORAN SANDS, which I think will be lovely. And
stalks can be felt deep in many other fans including PLUMERI, DRADY, Dr.
Zurbrigg's  ENGLISH COTTAGE, which is supposed to be very pretty and fragrant,
and Walter's LEMON CHESS, which I'm looking forward to seeing since he thinks
it is a real good iris. Here and there around town I. germanica, and some
I.pallida,and a few extra early TBs are in bloom in sunny places. The bearded
progression seems extremely erratic, probably even more so than last year,
which was odd enough. The Siberian and Japanese irises are up and running, the
fulva never went dormant, there are buds in the cristata fans, and also some
setosa fans, the tectorum--and the foetidissima--have recuperated in a matter
of days, and seeds of two I.setosa forms, a new lactea, tridentata, lutescens,
and variegata are now germinating. Other seeds will follow toward the end of
the month. I lost no species yearlings this winter in spite of the copius
rain, although one virginica got hit hard the night we dropped to about 17. 

Elsewhere in our little garden, the pulmonarias are blooming, the white
Clematis monatana is in bud, most of the hostas are up, the white bleeding
hearts take your breath away, the ferns are all unfurling, the first blooms
are on the lilies of the valley,  the polygonatum humile is romping, the tree
peonies have buds the size of a pullet egg, the tulips--deep wine and white
this year-- are at prime, and the Rosa sericea pteracantha is set to bloom.
The native violets are already blooming, joined--curiously--by the native
birdfoot violets, the labrador violets, and the japanese dissected-leaf
violets. Of course, the extraordinary numbers of aphids and slugs are having
an absolute field day, and the dandelions have never been more spendid, but,
happily, the bumbles are sitting around expectantly on the lavenders and the
wren has not quite managed to eat all the grass seed in the bald patches.

Anner Whitehead, Richmond,Va USDA Zone 7, urban
Henry Hall   henryanner@aol.com
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