OT: Bad Weather

Last night around 8:00 pm, I heard some funny noises outside.  It sounded
like someone was throwing rocks at the house and cars.  Dark gray clouds
were moving in from the west and a few showers had just finished.  No
sooner did I step outside to check than I got bopped on the skull with an
inch-diameter hailstone! It hurt!

"Goodby garden," I thought.  But luckily the storm was brief, the
hailstones, though large, were few, and we escaped more or less unscathed.

So this morning I was able to stroll in the garden before school and enjoy
the masses of Iris cristata in the woodland garden.  By the way, my fears
for Iris gracilipes as a permanent casualty  of the Big Freeze were not
justified--it has sprung forth again, as have the badly damaged tectorum
clumps and Iris milesii.  However, I am noticing a very large proportion of
aborted bloomstalks (or potential bloomstalks) among the Tall Bearded
Irises, mostly on first-year plants.  My compensation will be in the
several varieties (from the 'Beauty' series) of Dutch Irises I was wise
enough to invest in last fall.  I'm also looking forward to seeing Spanish
Irises for the first time, and my latest experiment with growing English
Irises here in the hot, humid south is looking good.  And there is a bud
coming up on the tiny piece of Paltec I managed to save from the voles last
year.

Out at the pond behind my building at the college, clumps of Iris
pseudacorus, I. virginica and I. versicolor are budding, and the LAs I
planted last year are thriving (though I doubt any will bloom this year).
Near the south-facing wall of the brick potting shed, some long-forgotten
C. G. White arilbreds are in bloom, inspiring me to save the pollen and try
it on some of the better, more recent TBs--surely we can get some better
quarter-breds than came from the oft-repeated classic cross of Snow Flurry
X Capitola.  Also blooming is an old seedling of mine from Neon Rainbow X
Stars Over Chicago.  The latter is from Iris stolonifera, and one of Henry
Danielson's best. The seedling is a deep oxblood-maroon, with a violet
flash under the beard.  Unfortunately it fades badly in the sun, has a tall
floppy stalk, and only a single branch.  But it does look nice for a few
hours, anyway.

In the greenhouse, SIGNA seeds are starting to germinate.  Despite the
wierdness of the weather, it's starting out to be a pretty good year.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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