Re: SPEC: Iris pseudacorus.
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: SPEC: Iris pseudacorus.
- From: w* <w*@hargray.com>
- Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 23:27:28 -0600 (MDT)
Mark,
I have been growing some I.pseudacorus almost hydroponically; the roots are
supported in a fiber mat under water but there is no soil. Another batch of
I.pseudacorus are growing in 8 inches of water with no soil and no fiber mat; I
just threw out a bunch of rhizomes and the entangled roots support the fan and
bloom stalks. They bloom profusely, but the fan is a lighter green and both
foliage and flowers are about one-third the size of sibling plants with
submerged roots growing in rich organic mud. Flower size is definitely
influenced by the environment. Since our intent is to have the iris remove
excess nutrients from the water garden, I am not willing to fertilize the water
to increase the bloom size; green water problems and such.
There are some advanced cultivars of I.pseudacorus as well. There is one in a
retention pond of a local shopping center with large blooms and darker brown
signal.
Some Canna do fairly well with the roots submerged. Our (SC, GA, FL) native
Canna flaccida does not seem to mind 4-6 inches of water during the growing
season but I have not yet left them in water over the winter.
My wife wants to go to Gainsville to check out some hardy ginger. I'll
remember the Kanapaha Botanical Garden. Do they have other iris, canna and/or
amaryllidaceae?
Stephen Hopkins
coastal South Carolina, USA
zone 8b
william b cook wrote:
> Today, at the Kanapaha Botanical Garden in Gainesville [Florida], I
> saw a very large planting of Iris pseudacorus in full bloom. It was all
> the common yellow single form, but the blooms were so large. The plants
> were growing in and beside a small pond. I thought about going for a
> closer look, then I saw the Alligator basking in the sun... No closer look
> for me.
> Also, on another part of the same pond, there were Cannas growing IN
> the water. I didn't know that Cannas could grow and bloom with the
> rhizomes totally submerged.
>
> Mark A. Cook
> billc@atlantic.net
> Dunnellon, Florida.
