SPEC: bulbous irises (dose of reality ;)
From: Ellen Gallagher <e_galla@moose.ncia.net>
To Bill Shear and Ian Efford who wrote about their BLOOMING
bulbous irises:
Ok, you guys have pushed me over the edge especially Ian who
purported to be in Ottawa all this time but really lives in
Toronto in Zone 5 or something....cold-climate turncoat. :)
I was actually out in the garden (if you can call frozen mud
a garden) and inspected my bulbous irises namely I. danfordiae
(planted at Ian's urging, BTW and also named I. reticulatae from
McClure & Z., at Bill Shear's suggestion). Not one mm. of green
showing anywhere except on one Siberian, some SDBs, IBs and
MDBs and I mean one mm. You need a magnifying glass to see it
which I had, BTW. Stop laughing, Bill.
I also planted English irises from McClure & Z. at the suggestion
of Bill S. as well. I know they bloom late so I will be patient.
>Iris danfordiae opened here on January 12th, and the last reticulata hybrid
>('George') faded out on March 28th! The remarkable variety 'Springtime',
>from eight bulbs planted two years ago, produced over 30 flowers.
>
>The stellar performance of the reticulatas this spring was undoubtedly due
>to the hot dry summer we had. It gave them a good baking, which is what
>they seem to like in a summer.
What planet was Bill on last summer? :) We had a monsoon here for
months it seemed.
>Mirable dictu, we have buds showing color on Iris graminea--even before the
>SDBs and pumilas!
It is a miracle...my I. graminea is dead...we had some freeze,
thaw and it decided to hike itself out of the ground where it
was planted deeply, lay on its side and become a rotted puff
ball that tried to pass itself off as a rhizome but I knew
better and it is now TRASH. Hee, hee.
>What a wonderful difference a day of warm spring rain and a balmy, foggy
>night have made. Trees with a faint haze of green, red maples in full
>bloom. Roadsides bright with forsythia and quince. Daffodils everywhere,
>and even the occasional tulip. Ah yes, winter's over! Get out there and
>pick that rhubarb!
I can't even be gracious about it...I am too filled with envy.
Where in heck did I plant those daffs anyway? I think we had
rhubarb...also tulips.
A grumpy Ellen from the North and I don't mean Northern VA.
:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ellen Gallagher / e_galla@moose.ncia.net
Northern New Hampshire, USA / Zone 3
Berlin, NH in 'The Great North Woods'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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