Re: Re: CULT: ROT: cold climates vs erratic freezes vs hot and dry

Today I am sitting in our cabin on a mountain near Prescott, AZ.  The elevation here is 6500 ft., climate zone 6.  Ordinarily these mountains get abundant summer rain and winter snow.  In the past three years however, these have been lacking.  This year all of Arizona is suffering from a severe drought.  My husband just came in and tells me he has counted ten dead pine trees on the place.  I've got to get out and pour water on the rest as we don't want them all to die.  We haven't been up much this summer as the bleak, dry landscape is very depressing.  I have come once a month to put water on an iris garden which is surrounded by a fence, so it hasn't been eaten.  I am amazed at how green and healthy they are.  Last spring I lost a few rhizomes to a fungus that I believe is Botritis, (spelling?).  The clumps seem to have overcome it, though I expect it to be back in the winter.  They are all big and healthy.  I wish mine at home looked as good.  I had hoped to dig and divide that bed this summer and also to bring up some that I think would do much better here than at home, such as American Classic and Brazilian Holiday.  However, this drought has discouraged that attempt for this  year.  We pray for rain.

In the Valley of the Blazing Sun, we had a week when the temperature was down to around 100 degrees F.  The seedlings quit rotting and even greened up a bit.  I find that my irises can take temperatures up to 105 degrees without adverse effects.  At 110 and above, they really suffer.  Yesterday was 111 down there, and today threatens to be even hotter.  We can't expect any real relief for six more weeks.  If I discourage any of you from coming to Arizona, that's good.  There are too many people here now building lakes in the desert and enhancing their swimming pools with fountains and waterfalls.  It isn't a dry heat any more, especially this time of year.  Irises are tough plants to sit out in the sun and survive it.

This summer has been a real eye opener for me.  The only rot I've found has been in the beds that got some nitrogen fertilizer.

Francelle Edwards,   Glendale,  AZ  Zone 9  writing from Highland Pines, Zone 6
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Linda Mann 
  To: iris-talk@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 1:24 PM
  Subject: [iris-talk] Re: CULT: ROT: cold climates vs erratic freezes



  So, early bloomers may do quite well in cold climates, but are more
  likely to get zapped in the middle of the US in the 'warmer' zones where
  early spring temperatures wobble back and forth a lot more often and
  with a lot more amplitude than they do farther north and along the east
  coast..

  <You are not the first I have heard to mention that in cold climates,
  the early varieties are more tender.  John Reeds, San Juan Capistrano
  9b>

  --
  Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
  American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
  iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
  iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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