Re: TBs: Cult: Good rhizomes

Hello Iris-talkers,

Anyone who would call a big brown rhizome, with half dead roots coming out of one side and pale green leaves coming out the other, beautiful must be a certified lunatic, but I admit I do and probably am one.  I've just come in from digging a sun-scorched bed, and I'm a happy woman.  Most of the clumps are yielding rhizomes that I call beautiful.  They are like the ones you Easterners call California rhizomes, big, fat, healthy, with two to four increases ready to start.  I prefer clumps with five to seven like that over those that have fifteen to twenty little scrawny ones.

Even some that I consider hard to grow, Rare Treat, Purple Streaker and Change of Pace, surprised me with their splendid rhizomes this year.  Best of the bunch are Skating Party, Pacific Belle, Margaret Inez, Captivating, Pond Lily and, of course, my two best growers, Mountain Violet and Ring Around Rosie.

My only two disappointments so far are Appleblossom Days and Ostentatious.  Both of these were overcrowded with tiny rhizomes.

My soil is heavy clay amended every two years with fine sand and compost.  I used triple super phosphate, Ironite and alfalfa pellets when I planted the bed two years ago but nothing since.  I see no rot at all in that bed.  I have found another pest though that I will describe in the next post.

Francelle Edwards   Glendale,  AZ   Zone 9    Temperature still holding at 108 to 110 degrees F.  It will cool down in October.


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