Re: crying, rot, and rebloom
- To: i*@rt66.com
- Subject: Re: crying, rot, and rebloom
- From: L*@aol.com
- Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 08:32:01 -0400
>Cold weather rebloomers, including IMMORTALITY, are the least, the least rot
>prone of any tall bearded irises. If you have rot in a clump of that iris,
>your soil must be
>Linda, I really am concerned there may be something wrong with your soil,
>because this should not be happening. Have you had it tested for pathogens?
What can I say - I do believe you are right, Clarence, I think there are
pathogens out there. And they smell pretty much like soft rot. But you and
Jim need to wipe your tears! I have been almost euphoric everytime I go out
there and inhale the wonderful (bugfree) fragrance off those two bloom stalks
- great huge perfect blooms. Quite a treat.
Maybe there is a clue in the 'cold weather' part of the name - how does
IMMORTALITY do when you get 3-4 inches of rain in a couple of days followed
by a week of temperatures in the mid- 90s? After 3 weeks with no rain and
temps in the 90s? Other 'good' rebloomers don't rot at all here (QUEEN
DOROTHY, GOLDEN ..?), but they haven't bloomed, spring summer or fall.
ENGLISH COTTAGE doesn't rot, but usually gets nailed by spring freezes.
IMMORTALITY did not bloom at all until I started dosing it regularly with
fertilizer and even giving it a drink if we go for weeks without rain. One
part of the problem for IMMORTALITY here may be her tendency for continuous
growth when my weather/gravel soil 'injures' it setting it up for rot.
I will write a little essay on my evolving hypotheses as to why rot is a
problem in my garden and post it later. The short answer is that oriental
poppies grow like weeds for me, so it sure isn't a drainage problem and when
I don't fertilize, I don't get much bloom on any iris. BUT I am delighted
with IMMORTALITY. I rank rot either 1-dead, 2-rots too much to bloom,
3-blooms but rots, 4-rarely rots (I figure anything will rot if it gets beat
up enough). Most tall beardeds are 1s, 2s, or 4s in my garden - IMMORTALITY
is one of those less common 3s..Other favorite 3s - LIASON, LADY
MADONNA...MOTHER EARTH... Others would probably not rot if I dug and reset
them more often - they are 4s for several years, then the clump rots.
Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east TN USA
PS - I was given SOUTHLAND GRAPE this spring - what a healthy looking plant!
So far...
