Re: growing iris in colder climes


On Tue, 13 Aug 1996, Arnold Koekkoek wrote:

>  (snip)		 I think it is a beautiful flower, which is why I keep 
> trying to make it grow in the harsh winter conditions of NW Iowa, but 
> I am coming to the conclusion that its California breeding has taken 
> all the hardiness out of it.  The same thing applies to most of Keith 
> Keppel's stuff:  gorgeous flowers, things I see in catalogues but 
> have learned to pass up because it doesn't do well here.

	I'll get back to you next summer on that one - the Maine Iris
Society (of which I am a member) had their annual `Swap Day' on last
Sunday and our 83 new cultivars came from Keith Keppel....many, many
hybridizers were represented in the collection. I am anxious to see
if I observe any difference in growing iris that were started in other
zones....ALL my iris were bred in higher zones...I do have great luck
with Currier McEwen's beardless - he is on the Maine coast and has
very different growing conditions than we do here in the mountains.

	   
> 							  I question 
> whether such plants, like Edith Wolford, however much we may admire 
> them in gardens farther south, should be given a Dykes medal.

	Everyone knows that I don't recognize the Dykes as being at all
representative of the real iris world :-) that is until a beardless iris
wins it of course! (preferably a Siberian;-))

	Cheers,

	Ellen Gallagher    e_galla@moose.ncia.net
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