Re: OT-BIO


Felicity 

Let me add my note of welcome to the list.  I have not been in Darwin
but approached it from both sides, Cairns and Carnarvon, and hope to go
between the two on a later visit.

Knowing your climate, I would suggest that, apart from Japanese and
Louisianan irises that should grow well, you should also consider
African species.  Some of the most beautiful are Moraea and Dietes
species that grow well in Australia.  Dietes is common in cities such as
Sidney and Perth.  There are some beautiful illustrations of Moraea in
an inexpensive Australian booklet found in our local supermarkets
-"Bulbs for all climates" published by the Australian Women's Weekly
Garden Guides.

We visited "Daylily and Iris Gardens", Great Northern Highway,
Bullsbrook, W.A. (09)571 1758 when we were there and had a long
discussion with the owners.  They have quite a good collection of Tall,
Median and Dwarf irises and a few Sibirians but a very large stock of
Louisianans.  They claim that the latter are far the best for the
climate there, which is not too much like yours because of the very dry
period accompanied by a seering wind off the interior.  They did not
have any Japanese and we were told that they generally fail in Perth
because people insist that they are water irises and leave then in water
all year.  The result is that they die.

Ian in Ottawa where the climate remains perfect but we do need rain.

Creed wrote:
> 
> Hello.  My name is Felicity Creed and I am very new to the internet.  I have
> been living in isolation from the rest of the world or even our own local
> community for the last two or so years due to having two children 11 months
> apart.  I have also been attempting to do a teaching course (Japanese and
> English as a Second Language), although it is taking me a lot longer than
> the normal time.  Consequently I have been very busy and have felt shut off,
> which has made me really appreciate the internet lately.
> 
> I live in Darwin, Australia with my meteorologist husband and two young
> sons.  Darwin is located along the northern coastline about mid way across.
> The climate-weather is something often commented upon here because it is so
> much in evidence and our lives are very much shaped by it.  Some of you
> might  have heard of Cyclone Tracy which wiped out Darwin on Christmas day
> in 1975.  It is generally said that we have two seasons- the dry (May-Oct)
> and the wet (Nov-April). The max temp all year is about 30-34c (85-95f).
> During the dry it can get down to 15c (59f) but usually 18-20c (64.5-68f).
> The air is about 20-40% relative humidity and it never rains.  During the
> wet it only gets down to about 26-28c (79-82.5f) at night and the air is
> extremely moist, often 90% relative humidity.  We have monsoonal downpours
> that can last a week or more.  During this time of year we also have severe
> storms with torrential rain, great lightening and thunder exhibitions and
> the possibility of cyclones (typhoons/hurricanes).
> 
> I was delighted to discover the Iris-l listserver and the various iris pages
> through the www.  The pages are so well put together, highly organised, full
> of information and contain some very attractive pictures.  I love gardening
> and have been spending a lot of time filling in our suburban block (the
> children love to help too) with mostly Australian monsoonal and dry land
> natives but I also have a section marked out for a future Japanese garden.
> I developed a love of irises when I lived in Japan and toured the various
> gardens there.  I also learnt to do Chinese/Japanese brush painting (sumi-e)
> and irises were my favourite to attempt to paint.  I displayed a picture in
> my university's exhibition in Japan but sadly, my best attempt, I gave to my
> host family as a thank you gift.
> 
> Despite our extreme climatic conditions here, I would dearly love to grow
> irises here if at all possible- any variety.  I was wondering if anyone
> would be able to point me in the direction of a suitable variety to try out.
> Our soil contains quite a lot of clay but we have developed ways to deal
> with this problem.  I imagine the biggest problem would be the high humidity.
> 
> I have noticed many of you referring to numerical zones for climate, soil
> condition, plant hardiness tolerance???  Could someone also please explain
> where the zones come from and what they represent or refer me to the
> relevant material. I hope this is not in a web page that I just haven't come
> across yet.  Excuse me if this is an obvious question.
> 
> Does anyone have a recommendation for a book that contains lots of pictures
> of beautiful irises in case I cannot actually get to grow them myself?
> 
> Thank you,
> Felicity Creed
> fcreed@banda.ntu.edu.au
> 
>



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