Re: Louisiana swamps

From: "Patrick O'Connor" <swamp@ix.netcom.com>

Bill, I am more familiar with variations of giganticaerulea that tend
toward white, some actually arriving there.  There are also white forms of
I. brevicaulis, and, of course, yellow I. fulva and I. nelsonii.  I have
never heard pink variants of the true species, but I will have to ask
around.  I do think that fulva could be, or could have been, in the area.
But who knows?   We will see what the self cross turns up.

I am going to stick with the recycled material for planting that I
described several weeks ago.  I have had the best results ever.   It's all
a lot of work, though and I am starting to prepare beds this weekend.

Patrick
At 10:31 AM 8/13/98 -0400, you wrote:
>From: BILLS@hsc.edu (Bill Shear)
>
>
>>Could they be a mutation of giganticaeruleas?  Or is natural hybrid more
>>likely?  They are not first generation hybrids, because the result of I.
>>giganticaerulea X I. fulva is a tall wine colored iris.  These are medium
>>pink, although appear to be giganticaeruleas in form.  Maybe I will self
>>them when they bloom in the garden and see what I get.
>>
>
>My guess is that these pinks are some kind of variant of the species
>itself, especially if there is no evidence of another species nearby.
>Giganticaerulea is known to be variable in color.  The results of selfing
>should be quite interesting.  Do you have the Louisiana Iris book?  It may
>give more info on variants of Gc (tired of typing the full name!).  My copy
>is at home or I would check into this now...
>
>I'm eagerly awaiting a shipment from Lone Star gardens of some of the newer
>hybrids.  At least I think I'm waiting for a shipment; evidently they do
>not acknowledge orders.
>
>Meanwhile I've been digging in our stiff, sticky red clay to make two new
>beds for bearded irises, each about 4X20 ft.  Much organic matter will be
>required to get the soil to a usable texture.  Luckily I have two big
>compost heaps ready to use, and a pickup load of leafmold on the north side
>of the garage.  Together with some lime and rock phosphate this should do
>the trick.
>
>However, I'm not going to experiment with "shaving."  My own experience is
>that the roots remaining on the rhizome quickly branch out and anchor the
>plant and allow for quick establishment (new growth usually begins after
>just a week or ten days).  Since we have no nematode problems, and
>reasonable care avoids air pockets under the newly planted rhizomes, I
>don't see any reason to go to this additional trouble and then have to pin
>or weight down the rhizomes whilst they grow entirely new root systems.
>
>However I do like the idea of a light sand mulch that someone mentioned a
>while ago, and since we now have an unused kiddy sandbox full of the stuff,
>I might give it a try.  Ours is not "playsand" but rather coarse, sharply
>gritty material from a local kyanite mine--byproduct of ore grinding.
>Sharp sand is said to deter slugs, one problem we do have here.  Yeah, I
>think I'll plant the rhizomes in the slightly raised beds on low mounds and
>use sand mulch...should help with the drainage but keep some moisture
>around the roots.
>
>I'm also expecting some new spurias from Chehalem in Oregon (they DO
>acknowledge orders!).  They will be planted in a new raised bed that was
>filled with well-rotted stump grindings, originally a mixture of wood chips
>and clay.  This has been amended with a good dose of lime to bring the pH
>to near neutral.  Right now the bed is supporting a jungly growth of
>Tithonia (Mexican sunflower), Cleome (spider flower) and Hyacinth beans
>(Dolichos lablab).  Great summer combination!  The spurias will go into
>large nursery containers to get re-established and then be planted out
>after frost takes off the annuals.
>

>By the way, thanks to Anner for some seed of a variegated Nicotiana
>langsdorfii, now blooming throughout the garden and in pots.  The
>variegation is fairly subtle in most of the plants but the little green
>bells of flowers are wonderful to see.
>
>Bill Shear
>Department of Biology
>Hampden-Sydney College
>Hampden-Sydney VA 23943 USA
>bills@hsc.edu
>804-223-6172
>fax 804-223-6387
>
>
>
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