Re: Evaluation Criteria

In a message dated 96-11-27 00:12:06 EST, you write:

Way back in November, John Jones said
>Is clumping slowley or fast(ly) (grin) the same or different from the
>rate a mother generates increases?

It depends partly on growing conditions partly on rate and pattern of
increase.  Some iris, like my ol' favorite DUSKY CHALLENGER seem to just grow
in a straight line, adding an increase now and then if they feel like it, but
mostly just doing a little more than replacing itself each year.  Not only
that, the new rhizomes are kinda long, so an established 'clump' is sort of a
straggle.  (I hope that's in the foreign language dictionaries : )).  Others
double the number of bloomstalks every year on short stubby increases until
they crowd themselves and stop blooming - some do this before they make much
of a clump.  Others make medium sized increases every year, but tend to rot
almost as fast as they increase (without the Comet treatment) so never make
much of a clump.  For my gardening style, the best 'clumpers' increase
somewhat slowly on medium length rhizomes with a little less than 2 new fans
for each old one so they don't crowd themselves out and just keep making a
bigger and bigger patch of bloom each year.  Under different climates and
temperments of gardeners, you would probably get different answers.

Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east Tennessee USA
WAY behind on mail
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