Southern Hemisphere bloom

        A few days ago somebody asked how the bloom season was going in the 
southern hemisphere, the TBs have all finished in my garden, along with 
I.pseudacorus and I laevigata. However much to my delight the Louisiana 
Black Gamecock is flowering rather beautifully. I only purchased the rhizome 
this winter just gone and I must thank everybody on the list, your 
discussions have encouraged me to try something other than TBs, and so many 
people mentioned Black Gamecock flowering in their gardens that I felt 
certain it must be worthwhile.
        People were talking about Iris heavens on earth I think parts of 
Austalia must go very close. We don't have borers, we dont have bees heavy 
enough to pollinate TBs so breeders have it easy (though bumble bees have 
just arrived in Tasmania. Very cute but who knows what they'll do?), I have 
never had any rot at all in my iris, its just not humid enough in the summer 
(though I will admit most of my iris experience has been during one of the 
longest, toughest droughts in memory- now that the drought has broken we'll 
see what happens this year). TBs at least seem to thrive on neglect in my 
garden, I may not get any rebloom but any plant that doesn't need watering 
evey couple of days is ideal here.
        Anybody having trouble with Barry Blyths cultivars may find they do 
better with less water in the summer. While his nursery is in a much cooler 
wetter area than here it would still be much drier than large parts of the 
U.S. and if Barry is breeding for the Aussie climate he would have to make 
drought hardiness a criteria.

Merry Christmas

Simone Clark
Canberra Australia
simoner@ento.csiro.au
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