Re: SIB - True landscape Iris

Walter A. Moores wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 20 Dec 1997, RMTURLEY wrote:
> 
> > Dear John Coble,
> >
> > <<Siberian iris are the only iris that can be recommended to a landscaper for
> > use in landscaping a perennial planting.>>
> >
> > >From the stand point of total plant (both flowering, foliage  & adaptablity)
> > you are absolutely correct!!  If Iris pseudacorus has any floral beauty to it
> > then it would be #1 !!!!  But it isn't!
> >
> > Robert Turley
> > Lake Charles, LA
> > zone 9a
> >
>         Have we ever settled on the 'true' definition of a landscape iris?
> Sorry to burst the bubble of the Ensata Gardens, but the Siberian iris is
> not 'the landscape iris' in the South.  Apologies to my fellow Southern
> extension horticulturist, Mr. Turley, as well.  Seems to me it would be
> heresy in Louisiana to favor the Siberian over the series hexagona!
> 
>         Anner mentioned Japanese irises but that she hadn't had too much
> experience with them.  Nor had I until about six or seven years ago.  One
> always hears about how much water they need and that they are bog plants
> or that they should be grown in pots.  I now have a long 'row' of Japanese
> irises growing on the north side of the house on my well drained hilltop.
> They are not in soggy soil, and the only moisture they get is what Mother
> Nature provides.  Their foliage has been flawless all during the growing
> season and like Siberians begins to decline only after frost.  JI foliage
> here remains upright and doesn't 'sprawl' like the Siberian foliage.
> 
>         I'm anxious to bloom Christy Hensler's JI X Sib seedlings.  Maybe
> she has created the elusive 'landscape' iris.  Time will tell, though I
> think there will be regional landscape irises as is the case with
> landscape shrubbery.
> 
>         Walter Moores
>         Enid Lake, Ms 7/8

I'll second that - I grow most of my siberians and japanese iris in rows
in my holding-tank garden (having run out of artistic bed space).  The
garden is on a hillside and our soil is very sandy and mildly alkaline. 
I do some mulching with old hay to keep down the weeds, but not much
else, and they both do beautifully.  Beth Metty, Munith MI, Zone 5B (and
sometimes 4A).
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