Re: TB: Blacks and growth
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] TB: Blacks and growth
- From: M* L*
- Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 09:23:12 -0500
From: Mike Lowe <mlowe@worldiris.com>
Janet Natale, Walter Moores, and others commented on this thread...
> >Anyone grow RAVENWOOD and can tell me how it
> > performs?
>
> I grew RAVENWOOD for years in Texas, and it was one of my favorite
>'black' irises, often winning the best black in the Fort Worth and
>Dallas shows in the seventies. One 'cool' Texas summer, it rebloomed
>off and on and into October even.
>
> Then, I moved to Mississippi and I brought RAVENWOOD here. It does
>not like the damp, hot climate of this area. It has managed to bloom
>on spindly stalks only once or twice. It is hard for me to believe
>that this is the same plant I grew in Texas. I've tried moving it
>around in the garden, but that doesn't work either.
>
Ravenwood is a cultivar that will be wiped out about every forth year
in my locality. Two out of the four years it will not put up a bloom
stalk. It never makes a decent garden clump. Nor has it ever offered
to rebloom.
For me, in hot, humid, Southside Virginia, Interpol (Gordon Plough
1973) is the best growing black in my garden. The color is a favorite
and the age of my 'BEST' is an indicator of the iffiness of this
class, at least in this garden.
My latest venture into this class is:
MIDNIGHT OIL (Keith Keppel, R. 1997). Sdlg. 91-174A. TB, 36" (91 cm),
M. Black self, darker than eggplant (M&P 48-H-12), F. with slight
velvet finish; style arms darker than port (56-E-12); beards grape
(47-JL-12); slight sweet fragrance. 88-45C: ((Snowbrook x Blackout) x
84-93B, Light Show sib) X Before the Storm. Keppel 1998.
Its maiden and subsequent bloom in my garden was adaquate, but the
general health of the foliage and rate of growth and increase does
not augur well for a high place in the 'Excellent Garden Black'
sweepstakes. However, to its credit, it is still alive which puts it
in the top half of all blacks I have tried.
The very best, all time black (truth be told a near-black) in my
garden, is Holy Night (Ken Mohr, 1983)
What is truly amazing, at least for this color class, is that H.N. is
also very close to my top candidate for "All Time Great Garden Iris".
In this area, it is very close to achieving the garden qualities of
Helen Collingwood (Ken Smith 49). The only downer is that some areas
of the country have trouble with Holy Night.
Cheers,
Mike, mlowe@worldiris.com -- http://www.worldiris.com
South Central Virginia, USA; USDA Zone 7A
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