RE: CULT:Spurias for the south

Sound like it could be a spuria.  For me, Dutch irises bloom between 3 and 4
feet.  Spurias are taller.  Both bloom after the TBs.

Maureen 
Ottawa, Ontario (zone 4)


> ----------
> From: 	lilylvr[SMTP:lilylvr@kansas.net]
> Reply To: 	iris-talk@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: 	Friday, February 16, 2001 5:02 AM
> To: 	iris-talk@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: 	Re: [iris-talk] CULT:Spurias for the south
> 
> Hi Bill,
> I have a question. My mother has a tall beardless iris that is white and
> yellow. It is as tough as nails, must have full sun, and can be 4 to 4 1/2
> feet tall when happy. It blooms well after TB's. And I think mom brought
> it down from Chicago about 40 years ago. She calls it a Dutch Iris. I have
> not seen another iris quite like it. Mostly due to its plant size. What is
> it? It tolerates baked clay and neglect extremely well. But gets taller
> with water.
> Wendy Zone 5 with everything covered in rock hard ice.
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Bill Shear 
>   To: iris-talk@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Friday, February 16, 2001 6:46 AM
>   Subject: [iris-talk] CULT:Spurias for the south
> 
> 
>   In response to Walter's question, with the caution that MS is not VA--
> 
>   Successful spurias here in central VA:
> 
>   ROYAL CADET
>   ILA REMEMBERED
>   EVENING DRESS
>   ORO DE SONORA
>   SULTAN'S SASH
>   COUNTESS ZEPPELIN
>   WHITE OLINDA
>   UNIVERSAL PEACE
> 
>   and others not yet fully evaluated.
> 
>   My spurias came from Chehalem Gardens (Tom and Ellen Abrego) and have
>   increased to large clumps.  Tom and Ellen provide really fine rhizomes
> to
>   start with.  I grow them in a heavy clay soil that was amended with lots
> of
>   organic matter--well-composed stump grindings from a local tree service.
>   Actually, I just laid about 6" of stump grindings on the surface of the
>   clay and planted the spurias in that.  Each spring they get a few inches
> of
>   leafmold as a top dressing, otherwise no other attention.  The exposure
> is
>   a little less than ideal--they get sun for only about 4-6 hours a day,
>   partly shaded by a couple of Japanese pear trees and a redbud.  Foliage
>   lingers all summer, though by fall is kind of ratty.  There is some
> foliage
>   replacement in fall, but the main growth occurs very rapidly in the
> spring,
>   before blooming.  I have a large collection of older spurias growing out
> at
>   school, which I got from Charlie Brown in Texas.  These have not done so
>   well, but got off to a bad start.  I didn't receive them until midwinter
>   and potted them up in the greenhouse until planting them out in the
>   spring--I think this threw them off and they have not yet recovered.
> The
>   soil where this latter collection is planted is much more loamy (less
> clay)
>   and was amended by working in an existing mulch of wood chips (much
>   rotted).  TBs intermingled at this site thrive.  Full sun and perhaps
>   rather drier conditions here.
> 
>   In general spurias seem to resent transplantation--the polar opposite of
>   the TBs, which seem to like almost annual replanting.  However, the
> payoff
>   is that once they are established, you don't have to do anything but
>   provide a few shovels of compost or some similar organic topdressing
>   annually for the next 15 years, while the clumps get bigger and bigger.
> I
>   have one clump of a seedling from SIGNA seed that is now 13 years old,
>   nearly 4 ft in diameter, and annually produces 15-20 bloomstalks.  An
> old
>   clump of what looks like I. ochroleuca or something similar has been
>   growing in an abandoned garden near my parent's old home in Pennsylvania
>   for at least 50 years, without the least attention.
> 
>   The role of water in spuria growth is not clear.  Iris spuria, the basic
>   species (and several more were involved in today's hybrids) from Europe
> and
>   western Asia, is a plant of wet ground, often even saline marshes. Other
>   species like I.ochroleuca and I. monneiri seem to be from, or prefer
>   (monnieri has never been found in the wild) dry grassland scrub, and
> some
>   of the west Asian and Turkish species inhabit places that are dry as
> dust
>   all summer, with moisture only available from melting snows.  Others are
>   evidently alpine meadow plants.
> 
>   Obviously, hybrids with I. spuria genes predominating will handle summer
>   moisture and damp soil the best, while those derived predominantly from
> the
>   desert and grassland species will tend to be summer-deciduous.  I don't
>   know enough about spuria ancestries to be able to say if this is really
>   true.
> 
>   Thirty years ago, I would have said that spurias were second only to
>   bearded irises in garden potential and popularity.  They seem to have
> been
>   eclipsed by both Louisianas and Siberians and today we read surprisingly
>   little about them.
>   Why?  They're great!
> 
>   How about a "spuria issue" of the AIS Bulletin?
> 
> 
>   Bill Shear
>   Department of Biology
>   Hampden-Sydney College
>   Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
>   (804)223-6172
>   FAX (804)223-6374
>   email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
>   Moderating e-lists:
>   Coleus at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coleus
>   Opiliones at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opiliones
>   Myriapod at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myriapod
> 
>   This month's quote: "Yours is the jaded logic of Naderism: if it ain't
>   fixed, break it." --Thomas Talbot
> 
> 
> 
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