Re: Disappearing danfordiae
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Disappearing danfordiae
- From: "* a* C* W* <c*@cache.net>
- Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 19:34:52 -0700 (MST)
On Wed, 19 Feb 97 Dana Brown wrote:
> It appears that all of my Danfordiae have disappeared. Last years I
> had batches of them and this year none. Is this normal or is it our
> weather? Maybe the nice snow and now rains we are having will help. We
> are well over our monthly average. Yeah! Let it Rain, let it Rain, let
> it RAIN!
It is the conventional wisdom that Iris danfordiae tends to rapidly split
up into numerous small, non-flowering bulbs. You do not explicitly indicate
in your posting if last year was the first year of bloom for your "dans",
but if it was, this may be what has happened.
British bulb expert, Brian Mathew, recommends deeper planting for
danfordiae than for reticulata (at least 4 inches vs. 2-3 inches) to
overcome this problem. I planted my dans in the Fall of 1995 without paying
heed to this advice. They bloomed fine last year (as expected) and are
sprouting this year without showing signs of excessive division, but it
will be another 3 weeks or so before I can expect bloom here in any case.
Jeff Walters in northern Utah (Zone 4)
cwalters@cache.net
"This is the Place" - light snow overnight, temp 30F
