Re: siberians - questions

Clair Peplowski wrote:
>Siberians obtained as divisions, some quite small divisions, planted  after
>bloom seem to take 2 or 3 years to establish into fair sized blooming clump.
> I have some purchased at a club sale still slender clumps with 3-5 flowers
>after the third year.  One plant from a nursery, the older cultivar 'Orville
>Fay' has grown gangbusters for me.  A few tetraploids have also done well.
> The newer cultivars are so------- slow!
**
The variety chosen does seem to be one of the elements related to speed of
growth.  For me, age of the cultivar doesn't seem to matter--there are slow
and vigorous old ones and new ones.  Carol Warner and I undertook to rate
many of them on some plant characteristics including vigor.  (Carol
contributed
most of the ratings since she's grown so many more and for longer.)  These
ratings are based upon how they do in Maryland, but you're welcome to
take a look at them in the Siberian section of my web page.  Being an
impatient
sort, I tend to like the very vigorous ones myself, but there are some who say
they like the ones in the middle range so that they don't have to divide so
much
to keep them in a given space.

Getting good divisions to start with at a good planting time for your area
does definitely help--you're absolutely right about that.


>Does Reprise really bloom for 7-8 weeks ?
**
I only got six weeks out of it in Delaware, but I can believe the claim.
I like
Reprise a lot, and have another one going strong here in Ohio.  Often the
repeat blooming or extended bloom season takes a few years to develop, and it's
true that climate seems to have an influence on whether and how strongly it
appears.  My web page also has a listing of those with repeat blooming
tendencies, and _The Siberian Iris_ a year or two ago had a series of articles
on this trait from some of the experts.              --Jim


__
Jim Wilson, Oxford, OH, USDA Zone 6a, AIS garden judge, Region 6
growing Siberians, medians, TBs, JIs, and a few SPU and species
wilsonjh@muohio.edu     http://www.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh
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