Hello
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Hello
- From: m*@bcgrizzly.com (Monashee Perennials)
- Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 10:10:24 -0700 (MST)
Greetings Everyone,
My name is John Montgomery and I live in Vernon, British Columbia (That is
the Westernmost province in Canada). My interest in Iris is to some extent
an acquired taste since my true passion is lilies. If you do not send a
lynch mob I will try to not mention Lilium again.
My main interest among the irises is in the Arils and Arilbreds followed by
reblooming beardeds and all Siberians. I might also add that we have a small
but flourishing group of Pacificas here on the wrong side of the Cascade
range. The trick to doing that was to grow them from seed. Before I
discovered that I spent more money than I should have in importing plants
onlt to have every one die before first bloom.
We live in the Okanagan Valley in South Central BC, a couple of hundred
miles straight North of Wenatchee WA if that helps. (There will be a
geography quiz tomorrow.) Our climate is nominally Zone 5 but it is a semi
desert area with hot summers in which we usually get no useful rain from
July to mid Sept. Only the irrigated areas remain green during the summer.
Our winters are fairly cold but relatively short for this latitude. We
consider Valentines day to be the first day of spring. Our average annual
total precipitation is about 13" with about half of that coming during June
and December. We have the good fortune to be located on a hill covered with
beautiful sandy loam when all about us the soil is heavy clay.
The MDBs usually begin to bloom the third week of April and the peak of the
TB bloom is usually during the last week of May or perhaps a bit earlier.
With the help of the rebloomers and Japanese, Spuria and a few Louisianas,
we will usually have at least one iris in bloom each day between late April
and mid October.
In a past life I was a teacher. I retired early and now we have a small
mail-order nursery selling lilies, Iris, Hemerocallis & Hostas.
I expect that I will do a lot more listening than talking and I look forward
to doing a lot of learning.
A bit of local observation - Virtually every year, the day on which I
danfordiae first blooms, is the first day we hear meadowlarks singing their
lovely song.
John Montgomery
monashee@bcgrizzly.com
Vernon, BC, Canada
