Re: Dutch iris & nasty weather- help

Rick Tasco writes:
> 
> Hi Tami and welcome to the iris-L.  I live in California in Zone 8 and
> the dutch iris usually start their growth when we begin to get our
> winter rain, usually in November.  Right now my dutch iris are full
> sized plants about 1 foot tall.  I can't tell you how much cold they can
> take because I don't get much.  We did have a week in December where the
> nights were down to 27/28f for about a week.  I can tell you that they
> like a dry summer.  Mine do not get any water for about 6/7 months in
> the spring/summer and they like this.  In this climate they last
> forever, well I've have many different kinds and some i've had for 6/7
> years.  I can recommend the variety "Wedgewood" (blue) which is more
> vigorous with a large flower.  I fertilize them spring/fall.

I can say ditto to everything Rick writes, except that we have much colder
winters in Utah than he does in California. Often the tips of the foliage
that emerges in the Fall get frozen in the winter (the emerging leaves only
get 4 or 5 inches tall here before the cold weather stops their growth).
This does not deter the rest of the leaves from emerging in the Spring or
seem to affect bloom adversely. I have bulbs of "Wedgewood" that have lived
bloomed, and multiplied here from an original planting made over 15 years
ago. No disease or pest problems, except one year a green worm
(caterpillar) of unknown, but obviously ill-mannered, species ate some of
the flower buds.

Jeff Walters in northern Utah  (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@digitalpla.net
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