RE: CULT: request for info re: winter strategies & weather

>I will dig out notes on previous years.  We had three freeze-thaws one
>year.  A very few TBs
>survived unblemished.  I did not note whether the foliage disappeared or
>remain arrested.  Of the remainder, the majority survived and I
>categorized them:  1.  did not increase nor bloom, 2.  poor increase and
>no bloom, 3.  reduced bud count, and 4.  stunted stalks or deformed
>blooms.  Will provide the list when I dig it out.
>
>Day 4 (and last day) of ice storm.  Snow cover is hanging on but a full
>day of freezing rain/ice pellets/rain is forecast.  State of civil
>emergency was declared yesterday morning.  All government offices are
>closed except for essential services.  Librairies and banks are also
>closed.  We still have power but lost our heat for a few hours last
>night.
>
>Maureen Mark
>Ottawa, Canada
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Linda Mann [SMTP:lmann@icx.net]
>> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 1998 9:28 AM
>> To:   Multiple recipients of list
>> Subject:      CULT: request for info re: winter strategies
>>
>> A couple of us have been thinking about the different ways cultivars
>> of
>> bearded iris 'cope' with winter in cold areas with no snow cover.
>>
>> They seem to respond three ways -
>> 1) keep trying to grow during every warm spell and get repeatedly
>> injured
>> with lots of diseased foliage, 2) wait for spring, with injury to ends
>> of leaves that gradually die, but don't seem to have all the lesions
>> and
>> spots of the others, 3) cut their losses and disappear - these are
>> impossible to find amongst even short weeds - fans are only an inch or
>> two tall at most, but what is there is very healthy and green.
>>
>> For sake of discussion (and out of my own ignorance of other
>> descriptors
>> maybe
>> previously used) let's call these non-dormant, partially dormant, and
>> fully winter dormant.  In my kind of climate (rare snow cover, lots of
>> big changes in temperature from hard freezes to balmy summertime (like
>> today - it's absolutely muggy out there), through several cycles every
>> winter) the fully dormant strategy will always be effective.
>>
>> The partially dormant strategy works pretty well, but provides more
>> opportunity for disease and injury unless the foliage is incredibly
>> resistant to injury (like HARVEST OF MEMORIES, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN).
>> The
>> non-dormant strategy only works here if the plant is a super vigorous
>> grower with the capacity to replace damaged foliage faster than it
>> loses
>> it (CELEBRATION SONG is especially good at this).
>>
>> I just walked through the garden and came up with a very
>> short list of the fully dormant ones, and they are all good performers
>> here - I. pallida (blooms early so buds/flowers are often damaged), I.
>> germanica (ditto), WINDWALKER, SULTRY MOOD, WABASH, MULBERRY ROSE,
>> COLETTE THURILLET (new this year, forgive spelling attempt).  I forgot
>> to check the clump of VANITY, but I think it does this also.
>>
>> So my request is to anybody on the list who is in an area where there
>> is
>> no snow cover and cold enough temperatures (below 15oF?) to knock the
>> leaves off.  I would like to know of more cultivars with this winter
>> growth habit, especially recent ones (1980s or later).
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
>> overnight lows in the 60s are typical in JULY!  And in January, I
>> guess.
>>
Dear Maureen and Linda:  The iris that go really dormant are probably of I
variegata heritage, with or without I.pallida. Those that want to grow all
winter have a lot of I mesopotamica , and are much less reliable in East
Coast gardens, and definitely poor in Ontario Canada. I like them to go to
sleep, but must admit that it is interesting to see the medians hard at
work trying to bloom right now, most of them derivatives of BABY BLESSED.
Lloyd Z in Durham NC, but with many relatives in Canada.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index