Re: Gardening with Irises
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Gardening with Irises
- From: "* G* C* <j*@erols.com>
- Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 18:42:02 -0700 (MST)
art bern wrote:
>
> J. Griffin Crump wrote:
> >
> My main front-yard garden is planted around a
> > weeping cherry. The iris surround the cherry on three sides. The
> > plantings along the driveway (24 feet) and the half of the sidewalk
> > directly in front of the tree (12 feet) are all TBs. They are only two
> > rows deep, and they are rimmed, adjacent to the drive and the walk, with
> > creeping phlox. The phlox provides bright color just before iris bloom
> > and a green carpet after. (If you want edge color throughout the summer,
> > you can use the little jewel-like moss rose in the same way.) On the
> > side of the tree opposite the drive, the garden balloons into a 15' x
> > 15' triangle, except that the side away from the tree is curved outward
> > like a pie crust. The rebloomers are concentrated here, but are broken
> > up by two roses --a grandiflora and a floribunda -- planted in the midst
> > of them, with the raised rows of irises curving around them (probably
> > something like Chad Schroter's s-curved "river". The roses and the
> > rebloomers get along well, since both like to be watered. The two front
> > rows along the sidewalk are SDBs and MDBs. A few clumps of day lillies
> > are placed at the back and side of the bed, and some oriental lillies
> > peek from between the cherry's trailing branches. In this way, there is
> > always something to draw the viewer's eye besides the iris. Very small
> > evergreens, miniaturized trees, or lantanas can also be used among the
> > irises. Hope this helps.
> >
> > Griff Crump, along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA
> > jgcrump@erols.com
>
> Griff,
>
> Sounds beautiful. I do have a question or two here. How do you water,
> overhead, drip or flood? If overhead don't you have problems with fungal
> leaf spot or mold on the roses?
>
> Art Bern art@gv.net
Art -- I use a 50' soaker hose snaking along the iris rows and curling
right around the bases of the roses. I try to water early in the day, so
that any splashing has an opportunity to dry off. I will not water in
the evening, since that does invite the problems that you mention.
Griff Crump, along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA
jgcrump@erols.com
