HYB: CULT: TB: shade tolerance?

Walter Moores in sweltering Mississippi said:
> I am not saying everbloomers are totally impractical.  Where 
> they exhibit spring type stalks season-round, they may be the 
> thing!  Not where I have gardened.
> 
>         I hope Linda gets one that will perform everywhere.

I might be still working towards THAT goal by the time I turn 150 yrs
old <g>.  Afraid this is becoming more & more of a mental excercise, tho
I did get several more pods of good looking seeds again from IMMORTALITY
and a VIGILANTE looking something or other crossed with HARVEST OF
MEMORIES this year.

Because of the heat/cucumber beetle problem, I think we need some
rebloomers that are also fairly shade tree-root tolerant, at least from
zone 7 south.  This spring was an excellent year for bloom here
(everywhere but my house anyway) & I saw many huge patches of older TB
irises blooming heavily in partial shade.  I expanded my collection of
flea market 'granny irises' by nearly a dozen 'new' ones & will
experiment with these next  year to see how much shade they will
tolerate & still bloom.

HELEN COLLINGWOOD seems to be everywhere in this part of the world -
mentioned here many times as being fairly shade tolerant.  I got another
start of it last year and it actually bloomed (after rotting the last
one by leaving it in a plastic bag in the rain for a few weeks -
unintentional experiment!).  Most of the moderns that I've tried in
partial shade don't do too well - exceptions are DUSKY CHALLENGER (isn't
that nice?) and VANITY.  Neither is enthusiastic but struggle along and
manage to bloom every year.

Growing under the trees also has the added benefit of providing a little
bit of erratic frost protection in the spring & fall.

So, how do I find out which irises in the Florence Trials were growing
under the shade of the olive trees yet grew and bloomed well?  Anybody
speak Italian?

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8



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