Re: OT-BIO: Minnesota

Ellen - I deleted Joe's email address, so am posting your message here.
Hopefully, he will find it.

<Joe  -  sounds like I live in a similar climate to yours except
that our plants are no where 'un'frozen by April 1st....but
every year varies. We have been in the 40s in the A.M. this
first week of July and had two hard frosts in June. The good
news: the irises took it in their stride and never stopped their
bloom. That includes Tall Bearded.

That is not the case in Sept. when 'Immortality' tries to
rebloom....it always gets zapped by the Sept. frost and that
first frost is almost always a killing frost. Frosts can happen
any month of the year here in the mountains, I think it better
to have a unexpected frost than have no water or extremely high
temps during growing season(s). We have lots of rain but not too
much rot and NO bacterial rot. I never saw a borer in my
garden(s). This is my second garden in this area.

*** You mentioned that b/c (broken-colored) irises did well for
you. Same here. I have exceptional good luck with almost all b/c
TBs. They grow extraordinarily well up here and are very hardy.
Try some variegated foliage ones and see what happens.

I have had the worst 'luck' with plicatas and some of the ones
from Oz. (Australia - hey, it took me a couple of years to
figure out where Oz was - I thought I was in Oz...I have a Cairn
terrier but not named Toto. His name is Riley :-)

I have not hybridized TBs but have done a little bit of Siberian
hybridizing. Do try some Siberians....in your climate they
should do well.

Ellen

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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