OT-BIO Sandy Ives
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: OT-BIO Sandy Ives
- From: s*@cbc.ca
- Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 11:30:20 -0600 (MDT)
Ottawa, Canada. Generally long, cold winters with heavy snow (and
concurrent use of salt). Spring begins in April. MDBs start around
May 15th, SDBs around May 25th, TBs around June 2nd. Summers start
around the middle of Siberian season and end Labour Day. Falls start
with rebloomers and ends with American Thanksgiving. Did I mention
the earthquakes?
Main interest is getting PCIs to overwinter at -40. (There's this
lovely little bridge in Brooklyn...)
The property supports three separate, but small iris beds. Tall
spikes must be supported. Well over a hundred cultivars of bearded
iris, few of which get to form three year clumps. Howard Hughes has
the only garden I've seen where the iris were packed tighter. A
collection of siberians, a collection of japanese, as many species as
will survive. Most of the bearded iris are modern introductions
with a growing tendency to medians and dwarfs.
Working at converting my hydroponics garden over to jump-starting
species/SDB/median seed/crosses. Have read others' adventures
with interest. I like the thought of bloom in two years, no space
for 'show-pokes'.
Family has a long, amateur history with bearded iris. G-grand-father
was hybridizing at the turn of the century, none of any quality.
The last disappeared around 1973 when my grandfather had to reduce
his activities and split the clumps to relatives. Wish they were
still around for their genotypes (what they are) as opposed to their
phenotypes (what they look like).
Member of AIS for 5 years. Life member of CIS. Working on my judging.
Working on starting a local affiliate for that purpose.
Found the perfect companion plant for iris. Tomatoes. The kids eat
the tomatoes and leave the iris alone. Problems with borer solved
with cygon and knife.
Married to M.Mark (see iris-l). Have agreement to disagree.
Prefer short e-mails. Bizarre sense of humour. British spelling.
