Re: CULT: Pot or don't pot (was Denver Iris)
- To: i*@onelist.com
- Subject: Re: CULT: Pot or don't pot (was Denver Iris)
- From: c* s* <s*@aristotle.net>
- Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 21:37:36 -0500
From: celia storey <storey@aristotle.net>
Linda asks:
>Okay, what's the story here? I always have planted my rzs straight into the
>garden first week of August. What benefit is it to pot them? I never even
>considered potting them. Is it to avoid the heat of summer?
>
Linda, the rule we pass around to one another here in Central Arkansas is
the bigger the rhizome, the longer you can keep a bearded iris out of the
ground safely. Potting those bitty-baby medians and young TB offsets
definitely cuts down the mortality rate; but big fellows like mature DUSKY
CHALLENGER or NEW MOON or MAUMELLE -- those old boys will keep out of the
ground, unplanted, for years.
Potting a rhizome now, in midsummer, is also a way to get it growing soon
enough that it might condescend to bloom for you next spring, whereas a
plant you held out of the ground until September 1998 might not flower in
April 1999.
LAs and spurias, of course, must be planted or potted ASAP or the rhizomes
dry out and die. Potting LAs and setting the pots in trays of water in the
shade until temps lessen is the preferred method. Spurias, I think
(somebody help me out here) just need to be in the ground.
celia
s*@aristotle.net
Little Rock, Arkansas, USDA Zone 7b
-----------------------------------
257 feet above sea level,
average rainfall about 50 inches (more than 60" in '97)
average relative humidity (at 6 a.m.) 84%.
moderate winters, hot summers ... but lots of seesaw action in all seasons
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