Re: CULT:TB: A Whole New List - The Hardiest of the

>I'm up here to (zone 3a)  I sympathize with you!  Where to you 
>order your irises from?

Thanks for the sympathy, Joelle.  I've ordered TBs mainly from growers in 
CA and OR.  The first year I ordered from CA, the irises acclimated 
easily, survived the winter with no problem, and performed well the 
following spring.  Irises ordered from the same grower last year as well 
as from a grower in OR all perished this year.  It was just a different 
year with different climatic variables, different new TB acquisitions, 2 
yr old soil, and a resident deer herd who seems to enjoy keeping company 
with my dogs.  

I'm trying to be very philosophical about this and see it as just one 
more wrung up the ladder of iris experience. I know now that many modern 
TBs don't have what it takes to handle my adverse growing conditions over 
the long term, and I don't have the inclination or the finances to grow 
plants I can't count on to tough it out here.  I'm grateful for the TBs 
that did manage to survive this year.  Beauty is as beauty does, and 
these cvs have earned my undying devotion.  

But the stars of my garden this year are the MDBs, SDBs, and IBs that 
haven't missed a beat, along with the Sibs that seem impervious to the 
worst northern MN has to dish out.  These are the collections I will be 
concentrating on now, as well as BBs and MTBs of which I currently grow 
very few.  As far as TBs are concerned, I have placed an order with 
Superstition for a number of historics which I am hoping will match the 
tough performance of my current historics and historic unknowns - very 
few of which were lost this year.

In my more determined moments, I look out over the devastated TB beds and 
think, "Good riddance to wimpy rubbish!"  Then I make the mistake of 
popping over to iris-photos, catching a glimpse of some seductive, 
ruffly, new TB and think, "I wonder if ..."

Laurie


-----------------
laurief@paulbunyan.net
http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
zone 3b northern MN - clay soil


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