Re: OT: A new look at Zones (was: route of least pain)
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: OT: A new look at Zones (was: route of least pain)
- From: "* M* <b*@irisgarden.Com>
- Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 07:51:09 -0600 (MDT)
Jeff and Carolyn Walters wrote:
>
> Hi Everyone!
>
> Rusty wants an apology from me for labeling Texas *USDA Good*, Marte
> Halleck has skewered Bill Maryott for suggesting that Colorado and Utah
> (which along with Wyoming are the states that can look down on all the
> others) as *USDA Fair* - NOW I understand why the government uses
> bureaucratic and impersonal numbers to designate the climatic Zones!
>
> NEW IDEA! (for those who may still be reading). This one is thanks to
> Walter Moores, who writes (9 June 97):
>
> > Years ago on clear-channel WBAP, 820, in Ft. Worth on the
> > newscasts, they used to give the status of the livestock market at the
> > Live Stock Exchange on the North Side There were the categories listed
> > in earlier posts here on Iris-L, but the radio reports always ended with
> a
> > a report on 'canners and cutters! Anyone want to accept that beef grade
> > for their region?? Please don't push that grade off on me because I
> > happened to remember it. But, in another arena, I will take 'fair to
> > middling!'
>
> Perhaps we could all equip ourselves with a set of rubber stamps and a pad
> of purple ink and go out in the garden during bloom season and stamp the
> leaves of the best iris *USDA Prime* and those of the pretty decent ones
> *USDA Good* and those destined for the mulch pile *Cutters and Canners*.
> Then there would be no mistakes when it came time to dig, divide, and
> discard.
>
> Last word from me on this subject - Promise!
>
> Jeff Walters in northern Utah (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
> cwalters@cache.net
In all seriousness Jeff, I really believe that you will find iris
created in the colder climates to be more winter tolerant than iris
coming from the mild Western Climates. This means that we need more
hybridizers doing serious work in the colder climates. We in California
can make beautiful iris, but have no idea whether they will rot and die
in the cold climates. Some of my own cultivars that I expect to die
immediately in the cold climates flourish and grow, some that I thought
would make it go "toes up".
My message is "If you love iris and live in the cold climates try
hybridizing because good iris from your garden will GROW EVERYWHERE.
Bill Maryott San Jose, CA
BTW: Rusty here's my apology. No go out there and turn Swingtown into
a giant new Texas purple iris I can sell!! :-)
