OT: Irises in the UK - Part I
- To: iris-talk@onelist.com
- Subject: OT: Irises in the UK - Part I
- From: I*@aol.com
- Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 20:26:41 EDT
From: Irisborer@aol.com
I say "Part I" because I truly believe I could be the "Cliffy" of the UK.
(Cliffy is the mailman on Cheers who would bore people endlessly with facts
about Florida...). I have enough photos to brin g the most stalwart and
polite soul to their knees...and, no doubt, you will hear more than you ever
wanted to about irises in the London area over the course of the next few
weeks... or until I bore myself and stop.
ANYWAY..... I just got back from a fabulous trip to London, the Chelsea
Flower Show and the London area gardens with 27 happy gardeners from the
western New York area. Of course it was iris season there, so although I
couldn't commandeer the bus to places where I could see tons 'o irises, I did
see quite a few and learned a bit about how the Brits grow and enjoy our
favorite flower.
The most interesting thing, I think, was the test gardens at Wisley. Wisley
is 'ground zero' for the Royal Horticultural Society and so there is an
effort there to trial varieties of plants to be recommended to the general
public. A wonderful idea and one that we've talked about now and then on
Iris-Talk. This is how they do it....
A test garden area is set up and top dressed with lots of manure. The garden
then receives donated irises in multiples of 3 for testing. The irises are
lined out, with all three in a short row, and then they are evaluated over
the course of 2 or 3 years by the Joint Committee (I may have that slightly
incorrect, but that's the general idea). This committee is made up of
representatives of the RHS and the British Iris Society. The plants are
evaluated both for beauty, and garden worthiness. By having 3 irises, it's
easier to determine if a problem is inherent in the plant, or just some
glitch. If a plant is deemed worthy, it is awarded their Award of Merit -
their seal of approval to the public that this is a plant anyone would be
proud to own.
Interesting.
The day we went to Wisley was the first and only rainy day we had the whole
time we were in London. But there wasn't enough rain to bother anything...
and it gave me the opportunity to speak to Mr. Ray Jeffs, of the Joint
Committee, on my own.
I love the British sense of style.... never saw any of these garden people in
jeans and a tee shirt....(like yours truly) and he was no exception. They
dress up for the garden... and most especially if they are to be considered
an authority.
Most of the irises we looked at together were from UK hybridizers (Bartlett
comes to mind), but Jeffs denies this is by design, but rather by who has
sent cultivars for evaluation. One that particularly stood out was SNOWY OWL
(sorry, don't know the hybridizer), not a new cultivar, but the foliage was
pristine, the stalks were staunch and widely branched.. and the flowers were
carved of ivory.
I did notice a leaf spot problem in some of the plants (manure?? damp
climate??), but all in all, I loved the system, and I loved Mr. Jeffs for
taking the time to walk me around the beds.
We checked out the siberians also. The tets were not happy here..... mainly
in the foliage - but Tamberg's cultivar's were the exception.
I can't remember a more wonderful rainy day than my day in the iris test
gardens at Wisley.
Kathy Guest.... who came home to find that EARTH SONG (Kegerise), like Edith
Wolford but better - was the absolute STAR of the garden.
in East Aurora, NY
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