Re: OT-BIO: Janet T. US Zone 2/ Can Zone 3

Hi Bill,
The clay bank, White Clay, is similar to claleche in nature. A hand full of soil to start and what the rain washes into it seem to be enough for the older varieties of TB's to do well and even flourish. This sits above my driveway and is extremely well drained and difficult to water. It is also where I put TB's that tend to rot. They do not grow fast in this environment but no iris rot in this alkaline hot dry area. Where I do not have iris the bank has eaten away by 3 feet in 6 years. It has not moved where I put all of the old iris and I am in the process of lengthening the bed to eventually go the whole 150 feet. I am not sure exactly what the PH is but very little else will grow much less flourish in this site. On Iris Photos I will put a picture of Thornbird on this bank. If I had a scanner I could show you more iris. they are really pretty.

I believe that iris love lime and limestone. But my iris in a lower PH soil are just as pretty and usually have larger blossoms although the stems seem a little weaker, larger, and taller in the better soil. I am not sure how much of this has to do with differance in PH and how much it has to do with soil versus oily type humus lacking clay. I do know that my Thornbird is one of my favorites. I have others up there I really like but no names on any of them. They all bloom every year.
Wendy
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: oneofcultivars@aol.com 
  To: iris-talk@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 12:40 PM
  Subject: Re: [iris-talk] OT-BIO: Janet T. US Zone 2/ Can Zone 3


  I prefaced my original statement by stating some of my recommendations defied 
  current conventional wisdom but worked for me. In fact most of the current 
  "authorities" suggest "any good garden soil" , or "slightly acid", or 
  "slightly alkaline". Other sources define "any good garden soils" as having 
  as having a pH range between 6 and 7.  The better (read more expensive) 
  bagged, prepared commercial preparations are pH adjusted to 6.5. Many text 
  and reference books state a pH of 6.5 is "best". Understand, the first 
  reference book I have that states this is a 1972 publication with information 
  from the USDA, actually the National Plant Food Institute published the 
  reverence. I suspect, over time, information gets repeated enough that it 
  becomes conventional wisdom and accepted as fact, without testing. My nemesis 
  in the world are twofold -- first misinformation and second curiosity. So I 
  test.

  The plants that bloomed in pH 10 were healthy, mature rhizomes planted into 
  that environment. Stalks did lack some strength relative to those on their 
  counterparts planted in pH 8. This may or may not have been due to a 
  difference in nutrients present in the two different locations or moisture 
  content of the soil. Of the 10 different rhizomes planted in this 
  environment, all have now increased (except one that was stolen by the dog. I 
  don't know how its doing. He will neither tell nor show me where he put it. 
  He's my dumb dog)! Increase is now on a par with the increase counterparts 
  achieved last year. I have not checked the pH this year. The value of higher 
  pH levels is also antidotally supported by serfing the web and viewing 
  pictures of western state beds planted in what most soil maps show to be 
  alkaline areas.

  It would be nice if some others growing in alkaline soil conditions would 
  weigh in on this subject. As an added note I have had iris survive in pH 12 
  enviorenments (not reccomended).

  Additional tidbit: Some hybridizers or gardeners interested in red iris may 
  make use of the following: Potassium (K) aids in the formation of anthocyanin 
  responsible for the formation of red color of fruits and leaves of most 
  plants.

  He who believes all that he reads should nither believe nor read.- I. Tink

  Bill Burleson   Zone Twilight 7a/7b






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