Re: Siberian pictures and New Guy
Christopher Hollinshead wrote:
>
> On Thu, 21 Mar 1996, Diane Whitehead wrote:
>
> > I tried to see the new pictures of Siberians, but got the message that
> > Netscape couldn't find the site because it didn't have a DNS entry. What
> > does that mean? The address I used was:
> > http://www.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh
> >
>
> Chris Hollinshead adds:
> Yeah, same problem here too. When I try to go to the site, I just
> get nothing at all.??????? The address is the same as I've used
> previously when I connected successfully. Now I really WANT to see those
> Siberian pictures!
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------------
> Chris Hollinshead e-mail: bu336@torfree.net
> Mississauga, Ontario Canada
You all don't know me yet because I haven't introduced myself (I've been
travelling) but in response:
You can try going through
http://miavx1.acs.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh/
(note the backslash at the end)
and following the path or go direct to:
http://miavx1.acs.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh/sibpic.html
I had problems with one of the intermediate steps this am but got there anyway
because I had it in my cache file. In any case, going direct to the second
address gets you to the pictures.
DNS stands for Domaine Name Server. It is the part of the system that maintains
the routing for addresses on the net for your service provider (so it knows where
to send messages). The message means that your service provider's DNS doesn't
have the requested address (URL) and so doesn't know where to send the service
request. Sometimes they don't get updated in a timely way. Most often the problem
goes away in a little while. You might send your postmaster
(postmaster@"your_service_provider".com) a message, and they will cycle the DNS.
Now that I am out of the closet (so to speak), decloaked (clever), delurked (enen
cleverer), unveiled, embodied (maybe I should say un-unembodied for
consistency)or whatever, he's heeeeerrrrr.
I live in northern California, just south of San Francisco. The clime is nice,
long warm season, not too hot for very long and rarely below freezing in the
winter. Not so good for Liliac's, but pretty good for Irises. I guess I would say
I'm a zone nine (but not so hot in the summer). Unfortunately, my soil is heavy
clay, so anywhere I plant something I use lots of soil conditioner, mostly
redwood compost because it lasts longer. Generally, getting nourishment out of
the soil is not a problem, it is just keeping reasonable tilth.
I'm a real novice at growing Irises, but pretty experienced at general gardening.
My wife started an Iris bed several years ago to augment our gladiola plantings.
(early season/late season idea - have flowers all summer). We both loved them. My
kick was all the oooh's and aaaah's I get when I take them into the office. She
took care of them, with occasional heavy labor from me to till a new bed or
whatever.
When she died last year, some friends wanted to plant some more Irises in sort of
a memorial bed for her, so I built some large raised beds, lined with rabbit wire
to keep out the gopher pests, and pulled all the existing plants to divide them
and re build the bed. They hadn't been divided in +/- three years, so you can
imagine what it was like. Unfortunately, for all her wonderful attributes, she
hadn't kept up with the weather and plant tags, so I have a lot of irises that I
don't know the names for. Once they bloom this year I hope I can identify them by
the process of elimination, using what tags I found and my two Schriener's
catalogs (1992 and 1995).
I also have about 60 new varieties that people have brought for the new beds. So
total now with all the dividing and new stuff, I have about 220 plants, I intend
to thin them down to a reasonable number once I figure out what each is.
I have about 10 flower spikes now, I have already cut a Heady Perfume (January if
you believe that), and a Beyond (recently). Next up is Persian Berry, I think.
I guess I'm a TB fan, but reading what all you say about the other types, I may
have to start investigating some others.
A couple of comments on what I have been reading on the newsgroup:
Alfalfa tea is a new one to me but "manure Tea" is an idea that has been around
for a while. I would guess that manure would be cheaper and more nutritious than
just alfalfa, but has the problem (or benefit depending on your soil) or having
urine in it.
Composting with alfalfa pellets is a real interesting idea. I would call it a
high tech variation of using green mulch, straw or other organic top dressings.
If you lay down about four inches of straw on a garden each year, pretty soon you
have a self sustaining compost pile right where your plants are growing, the top
being fresh straw and the bottom being a great growing medium. Not the prettiest
garden but it works really well. People have been doing that for years, although
with the the advent of commercial products the practice is little used these
days.
Alfalfa pellets would seem to be a great variation on this theme. They look much
nicer, break down much faster and (I would think) have almost no viable seeds.
Probably more expensive than straw, but less than other soil amendments.
I was very disturbed to see the idea of licensing hybridizers getting so much air
time and was glad to see Tom and Lowell's remarks:
>Tom Tadfor Little wrote:
> The American Iris Society does not exist to say who should breed and sell
> irises; if it became such an organization, I would leave. It's great that
> we have a network of AIS judges who come along _after the fact_ and help
> separate the good from the not-so-good. It's like writing and publishing.
> Anyone who wants to can write a book. Anyone who wants to can breed irises.
> The writer can then try to sell the book, either by convincing a large
> publisher that it's worth their trouble to do so, or by publishing himself
> if he's determined. Likewise, the hybridizer can arrange to sell his irises.
> It's only after the fact that the book (or iris) gets reviewed by the
> critics (judges) and public; and that's the way it should be.
>
> No one would want to shut down small presses that are not "licensed" by
> some board of literary critics.
>Lbaumunk@aol.com wrote:
> I don't think so. The bottom line is that the IRIS, rather than the
> hybridizer, is of importance. Let's not keep that potential Dykes winner in
> the closet because its creator hasn't met certain criteria.
>
> I'm afraid the licensing idea would lead to elitism and would point to
> judging on the basis of the hybridizer's reputation and not the individual
> flower's virtues. Of course, we know that doesn't happen now. ( :
>
> But your idea is a thoughtful response to a real and difficult problem.
Lets keep society open. I don't know anything about the award process, but maybe
a series of qualifying rounds to decrease the number of finalists would work.
I look forward to reading all sorts of interesting stuff, and will contribut when
I can. I must say that I was a little daunted by the volume of traffic (some of
it having little to do with Irises), there were 168 messages posted in the first
three days I was away on my trip. I haven't joined any of the local societies yet
but intend to.
Glad to meet you all!
--
John | "There be dragons here"
| Annotation used by ancient cartographers
| to indicate the edge of the known world.
