Re: arilbred culture (was Re: Louisianas)

I had great success here in central Virginia with arils and arilbreds for
about 4-5 years in the mid-1980s, during a string of dry, hot summers.  The
arils, both regelias and oncos and some hybrids with very little TB in
them, thrived at the base of a southfacing brick wall in sandy, heavily
limed soil.  They were protected from summer rain by an overhanging eave,
so I was able to control watering.  The best results with high-aril-content
arilbreds was in a "rock garden" setting in which large stones had been
used to shore up a slope (again, south-facing) .  The irises were planted
just below  groups of stones.  The soil here was red clay, not much amended
with lime, but each spring the arilbreds were liberally dosed with wood
ashes.  All seemed to thrive and some developed clumps giving ten or a
dozen stalks.  I remember in particular the pure onco hybrid SAND AND SNOW
coming up with eight beautiful stalks, all blooming at once (of course with
oncos you only get one flower per stem, so the season for any one variety
can amount to just a few days).  I also had two large seedling beds of 1/4
breds which got no special treatment.

Now, alas, they have all departed as our muggy, rainy summers have
returned.  The only survivors are a Danielson variety I recall as TEMPLE
DANCER, a 3/4-bred which persists as a small clump at the base of pine tree
on the edge of my woodland garden (!) and puts up a few stalks every year.
Another long-term variety (now gone) was ARIL LADY, also from Danielson,
which persisted for a number of years in a mixed border (and incidentially
when crossed with TBs gave some very odd colors and patterns).

My prime source of plants was Henry Danielson's nursery (still in business,
now run by Luella Danielson) and the ASI's annual plant sale (the only
place then to get many aril species).

If only I could predict the weather 10 years in advance, I'd love to do
this again.

Best wishes, Bill
___________________
William A. Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943 USA
phone (804) 223-6172
FAX (804) 223-6374
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