CULT: lots of water, toughness



For those of you who worry about too much water for bearded irises, I have
planted large  areas of I. germanica and I. pallida along the 'foundation' of
my house, directly under the dripline from the roof.  This old house has
neither foundation (originally log framed sills on top of rocks) nor gutters.
 I put them close to the house in the hopes that these early bloomers which
usually are prevented from blooming by late freezes might be a bit protected
(at the time I planted them some 20 years ago, I didn't know all this
business about the need for super good drainage, raised beds etc).  I have
never divided them, except to gouge out some to swap or give away.  The soil
is naturally very gravelly, and there is a drain tile about 2 feet beneath
them, so drainage is excellent.  Most years, they don't bloom, but this year
I have buds showing color on several stretches of I. germanica and buds
starting to appear on I. pallida.  Average rainfall is 50-60 inches here and
I hate to guess how much rain we had this winter,  plus they get the
additional runoff from the roof, which probably multiplies the amount of rain
by 10., plus all the leaves that blow onto the roof slide down on top of
them.

Some of those genes are still out amongst our modern tall bearded irises.
 Maybe it isn't possible to select for tetraploids that can thrive under
those conditions and still keep the modern range of color, substance etc.
 What say the rest of you?

Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east Tennessee USA
waiting for daylight so I can go out and see if I have any irises open -
first since reticulatas
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