Speak up Australians week

Ann wrote:  I'm thrilled to see some more people from 'Down Under' on the list.

Hello from Down Under,

        It is so comforting to read another Aussie name on the list. How
many more of us are there?
        I've been growing tall bearded iris since early teens which is well
over 30 years ago. I have lived all my life in Sunraysia in the township of
Red Cliffs to be precise.Red Cliffs is about 10 kms from Mildura. Along the
way I met and married Bill and raised 5 children. We are grape growers and
just finishing this years harvest.
        We frequently visited the iris garden of Gilbert,(now dec.) and
Elma Cole in Millswood with our brood of children. Also that of Robyn
Gully, now Rohrlach, when she resided in Hawthorndene and now living in
N.S.W. Robyn got me interested in other iridaceae. These days, without our
now grown up brood, we visit Ivar and Carol Schmidt of Meadows and have
popped into the Hurley Garden out somewhere near Wagners Roses around
McLarenvale area.Mostly we get over to Adelaide for events like Gardens
Alive and recently the Wayville Flower and Garden Show, Rose shows etc. and
catch up with members of the S.A.Iris Society including the Schmidts there.
We try to plan visits with our children to coincide with some garden
oriented event to seek out treasures from the likes of Sheringa nursery,
the Australian Bulb Co etc.
        We have two sons living in South Australia, one in Port Augusta and
one Paralowie and Adelaide is frequently our meeting point.
        We recently joined the South Australian Iris Society. Been a member
of Vic Region for umpteen years and a fellow of the society absolutely my
greatest honour. Lovely bunch of people in S.A.and they put out a great
newsletter which helps me locate the garden events too. Presently I am in
close contact with them due to the forthcoming Sunraysia Iris Convention.
There is so much I could tell of the convention however if you are
interested I could send you a brochure of the itinerary,prices etc. It
celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Iris Society in Australia.
         Daily I sit here and read about "freeze,snow,borers etc" and gloat
over our obvious optimum growing conditions. Sunraysia gets about 250- 500
mm of rain per annum and for us thats a wet year. Very occasionally we see
some leaf spot and less often any rhizome rot. Red Cliffs has had the
lowest rainfall for the state for last couple of years.  Our irrigation
water comes from the Murray River to water the vines about 80 odd
megalitres water-right with a stock and domestic tapping for the house.
Our soil is alkaline, and a clay loam and is fine for T.B.'s, spuria and
roses but not so good for Lousianas or PCN's. We can also grow siberica
I.Tectorum, I.Japonica,I unguicularis, dietes, moreas and evansias quite
easily and we have a few others that require a little more than straight
into the garden care eg neomarica. There are probably others worth trying
that we simply have not attempted yet. I do however mulch with a variety of
organic matter including decomposed horse manure, lawn clippings, stems and
stalks from dried grapes, in fact I try to return everything except rose
prunings back to the ground. We also work on improving the heaviness of the
clay
simply to make digging easier however the best T.B.'s I've seen growing in
this district are grown on what most of us would deem a most unsuitable
soil, a limestone marl. The raised beds are improved with old horse manure
and compost and flood irrigated resulting in excellent increase and massive
rhizomes....and yes showbench spikes and lots of them and bouquets to the
owners for their ability to build a garden in near pure limestone.
        Come on Aussies let's hear more about your gardens, soils etc.
and here is a P.S. for Jan of Castlemaine. I have one or two old varieties
hanging around my garden like Aeros and Beacon given to me by David Ruston
of Renmark Roses. Visitors love them because they have the "cottagey look"

Dianne Dalla Santa
A beautiful Autumn morning in Sunraysia and too good not to be out in the
garden.
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