Re: Deciduous irises

Ian Efford writes:

> A few days ago,  Linda raised the question about deciduous species of
> irises.  I did not reply because of the two to three foot of snow over
> much of my garden.  
> I have just been out to check the plants that have appeared from under
> the snow. The following bearded species have overwintered with green
> leaves: (clip)

In my garden the main iris beds were covered with snow continuously from
late December until about a week ago. We had a relatively mild winter,
however, and in other parts of the garden, including the perennial borders,
which contain a number of irises of different types, there was little or no
snow cover from late January to late February, when fresh snowstorms
covered them up again. Almost without exception the iris in these borders
died back to a small green growth point, while in the iris beds with
continuous snow cover, also almost without exception, nearly all the iris
foliage emerged fresh and green when the snow melted, though wthout obvious
signs of continued active growth through the winter. I am speaking here of
bearded iris only. All the beardless iris I grow died back completely with
no sign of green visible until after the snow entirely melted, except for
ROY DAVIDSON and the majority of the  spurias, which maintained some green
throughout the winter.

> The most interesting thing is that I have quite a few reinenbachii, some
> with large flowers and rather tall (2ft) and others that are quite short
> (10").  The latter one is quite interesting because, at the end of the
> summer, all the leaves drop off.  It appears as if a callus is formed
> like the ones at the base of deciduous tree leaves.  The leaves just lie
> down around the plant and when take away it does not involve pulling
> which disturbs the plant.  This might be a distinct variety from a
> different climatic zone or another species. 

I have one (and only one) hybrid iris that behaves in this fashion, the SDB
LIVE JAZZ (Lankow, 86).

Jeff Walters in northern Utah  (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@digitalpla.net
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