Re: SPU: spuria ssp. carthaliniae

>  >The hybrid spuria I have like wet in spring and winter but dry in summer.
>They need
>that drying off period to go dormant. Without the dormant period they don't
>do as well.

Here in central Virginia, spuria foliage becomes less active in 
summer. There is  a short growth spurt in fall, then that foliage 
persists until spring, when new growth replaces it.  But a true 
dormant period doesn't seem to occur.

Iris spuria, the species, is a plant of wet areas, even growing in 
salt marshes.  But other spuria species are found in the dry eastern 
Mediterranean, and still others are steppe plants from central Asia, 
some going quite high into the mountains.  In Britain most of what is 
grown is derived almost entirely from I. spuria, and so in British 
books you read about spurias needing moist, almost wet, conditions.

I think the American hybrids are derived mostly from the dry-growing 
species, with I. spuria perhaps contributing the blue and purple 
colors and somewhat moderating the need for a dry summer rest period. 
Anyway the American hybrids are much more adaptable than the species, 
it seems.

Maybe a spuria enthusiast or two are reading this and will set me straight.
-- 

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
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