Re: Freaks -- Weather Damage
- To: i*@Rt66.com
- Subject: Re: Freaks -- Weather Damage
- From: t*@Lanl.GOV (Tom Tadfor Little)
- Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 16:03:32 -0600
Sharon writes
:It's not the susceptibility of individual varieties, but the timing of the
:freeze that determines which bud is damaged and which escapes harm. So the
:answer is not in identifying varieties that performed well or poorly in one
:year, but in selecting varieties that give a long, staggered bloom season
:rather
:than an intense peak.
I agree with this observation. Iris growers as a group seem irrationally
determined to blame every cultural or environmental problem on the
cultivar that happens to be victim to it once or twice. Bearded irises
are actually a sadly homogeneous group of plants, genetically speaking.
When it comes to random peculiarities in growth, such as bloom out,
extra petals, or stunted stalks--not to mention disease susceptibility,
the scientist in me wants to see some very carefully collected evidence,
analyzed statistically, before blaming the cultivar.
Happy irising, Tom.
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Tom Tadfor Little tlittle@lanl.gov -or- telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Telperion Productions http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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