re: oops Tn Gentleman/Woman, rot symposium



Misery does love company.  I spent half a day near Nashville, Tennessee, at
the garden of Julie Allen, next year's Region 7 Irisarian editor, sharing our
unhappiness over the sad state of bloom this year.  She came up with the idea
of doing a 'Rot Symposium'.  

Who died and who didn't and who bloomed seemed to fall into 5 categories: 1)
those with total rot, 2) those with terminal rot (the terminal bud/stalk died
and part of the mother rhizome rotted), 3)  those with just terminal death
(no rot of the mother rhizome), 4) those with no death or rot, but distorted,
shriveled, or very short flower stalks, and 5) normals.  The 2's, 3's, and
4's can be attributed to the March freeze (early growth was killed), the 1's
to just about anything, and the 5's to ? No obvious trends in where the
rhizomes were bred or bought - some gorgeous California varieties and dead
eastern ones and vice versa.

And then there were a few that got cooked in last summer's drought or smashed
in last spring's hailstorms and just didn't feel like blooming this year.
 She also has some iris that have never bloomed before that decided to bloom
this year.  And while looking at her pictures from the convention, I realized
that the plant that was labelled Tennessee Gentleman here is actually
Tennessee Woman.

In my little notebook, I have half a page of 'normal' varieties I saw, 3/4
page of severe rot, and quit taking notes after a full page of terminal
death.  And we are just getting started on summer rot - 1 1/2 inches of rain
last night and 90's on the weekend should do it.

Re: dehydrating those 'fat west coast rhizomes' - Julie tells me Phil
Williams puts his in front of an electric fan for a week (not as drastic as
the store in a shed for two months method, but maybe adequate for the
mid-south).

Partial list of blooming varieties - Coral Beauty, Agnes Hale, Kevin's Theme,
Alice Remembered, Electric Avenue, Willow Ware (IB), Faded Denims, Depth of
Field, Moon's Delight, In Person, Sweet Revenge, Outrageous Fortune, Dusty
Skies.  Also several miniature tall and  intermediates.

You guys shed a tear for us at 'the biggest iris show'.

Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east TN, usa
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