Re: Iris Pollinators
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Iris Pollinators
- From: V*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 22:09:30 -0600 (MDT)
Re the speculation that monarda looks like a "bird-pollinated" plant...maybe
so, but:
Another name for some types of monarda is bee balm, and I will guarantee that
bees love my monarda (red, pink, and white), as do butterflies and
hummingbirds (real ones, not hummingbird moths).
Back to iris: how does one go about getting help on identification? Most of
my iris came from one garden. A Mrs. Dillard lived near here and I loved
seeing her beautiful display of iris near the roadside...a whole field full.
One day I drove past and saw no upright plants, but instead, piles of leaves
and a sign that said, "Iris, 10 cents each"--of course I did a U-ie. I had
only 6 or 7 kinds of iris at the time, including the ones I got from my
grandmother. It seems she had had a stroke and her children were concerned
that her gardening would be too much of a strain. I bought all she had left
and told her where I lived so she could come see them any time she liked.
Unfortunately she died before another blooming season came around. A lot of
the rhizomes are just now reaching blooming size. My favorite has been
blooming since the first year. It's a little teeny thing about 8" high that
blooms VERY early (March here), and has greenish-brown standards/falls, with
wild ULTRA-violet beard. I would love to be able to put a name to this and
the others....where to start? Should I get a scanner and put pictures up? Is
there another way? a book? a key?...??