Re: Iris Pollinators


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?...??
























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