CULT: bloom report (freeze survivors)

STARLIT VELVET opened up yesterday - gorgeous blooms, stalks a bit stunted,
but not too bad.  WINTERBOURNE is also beautiful, a bit taller.  Christmas is
almost over - nearly all the new packages are open. 

In one row, of 52 plants new (to me) or reset last summer, only 8 managed to
bloom.  Other rows are better - the old rot infested bed with known survivors
has nearly 100% bloom of varieties, though some (especially those reset last
year) only produced one stalk.

MAGIC MAN bloomed again this year - it is buried under fescue, sweet william,
daylily foliage and other disarray and rarely makes a bloom stalk.  What a
beautiful flower - only 3 buds, but a huge bloom on a normal height stalk.
 The pieces of it I moved to the cultivated beds last year didn't bloom.
 Perversity of irises!

Julie Allen and I wonder if some of the iris cultivars that sulk the first
year after resetting but then seem to out perform others in subsequent years
might depend on deeper or more extensive root systems?  They might not
respond too well to cultivation.

Some cultivars have bloomed this year that haven't bloomed very often in the
past - in addition to the wacko winter and spring weather, everybody got a
big dose of the triple super phosphate I found when I sold the old wagon out
of the shed last fall.  Up till now, I've only used bone meal in the fall.
 Can't duplicate the weather (we all hope!) but will definitely try the
superphosphate again.

Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east Tennessee USA
31o F this morning, heavy frost on the car windshield.  DUSKY CHALLENGER in
full bloom.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index