MED: Ohio Gardens

I did a good thing this last weekend.  I took a little trip across
the state to Marietta, OH, to see Terry Varner's recently
transplanted garden, full of primarily Miniature Tall Beardeds
(MTBs) and Border Beardeds (BBs).

He initially said there wasn't much to see, since Ohio
has been extremely soggy the last month, but much
more would have been an overload.  His beds had lots
of bloom, and he'd built them on a wide constructed
terrace of a slope and built raised beds on top of that.

He has a species bed, including a rare I. croatica in bloom,
lots of MTBs (although he's now given up on the goal of 
growing every MTB), and quite a good amount of BBs.  
He has a couple of nice MTB seedlings in the speckled 
plicata pattern, a beautiful velvety iridescent dark purple
BB seedling, a few seedlings originally developed by Mary 
Louise Dunderman, and several others.  He also has done some 
work with tetraploid MTBs, including a pure pink self that 
is better than any I've seen yet, which he will work with further 
and maybe (if enough people see it and beg) introduce at 
some point.

Even though Marietta is a little out of the way for some, it's
worth the trip if you are interested in these irises.  Terry was
very generous with his time and expertise.  He expects this
week to provide as good a bloom as the year will support.

It was good to get home to the old favorite MTBs too, finally with 
some sun on them.   They look great in the garden as well as on
a table.  Some of the established clumps are blooming away 
at peak and looking very good--Petite Monet, Crystal Ruffles,
Second Opinion, Lucky Charm, New Idea, Mystic Glow,
Reminiscence, In Fashion, Virginia Lyle, Amethyst Sunset.
Many of the other more recently planted ones are ready
to go, although I. albertii has already led off.  

And that's the news from Lake Ohio, where the talls 
are miniature, the borders are breaking out, and all the
rhizomes are below mud level.

				--Jim
__
Jim Wilson, Oxford, OH, USDA Zone 6a, AIS garden judge, Region 6
growing medians, TBs, Siberians, JIs, and a few SPU and species
wilsonjh@one.net    http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh
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