CULT: I. missouriensis

I have my first-ever sprout from an iris seed! One pot of 25 I.
missouriensis seeds that I left out over the winter & then brought
indoors under lights a week ago has a tiny slip of green. No activity
yet from the 2 pots I'd sown & then refrigerated for 4 months but those,
too, just got moved under the lights because the sunny windowsill I had
them in didn't seem to be either sunny or warm enough.

I think it helped to cover all these pots with Saran, held tight with
rubber bands, which I did when I put 'em under the lights. The Saran not
only maintains high humidity but also raises the soil temp quite a bit.
At least, that's my theory about what's working... One sprout from 60+
seeds is not much but it's a beginning!

Those who've written to tell me how they've done with the seeds I
collected last fall have also reported marginal, but heartening, success
-- most that have had a least some seeds sprout sowed them outdoors &
left them there. Since the soil here warms up verrrry slowly & late, it
seemed like a good idea to give mine a jolt of warmth & light. Now if at
least a few more will germinate & grow on, I may yet see these wild ones
blooming on my property in a few years. Hope so.

Marte in the mtns	Zone 4/Sunset 1  Colorado -- where we had a driving
rain & hailstorm last Friday night but don't worry, the hail skipped
over most, if not all, of the Convention Host Gardens in the flatlands.
Clobbered the far eastern Colorado plains, tho.
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