Burseen red beards

A couple of Tom's red bearded whites are : FROZEN FLAME and CHILL OUT; well, 
I guess they might be more of a very pale lavender with huge red beards.  Tom 
became fascinated with big busy beards and I cannot recommend WHERE THERE's 
SMOKE too highly.  It is very floriforous and resembles puffs of smoke from a 
distance.  On closer examination, one is delighted with a huge orange-gold 
beard.  His MISS PIGGY, HOLY COW, COALIGNITION, COWABUNGA are great dark purple or 
maroon with huge gold or reddish beards.  In my humble opinion his ROUND TUIT 
is his masterpiece in that it has almost round falls.  He started making wild 
crosses and becoming enamored with horns, flutes and spoons and created some 
very startling iris.  I personally do not care for  "grey" iris and the 
festooned iris but I know a lot of people do.  When I went to visit last summer I was 
startled to learn that he has made a huge investment in daylilies and is 
leaning that direction.  I know there is a lot more money in daylilies but the 
competition is fierce and getting worse. I digress.
Vern Woods SILVER FOX and ARCTIC FOX do (did) well for me here in Texas HELL. 
 
I have lain awake at night trying to figure out what to do with my iris beds. 
 We have a Texas A&M Ag station nearby but the plant pathologist has retired 
and they have no idea when he will be replaced.  The nearest is in Dallas and 
hasn't returned my calls.  My 2 am this morning solution is after next 
spring's bloom season to sterilize the soil with clear plastic, double dig the bed 
and then sterilize again.  Since the two beds are 100' x 4' this is going to be 
quite a task.  According to what I have read, this should kill nematodes.  
Then I will plant a cover crop of Elbon rye next winter and another cover crop of 
buckwheat in the spring and the bed should be ready for planting in 2006.  I 
guess I will pot up what blooms in the spring; on second thought should I just 
throw it away.  I wonder if they will carry a problem with them?
Barbara Null
Tyler, TX  zone 7b/8a - clay soil, high humidity, wildly fluxuating temps 
etc.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index