Re: CULT: non
- Subject: Re: CULT: non
- From: D* &* M* M*
- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 09:43:09 -0600
From: "Dan & Marilyn Mason" <dmason@rainyriver.Lakeheadu.Ca>
Donald Eaves wrote -<I have more of the same ones elsewhere
which got better care and attention, but they have not
outperformed the abandoned clump.>
One of the first two irises I grew, a local IB found at an
abandoned homestead, I planted between old local daylillies
and lilies alternating in a long narrow bed. I cultivated
the first year, pulled weeds once a year for a couple years
and let the bed go since, except for mowing around it.
About ten years later, when I bought mail-order Irises for
the first time, I dug half a dozen of these original irises
to plant with the named irises to see how they would do if
grown under clean cultivation. Under clean cultivation this
original local IB was all but destroyed by borers in the
first summer. I only have one clump left of this iris in my
cultivated garden and it is growing in a row without other
irises.
The original planting of this local IB is nearing 15 years
in the same bed without cultivation. It still produces
hundreds of blooms each June. It receives a leaf mulch each
fall from nearby trees. Although the cultivated clump did
bloom well this year, it's period in bloom was much shorter
than the non-cultivated irises in the original planting.
Dan Mason / zone 3, NW Ontario
(Where more than 2' of snow has settled down to 4"-6" from
daytime temperatures in the +40sF. the last week.)
dmason@rainyriver.lakeheadu.ca
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