Re: SPEC:CULT: Iris reichenbachii

From: HIPSource@aol.com

In a message dated 11/12/99 9:43:16 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
avocet.intl@sympatico.ca writes:

<<  For once, I would agree with Koehlein.  I. reichenbachii growns very
 well here without any lime, mulch, or tender loving care.  I have two
 different types of plants, one small - less than 6 inches - with a more
 brown/yellow flower and one large - 9-12 inches - with a pure clear
 clear-pale "yellow" flower.  I find the second one very beautiful and
 "peaceful". >>

I did some research for for Christy since I really did not know much about 
this species and it is always interesting to see what folks over the years 
have said about an Iris species as a garden plant. In the early days of iris 
mania, by which I mean the decades around the turn of the century, there was 
an enormous amount of interest in new species that were being retrieved from 
the wild and the earlier literature often shows the imperfecct but developing 
knowledge about their cultural requirements. Very exotic stuff like susiana 
was in the mass market catalogs, and people would try to grow anything. One 
of the things people discussed a great deal at one time was lime in relation 
to "rot," type of rot unspecified. There was theory at one time that too much 
lime contributed to it.  

I always wonder about those species which people say need frequent division 
because of their incredible vigor. Some of those are going to show increased 
vigor because of having been brought into cultivation, but some surely are as 
rampant in the wild. What agency keeps them thinned down in their natural 
habitat? Maybe one such agency is a benevolent rot, or is this idea too 
teleological? Or maybe the rot one encounters is simply the rapid turnover of 
rhizomes in a quickly moving plant with the old ones breaking down, and not 
an alien destructive rot at all..........

I know what you mean about "peaceful" Ian. I get that feeling from my Iris 
cristata. 

Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com

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