Re: Re: CULT:
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] Re: CULT:
- From: B* S*
- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 09:06:56 -0500
>And then there are those 100+ year old clumps of I. pallida blooming
>their heads off around abandoned farm houses, and germanica, variegata,
>and other old survivors doing the same, buried in tree leaves, competing
>with perennial grasses and weeds....
Linda, I'd be very surprised if any of those clumps could be documented as
being "100+" years old. At that age, wouldn't they be many yards in
diameter? I think most of these naturalized clumps in abandoned yards and
gardens carry on because the abandoned garden (perennial grasses and weeds)
remains essentially a disturbed situation. When succession takes its
course and brambles and shrubs invade, followed by trees, the irises are
history. My suspicion is that the clumps are things that come and
go--flourish for a few years, almost die out, and then rejuvenate from seed
or from a few surviving small rhizomes when some fresh disturbance (fire,
trampling by cattle) reduces competition.
The biggest and best naturalized bearded iris clumps I have seen are always
along roadsides, where frequent mowing, flooding, grass fires, etc.
constantly disturb the environment.
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
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