Re: Pacific Coast Natives

In a message dated 96-09-04 07:08:32 EDT, you write:

>Can anyone tell me why pacific coast native irises can't be grown
>successfully in the eastern U.S.?  What is the source of their demise when
>planted in east coast gardens? Wet conditions in summer?  Too cold in
>winter? Soil composition?

Wonderful questions, Donald, wish I knew the answers.  For quite a few years
I experimented with named PCNs.  Joe Ghio was kind enough to give me a "grab
bag" collection for $10 (plus postage)...but Joe's grab bags are
fantastic...he usually would send me about 10 of the latest introductions.
 You know of course that my garden is in northern Virginia.

I tried growing them on the hillside (drainage).  I also tried digging  great
holes filled with gravel, then a soil mixure of 1/4 sand, 1/4 peat, 1/2
garden soil.  I tried some in full sun, some in partial shade.  Because Joe
only ships in late summer, I got a friend to send me some in early spring.
 After several years I had tried scores of different named PCN's.

Most of the plants died either before winter set in or by the time spring
arrived.  There was one wonderful exception: BIG MONEY.  The first time I got
it it lived and thrived thru the 1st year, but only had one bloom; PCN's are
not supposed to like manure, but I did not know that then.  I mulched the 2d
winter with a great pile of dehydrated cow manure.

The 3d spring BIG MONEY was a nice size clump.  I entered a perfect stalk in
the Francis Scott Key Iris Show, where the judges awarded it nothing!
(Rosalie Figge, Carol Warner and Doris Simpson were terribly upset over
this...Doris told the judges several times that they had the AIS Special
Rosettes if the judges saw anything unusual or very deserving...but the
judges assumed the iris had been misidenified...after all, common wisdom is
that they can't grow in the East.  A number of people visited my garden just
to see the clump of BIG MONEY.

The following year the clump was HUGE, and there were at least 25 stalks.
 With an entry at the C&P iris show I picked up a Best in Section...and the
judges almost gave it the Best Specimen in the Show...but alas a TB won.  The
following week I took a stalk up to York, PA iris show, and when my dear
friend old George Bush (the Democrat) saw it, he kissed my cheek.  He told me
that I had MADE the show for him!  It won a blue ribbon, even though it was
not the best of stalks.  The judges said it deserved a blue for being
there...even if it wasn't the best of stalks.

Within a month after the York show, my clump of BIG MONEY turned brown and
died.  I bought a plant of it again from Joe Ghio, and that one lived two
years...all the others I bought at the same time were dead in 6 months.

Maybe next year I will try again.  Mary Ann Anning, who used to live here but
now lives in  the San Francisco area, told me that she thinks that the single
biggest handicap we have to growing named PCNs is the summer humidity,
coupled with clay soil.  

One thing I have not done, that I should have, is what they do in
California...they use a product called Subdue, I think, on the beds before
planting.  I believe it is a soil sterilizer.  Perhaps if I had done
that.....    Clarence Mahan.
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