OT:BIO

From: Linda Mann <lmann@icx.net>

Hello all.  For those who haven't "met" me already, my bio:

I have been growing irises for most of my 52 yrs, at this beautiful but
miserable excuse for a garden spot for the last 30 yrs.  I am a lazy
gardener and want my tall bearded irises to thrive with minimum care, so
have been on a quest for 20+ years to find the ones that will.  The
garden is in a frost pocket in a valley in east Tennessee.  Soil is half
loam half gravel and rocks.  Climate is feast or famine - 2 inch
rainfall often, month long drought not uncommon.  The garden location
amplifies the mid-continental roller-coaster winter/spring freezes.

Thanks to iris-list, I've done a bit more pollen-daubing and have
learned an incredible amount about irises.  I am about thru trying
newish introductions and am now experimenting with growing "ancestral"
irises - ones that show up in pedigrees of more recent introductions
that do well here - my money is on WHOLE CLOTH so far. 

This year, I have also started some experimental plantings of clones of
some of the species that were used to develop modern hybrids to see if
there are similarities in growth responses of some of them to growth
responses of modern TBs that do well here.  So far, I have several
clones of I. aphylla and of I. variegata.  

And I have bought one supposedly durable historic iris (ROSY WINGS) from
4 different sources throughout the US to see if it really does make a
difference what part of the country an individual plant comes from. 
This way, I get to have fun with my beloved TBs even if the weather gets
all of them next year!

So, I'm here to share what I learn, ask more interminable questions, and
hear what's happening in the iris-world.

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
aka the Rot Queen


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