Brenda,
SIGNA is
the Species Iris Group of North America. Their home page is at
www.signa.org, and
you can get specific information about the seed exchange and membership
there. I think there might still be seeds available from this past
winter's exchange. Basically, the seed exchange consists of donors
from all over, not just North America, who collect seeds of species
irises from the wild and from their gardens. Seeds are collected in
the fall, and around the first of the year a list is distributed to SIGNA
members, who order the seeds they want. Usually there are three or
four hundred lots offered. It's been a very good seed exchange over
the years, well run, and mostly the seeds are true to name. Most
irises aren't too hard to start from seed, certainly lactea isn't.
I'm sure
there are lots of other irises you could grow in Manitoba. The many
forms of I. setosa are another easy choice.
As far as
pronunciation goes, I say LAC-tee-ah. Botanical Latin is something
some folks have strong feelings about. As far as I'm concerned, if
you get the right number of syllables and the consonants in the right
order, I'm OK with it.
Ken
At 06:01 PM 6/12/2007, you wrote:
Ken,
I let my girlfriend know the name of her iris. She
said that it is no problem for me to come later and get any bee pods that
set on the I. lactea.
Can anyone tell me how to pronounce lactea properly?
Is it lac-tea or lact-ee-a?
So, can you tell me about the SIGNA seed
exchange? I live in Manitoba, Canada if that makes any difference
in participating and we are a zone 2b - 3 but I do grow zone 4 plants in
my garden quite often.
Brenda
- ----- Original Message -----
- From: k*@cornell.edu
- To:
sibrob@yahoogroups.com
- Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 6:24 AM
- Subject: Re: [sibrob] anyone know what this is?
- Brenda,
- I agree with Jan; it looks
like a pretty nice I. lactea. How about saving some seeds for the
SIGNA seed exchange?
- Ken
- At 01:03 PM 6/11/2007, you wrote:
- This iriswas given to me by a friend of mine. She
called it a siberian iris but I think it is a species of some sort.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
-
- The grass-like foliage stands about 16" tall but
the flowers sit at about the 12" level inside the leaves. This
is the true coloring of it and I would love to have a name for it.
-
- Brenda
