Re: Bloom after(?) the drought
Greetings,
I have been lurking on sibrob for quite some time now, but thought I
would chime in on the first siberian bloom of the season - after nearly a
year-long drought here in Nebraska. Beginning in the middle of the summer
last year, we have had long dry periods and are way below the normal
rainfall for this spring. When we do get a rain, its usually been only half
an inch or so. Consequently, I have been watering all my siberians (and
japanese, species, etc) throughout the fall, winter, and now into the
spring. This is the first year that I have had to give extra water to any
of our plants in the winter and early spring.
It seems that everything is blooming earlier than usual this year. We
are in zone 5 (near the border of 4 and 5, I think), and already the early
bearded irises (MDBs and SDBs) are mostly gone. Now, border beardeds,
miniature tall beardeds and tall beardeds are blooming. This is probably 2
weeks ahead of "normal". And, I now have 8 siberians blooming with lots
more buds coming along. The first to bloom this year was Butterflies in
Flight, followed by Lavender Bounty, then Shaker's Prayer and Helicopter,
and today - Heliotrope Bouquet, Dance Ballerina Dance, Pleasures of May, and
Linda Mary opened their first flowers. Our early bloom show is this
weekend, and is usually MDBs, SDBs, Intermediates, with few BBs, MTBs and
TBs and until this year, never any siberians. So, I should be able to make
a respectable showing of siberians. Our late bloom show is two weeks from
now. By that time, most of the bearded irises will be finished, with just a
few of the very late ones remaining. It will be mostly a beardless show, I
think. There should be lots of siberians and species. I also have a few
Louisianas and Japanese irises with bloomstalks appearing!! All of this is
way ahead of schedule, and the temperature today could be a record-breaker
at 92F.
The problems I have noticed with the mild and dry fall, winter, and
spring are that: 1) as Dennis mentioned, a large number of varieties are
blooming much shorter than usual (only some established clumps of TBs seem
to be at normal height). 2) Many irises (both bearded and beardless) are
blooming with less than the number of buds per stalk that they should, and
3) I have noticed several irises opening a side bud first rather than the
terminal. This seems especially prevalent in tall beardeds - then the
terminal opens 2-3 days later. And, of course, 4) everything is blooming
2-3 weeks ahead of schedule.
We are roughly 300 miles west of Iowa City, and I'm hoping that they
have had more abundant and more even precipitation than we have and that
their season is later this year than ours - for the convention. Its been
one strange spring bloom-wise this year. Hope to meet many of you at the
convention.
Gary White
Lincoln, Nebraska zone 4/5
where, at least, the peonies should be bigger and better than ever before,
though they too will be somewhat early.
rdhager@dmv.com wrote:
> Early indications are that Siberian performance will be spotty here this
> year. With last year's severe drought and mandatory water restrictions
> (even on well water), my sandy soil was just too dry to keep the
> Siberians happy. Though I didn't loose any, those in the driest
> locations are blooming very short this year, the most severe being a
> white sanguinea that has consistently bloomed over 20" and is only 6"
> this year. On the plus side, those few that did get enough water last
> year are looking quite happy. BTW, the few TB's that I have are looking
> good.
>
> Long range forecast is for a wetter summer here on the Atlantic coast.
> With that promise, I can always look forward to next year.
>
> R. Dennis Hager
> on Delmarva
>
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