Reticulate Iris 2010

[Hans A.]

Thanks Oron-  I thought with all the gems you grow you should be inured to these type of pictures

[Miriam]

Very beautiful species and easily germinated  

[Otto Fauser]

Hans , what a superb patch of I. pamphylica in flower - but I must not faint like Oron does ,I might not wake up again .Lucky you - you are blessed with almost perfect climate and growing conditions to succeed in growing and flowering some of the most difficult plants that we are interested in .
 
 I first saw I . pamphylica in bloom in 1969 .I imported a few bulbs of I . persica from Holland that were collected in Turkey - but ofcourse a look at the bulbs told me that they were not Juno Irises but belonged to the Reticulatas .and in flower I recognized them to be a new species that I had not grown before . - but they are no longer alive .

        Otto.

[arillady]

Hans do you think I. pamphylica benefits by the shade to it roots by the groundcover in your pix. By the way what is it??
Pat

[Hans A.]

Thanks Otto,
I did not know it was so early introduced in cultivation.
Knowing it is a tricky species so I am very glad it is doing fine here and do my best to keep and propagate it.

Pat - In my experience this species prefers (here) a little protection from to much sun/hot conditions and grows best in the shadow of larger stones or gras (Stipa gigantea) - the few plants which have more sun also flower regulary but have not increased - a bit strange as I did not notice they go dormant earlier.
The plant next to the Iris is one of the 40 endemic Limonium species growing on the Balearic Islands

[art600]

Ian

In the latest Bulb Log you showed your reticulate Iris seed germinating.  They did not germinate last year - we discussed - and I am happy to say that virtually every pot has some germination.  Now we must be patient for the next 4? years. 

[Hans A.]

Arthur, Iris pamphylica  first flowered here 4-5 years after sowing, of Iris vartanii I expect flowers next year (four years after sowing) - hope the other species are a bit faster.

[Janis Ruksans]

Hans do you think I. pamphylica benefits by the shade to it roots by the groundcover in your pix. By the way what is it??
Pat

In wild I saw it only inside shrubs, not on open places but may be it is due a lot of sheeps in those places, although I. stenophylla allisonii growing in same place was only on open spots between shrubs.
Janis

[David Nicholson]

My first Iris reticulata from the garden this year about a week later than last year. Iris reticulata 'J S Dijt'

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Some of mine are barely showing a tip at the moment David - more patience needed !
Looks like J.S. Dijt has done quite well for you, I see more buds emerging    - I remember you were not happy about your retics last spring.

[Hristo]

Ditto ( ish ), still under the snow here!

[Hans A.]

Beautiful plant, David!

Janis, do you have any picture of I. pamphylica in its habitat?

[David Nicholson]

Some of mine are barely showing a tip at the moment David - more patience needed !
Looks like J.S. Dijt has done quite well for you, I see more buds emerging   - I remember you were not happy about your retics last spring.

No Luc, I wasn't really happy with any of the garden Iris retics last year apart from perhaps "Katharine Hodgkin". Flowering was a bit sparse and I blamed the wet summer in 2008 but in 2009 they had it every bit as wet, and I never did get round to making some covers for my bulb beds. We'll see how they do this year which will be their third growing year and time perhaps to dig them up when they go dormant and replenish the soil. Any I do dig I shall probably put in pots and start with some fresh stock for the garden. Rob Potterton has a very good selection in his List and they are not expensive.

Thank you Hans.

[arillady]

Thanks Hans and Janis letting us know about the associated plants and growing conditions. That is a reason why I really like to see natural growing conditions and knowing which other plants grow nearby.
David what lovely photos. A group that I need to think more about growing.

[BULBISSIME]

My first reticulate is Iris kopetdgagensis. I don't think it's a valid name ( what do you think janis ? ) but a very dark form .