Iris and some Irids 2006-2007

[Susan Band]

Brian,
Over the past year or so I have recieved some of the sophenesis iris from Janis Ruksans. They are all doing well planted outside even multiplying up the next year.They are lovely but really small and flowering now so would prob. like a trough near the house. I don't think Janis had many listed this year- too popular! but if you are coming to Dunblane ask him then, he might have a few but not enough to list.
 I also recieved quite a few Junos hybrids from Leonid Bonderenko  /www.litbulbgarden.com I asked him for some that he recommended for growing outside in Scotland and all he sent are doing really well, he is trying to grow tough hybrids for the garden. I can't remember which ones I have but might manage to find a few labels lurking around, they won't be sent out until the autumn anyway.
Susan

[David Nicholson]

Quite un-remarkable, and a pretty lousy photograph to boot, but Iris Katharine Hodgkin is my first attempt at growing Iris, although I opted for safety first and grew it under glass-I sense yet another obsession coming on.

[udo]

Hello Brian,
all Reticulatas growing by me outside, i give only protection by to
many rain or snow in summer and winter. The native Iris danfordiae is better flowering as the triploid hort.form and have a smaller and
darker flower.

[Maggi Young]

David, while Iris K. H. is lovely to have in a pot to be admired, in comfort, under glass, she is, bless her, as tough as old boots and will thrive outside. Why not kep one in a pot  to admire at close quarters and plant the rest outside? You will need to split them up every couple of years, because they get very congested, so much so that the individual beauty of the blooms is lost in the close tangle of flowers that you will get. Soon you will be able to have them dotted in little drifts, all about the garden. They are a joy to see.

[mark smyth]

I need to split my small ground this year. It's easy to remember when in full flower but once they are dormant ...

[David Nicholson]

Maggi, I probably will put some outside next year-I presume though that slugs and snails are partial to them (I farm both-in quantity!). My other problem is that my forward planning is such, that the space I earmark for them will be full of something else that I can't dig up.

[Joakim B]

Has anyone had any success with the cheap iris bulbs in "big pack".
Success fisrt year and coming years?
Or just very few flowers first year and nothing next? Just foliage and foliage?

I hope that people also admits defeats and that they test cheap bulbs 


Kind regards
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

Joakim, in the past I have tried the garden centre bags of "Dutch Iris", the xiphium type hybrids etc,like the florists use, but I must say they never did very well for me and I could not get them established to grow on in the garden. Bearded Iris will not do well in our garden, either.
I was told by someone lately that these Iris might like soil with a little lime in, I don't know if that is right, since I have no such soil or growing place.
None of the siberica types or little reticulatas need that, they are happy with our slightly acid soil.

Even so, I know several gardens near here where there are large beds of Dutch type iris, growing happily and flowering well... for me this is another of life's mysteries.!

[John Forrest]

This brave little Iris stood up to the torrential rain bravely but was defeated by the gales.

The second is Iris bakeriana which is not a willing subject for me but has done better this winter. It is a beautiful, diminutive specimen with distinctly ribbed leaves.

[Maggi Young]

How lovely Iris bakeriana is, and what a good shot, John. I don't know how anyone could view all these photos of these enchanting little Iris without falling in love with them... and the big ones are just as gorgeous, aren't they? I adore Iris, no two ways about it. Some time ago we used to grow a lot of them, under glass for the fancy pretties, but the Despot decreed that they all had to go when we began to get virus affecting them. So, they were destroyed and now, several years down the line, we don't have many at all and I regret that every time I see one of these charmers. I believe that the B.D. was probably correct, though, we lost the Irises but perhaps we saved a lot of other plants which might have been attacked. That's what he keeps telling me, anyhow.

[Anthony Darby]

I have Iris bakeriana in bloom too, from Leonid Bondarenko. I hope it thrives as it is a lovely wee thing.

[Lesley Cox]

Maggi, yes, beared irises all love some lime, including the oncos and regelias. The tall, medium and dwarf varieties of the "common" beared irises are lime lovers and as a general rule, this applies to all sun or dry soil irises. The sibiricas and others from moist or peaty places, don't of course.

What I think is so marvellous about the whole genus Iris, is that quite literally, one can have irises in flower in the garden for 10-11 months, if ones grows a wide selection of different species and garden forms, from the late autumn junos and reticulatas of mid winter, through spring to late summer with the luxurious Japanese types. They are from a very few centimetres to a full 2 metres in flower and for hot dry places and cold wet places. Every possibility is covered by Iris. I love 'em all.

[Joakim B]

Maggi Lesley
We have moved bearded iris from clay soil to garden soil and the plant exploded!!!!!!!!!
I litle pice became a huge bunch so they might like lime but that can be taken care of easily (maybe not under a rododendron) by adding lime to any soil.
I think they like "fat soil" (or atleast respond well to it) rather than soil with mostly sand. Sibiricas can be grown in much sandier soil but then might need water.
I have not found non bulbus iris to be picky at all. Mybe they are pickier to get to flower but just to grow they seem to like it every where.
I have 3 pots of bearded iris on the balcony waiting to see there colour to detrmine what to do with them.
I have taken them before they flowered so I do not there colour. Portugal have a lot of the dark purpur bearded irises and I have bought a few in the green so to say but missed their flowers 
Now I have something to look forward to.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Anthony Darby]

Unfortunately my garden soil is clay soil.

[Lesley Cox]

You are right Joakim that the modern - or any - bearded irises (except oncos and regelias) are very easy going and will thrive anywhere with good drainage and adequate sun. And though they love lime, they can do without. Like Dianthus, Campanula, Saxifraga and many other genera, though they like it, they don't have to have it unlike the acid lovers which really do need, acid or peaty conditions to thrive.