Iris and some Irids 2008

[Diane Whitehead]

Oh dear.  I won't mention any Evansias, then.

I grow my Pacific Coast iris from seed, and the survivors thrive here.
Note the word "survivors".  Here is the only one out of fifteen seedlings
planted from seed received from a grower near San Francisco.

I still have a few named ones which I bought in California and Oregon,
but most such plants died.  These were not bare-rooted and mailed - they were
imported by me, growing in pots, and planted immediately.

The answer to having PCIs growing successfully out of their native
region is to grow them from seed, and I have masses of it, as I forgot
to list it with SPCNI (Society for Pacific Coast Native Iris) before I flew
off to Western Australia.  Let me know if anyone wants some.  I have
pictures of the parents at  http://picasaweb.google.ca/home?tab=mq
I have seeds from most of the ones in all the albums except for the
multi-bud.  It had so many hundreds of pods that I just composted them.

[Maggi Young]

The answer to having PCIs growing successfully out of their native
region is to grow them from seed, and I have masses of it,

In that case, Diane, I will have to ask you humbly to send me some seed.
After all, hope springs eternal....and this may be the seed that takes happily to life in NE Scotland

[Lesley Cox]

It's true that Pacific Coast irises do well and flower in shade, but I know that they also do well and flower a lot better in sun, or at least half sun. They need some moisture too of course.

[Diane Whitehead]

Yes, Pacific Coast hybrids are amenable to almost any condition,
because almost all of them have a good dose of I. douglasiana genes,
 a coastal species that grows in grassy areas, in full sun, though
 I have also seen them among trees.

Iris douglasiana is not eaten by cows, so it grows into enormous
clumps in pastures.  When I was preparing for a talk, I drove to
California to take pictures, and was surprised to find that all the coastal
pastures were iris-free.  It was obvious the farmers had weeded them.

[Maggi Young]

Iris douglasiana is not eaten by cows, so it grows into enormous
clumps in pastures.  When I was preparing for a talk, I drove to
California to take pictures, and was surprised to find that all the coastal
pastures were iris-free.  It was obvious the farmers had weeded them.

This amazes me....  where once farmers weeded their fields assiduously, nowadays here it is common to see fields full of the most noxious weeds and no-one seems to be bothered one way or the other....to see a weeded field now is MOST unusual... and I'm not just meaning fallow fields... fields with livestock in, too, can be full of weeds, many poisonous to stock. 

[Lesley Cox]

There are at least 2 reasons for this Maggi, or there are in NZ anyway. One is that in the past, farmers invariably walked around their paddocks (fields to you) and knew exactly what was growing there so that weeds were grubbed out in their early stages and not left to seed as they frequently are now when "farming" is undertaken from a utility truck or a 3 or 4 wheeled farm bike. The second is that when subsidies were totally removed from all farming activities back in the 80s (?) there was simply not enough money to employ labour or to hire spraying companies to control major weed infestations. Before, even small farms had an extra man or a boy, often a married couple as farm staff. Such farms are rare now. I believe NZ is the only country in the world which has totally abandoned subsidies to farmers. It was very painful at the time but overall, our farmers have become the most efficient in the world.

Two major farm weeds here are Californian thistle and ragwort. Stock avoid both. In both cases there are new biological controls but it takes many years for there to be a measurable effect from such control methods.

[David Nicholson]

I last posted a picture of my Iris lazica flowering on 18 August. Here it is today and it's been flowering on and off since then. Currently it has four flowering spikes.

[mark smyth]

Maggi it's rag weed that is a major pest in field here. I remember when I was young police stations had posters up to tell farmers to get rid of them

[Lesley Cox]

This seedling has appeared in one of my raised beds. It is Iris clarkei and at about 60cms is way too tall for the bed. I'll move it when it's finished flowering or maybe when the foliage dies down. Hopefully some seed first. The yellow butterfly patch is typical of I. clarkei.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Too tall for the rock garden Lesley but one very beautiful flower !!

[Diane Whitehead]

That is lovely!

Just appeared?  Did you fill your raised bed with the contents of pots
that didn't germinate?

[Lesley Cox]

The bottom compost of the raised beds is all old potted stuff that died or was discarded and was thrown into a heap then eventually reused somewhere so I guess that's how it appeared. If you look in the Southern Hemisphere page for this month, there's another that just "appeared" too. (Or there will be in a minute or two.)

[Armin]

Lesley,
this I. clarkei is a real beauty - my compliments

[Rafa]

really beautiful Lesley 

[fermi de Sousa]

I like the spuria too. Any seed maybe later?

Lesley,
as they say in the classics,

This one has your name written on it!
cheers
fermi