Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Iris => Topic started by: Maggi Young on December 27, 2006, 05:25:15 PM
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Let's have a page dedicated to Iris... bulbous, rhizomatous or whatever... all are lovely and I'm sure lots of you grow them or want to! Gerben showed a bright new hybrid in the flowering now page last week and Ian found some in flower at Kew on his recent visit, so their season has started... who has pictures to share?
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Good idea Maggi. I've two picture I took last week. Iris stenophylla, a juno Iris from Turkye collected by Kammerlander, Pasche, Persson and Zetterlund in the year 1990. The second is a reticulata crossing, Iris sophensis x danfordiae 'Evening Twilight'. We got this bulb from Janis Ruksans. Isn't she beautiful?
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Beautiful is the word for both. I have some Iris in flower, I. histrioides, that I'll post later this week
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An Iris page is such a good idea Maggi. My favourite genus overall.
Gerben, your pics are beautiful, especially the juno. The other seems to have that typical greyish tinge in the falls that comes from Iris danfordiae). I've noticed it before in pictures of Alan McMurtrie's hybrids. It makes for very lovely and subtle colouring.
I've one to share too but I'm afraid it's not nice at all. I have two, two year old seedlings of the oncocyclus species Iris sprengeri. They have done really well until about 2 weeks ago when all of a sudden they developed a rust all over the foliage. I would like some advice about what I should do, as I'm terrified of losing them - totally irreplaceable. The whitish colour on the foliage is smeared fungicide but I'm worried it may be too late. So far they are both quite solid in the pot, no sign of root rot or anything like that, so, help please! I should mention that though well into their third year, they have never died back or gone dormant. It is now that time here when I could perhaps expect them to do that.
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I think it is a lovely idea with an iris page.
It is easier to have some more pages since it fast gets hard to find the species one is looking for.
I hope to be able to contribuate with some pics here/there.
Great idea
Joakim
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Just to show there are always tings happening with irises.
This also show the prblem with iris since they are not all bulbs and a page of their own would be great.
I visited my orange plantation (euphomism for 8-10 small trees on myfather-in-laws land) 30 min drive from where we live and planted some more trees and dug up a iris tht was struggling to survive with the rizhome 5 cm in pure clay. It even had a spout coming vertically in the clay.
Below is some irises that was planted in November an came up only a few days later. Now the tallest is 40 cm. I hope they will flower!
Take care
Joakim
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I don't know if I can help you Lesley. We spray all our bulbs with the fungicide Topas. Fungicides you need to spray before you see a problem. What I should do in your case is: take the plant out the pot, wash the roots with water so no soil is left. Take/cut away the parts of the plants which looks infected. Give the Iris new soil and pot, water it and spray it again with a fungicide.
The rhizome of the Iris should be just under the surface packet in pure sand. Sand is sterile and it will dry out between watering.
Maybe you can use this information.
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As promised here is my Iris histrioides
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Lesley thinks she has a problem. These were supplied by a very well known mail order company. Dont know if they should be named and shamed but I'll wait until I hear back from them. The plants are going back in a box tomorrow. They are Iris unguicularis ssp cretensis and Iris suaveolens. You would need to be blind to supply them like this. The second is very nasty
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Good Heavens Mark, I don't know how anyone could supply such material. That's a disgrace!
Gerben, I'll try exactly what you've suggested. But if I lose them you know whose fault it will be! :)
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As Irises were the first plants that hooked me into growing flowers (rather than vegies) they remain one of my favourites! I think I posted this pic before on the old Forum but here it is again: Iris histrio ssp aintabensis (MT4501) originally collected by Mathew and Tomlinson near Maras (in Turkey?).
cheers
fermi
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I have three irises just out over the last few days. First is Iris decora, a tuberous species which is said to be very short-lived but these are the fifth year's flowers and it has set seed the last two. The first seedlings are also in flower so it doesn't take long,
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HAving trouble posting the next 2 pics. This is the 4th attempt, having been told I've not put the numbers next to the attachthumb bit. I did. So trying the other way.
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Hi Lesley
I can see the pictures ok in your post. The 'star at midnight' is lovely - such a good colour. I shall be checking out the catalogues for that one.
thank you
John
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Lesley practise and become a master :)
You have now mastered the "easy way" of getting pictures in and You can also see the number of times the pics have been enlarged.
Lovely irises I like them both :)
Well done!
Joakim
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I still prefer the other way to post pics as I can add text with each pic rather than just at the beginning. No matter though.
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Like Lesley, I am still trying to get the photos right. Here is Iris ensata "Glamour" which is flowering for the first time. The slightly warmer weather may see the rest open over the next day or so. They have been sitting in bud for ages.
Susan
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Lesley You can do it Your way as well :) It has so far looked very nice so do not change if You do not like the new way or use Dave´s long filenames.
Susan lovely pic and flower
Kind regards
Joakim
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Susan, your `Glamour' looks exactly like my `Star at Midnight.' I wonder has one of us got a wrong name?
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Hi Lesley
not sure if you read the Galanthus threads (I know Joakim does) so thought I would mention something that is written there. The search facility on the forum works by searching the text written in posts. With the new method of using the image file name, as the plants description, the search will not find the relevant post. So even if one uses Dave's 'long filename' way of doing things, it is still important to put the description in the text as well so that the forum is a fully searchable resource for years to come.
'Glamour' and 'Star at Midnight' do look very similar don't they.
with my best wishes
John
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I hadn't realised that John.I'll go and read the Galanthus thread straight away.Thanks.
Cheers Dave.
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Thanks John, yes, of course I DO read the Galanthus pages and the only reason my name and picture aren't plastered all over them as elsewhere, is that I have no snowdrops out or up at present. That will change no doubt but we down here certainly can't compete with the likes of Mark, Paddy and yourself for variety in our snowdrops. Very few are around at all, and these only the old favourites like `Magnet' and nivalis `Atkinsii. Nothing recently selected. Some species are gradually being grown from seed but nothing commercial yet.
My main problem with attaching thumbs is that I forget to put in the square brackets so keep having to modify and start over.
The more I look at Maggi's "cute guy" in the baby pics, the more I think it must be you. Yes?
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Lesley doesnt the NZ government realise there are 100s of Galanthus cultivars that have not been collected in the wild?
Here's a lovely Iris that really should be in the garden rather than the pot it's in now. Iris reticulata 'Angel's Tears'
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But, Mark, would it be looking so good if it were out in the garden inthis weather? I think not, that's the pleasure of a potful to take in and enjoy!
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Mark, I think `Angel's Tears' is a selection of I. histrioides, not reticulata, though in the reticulata group of course.
It is not the government per se which requires a CITES certificate for Galanthus. A number of species are on our Biosecurity Index/Plants, which is the list of plants we are allowed to import. But within NZ CITES is administered by the Department of Conservation and their policy is to keep as many exotic plants as possible OUT of the country. So ALL Galanthus are covered by CITES. To be truthful, I've not yet tackled them on the subject of Galanthus but I'm not hopeful.
Two more iris pics. I showed Iris decora the other day but I can't resist another because it has so many flowers. They keep on keeping on. This one in a pot has a slight advantage in that a rabbit grazed the foliage before the buds came up so the leaves are very short, letting the flowers be seen clearly. Nice rabbit!
The second is a lovely white form of Iris ensata, though like all the modern Japanese irises, it is probably quite a long way, in form, from the species.
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No 2 pic didn't appear so here it is now.
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Lovely irises, All.
I am intrigued by Susan's Iris 'Glamour' posted above. It appears to my eye that the bloom is simply floating in the air. Is it that the bloom is so big that it has hidden the pot?
Lovely colour.
Paddy
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Iris histrioides flowers very early in my bulb bed this year.
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Are I histrioides Angels Tears and I histrioides Angels Eye the same thing? Angels Tears is surely a name for Narcissus triandrus .... you know the story about the boy called Angel who was sent to collect some and had a fall ... but the name is bsing used (and not just by Mark) for an Iris too.
Here is a link to a pic of Angels Eye - see what you think. Is this new cultivar just a chinese whisper that has got into general use?
http://www.thealpinegarden.com/irishistrioidesangel.htm
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Some lovely Irises you guys and the photographic quality is excellent in all.
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Tony, `Angel's Tears' is the name I've always known it by, for at least 30 years. In effect, it is a paler version of Iris histrioides very much as the link shows. Where the `Angel's Eye' comes from I don't know. One would need to go way back in the Dutch bulb catalogues to get a true answer I think. It probably was a selection by Van Tubergen or someone like that.
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I have for the firtst time in my life managed to flower an iris bulb.
It came in a pack of mixed colours and is not that bad. It is 50 cm high and the flower is 8cm across.
Is it possible to say what it might be. Just in general terms? Does not need to pick the hybrid name but maybe what it might be.
Sorry to put a cat amongst the hermelines (minks).
BTW the others do not seem to bloom :(
The one that I resued from clay seems to do well now :)
Kind regards
Joakim
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I think this may be one of the "Dutch" irises, based on the Xiphium group of bulbous irises. That includes II. boissieri, latifolia, xiphium etc. As well as the Dutch, there are "Spanish" (finer, smaller, earlier)and "English" irises (larger, later). All great cut flowers or good clumps in the spring garden.
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A belated, good idea Maggi. ;)
Something to look forward to.
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My juno collection. Lovely I. stenophylla Gerben, any spares ? :)
A bit more interesting at the moment,
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is the reticulatas.
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I. histrio aintabensis. Also opened since taking the above,
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I. caucasica. A little tease.
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Can you guess what it is yet ?
Finally (no laughing),
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my regelia collection !!
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Nice pictures on nice flowers Andrew
Thanks for telling me what it was and You are right the package says Iris hollandica, I just thought they stated where it came from :-[
Now I no more about the group and will see if it is possible to find which it is. It has a colour scheme that is not on the package so that is fun.
Thanks and do You think it is possible to guess what kind of Dutch it is?
Kind regards
Joakim
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sorry peeps I didnt have this link enabled. Going outside the label definitely says 'Angel's Tears'. The source was if I remember, Ivor Fox.
Lesley thanks for explaining.
Going back a few posts,
I sent the dead Iris back to its supplier 3 weeks ago. So far there hasnt been a word from him which is very bad. Makes you wonder how many other people he doesnt reply to
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I sent the dead Iris back 3 weeks ago. So far there hasnt been a word from him which is very bad. Makes you wonder how many other people he doesnt reply to
I think they were on their holiday then, so may have a back log. I too had not heard from them, when I had cause to email but found the reply (answered very quickly) in with the spam. Eventually when I sent some items back, some were replaced and others credited.
Just my experience and I do not work for them !
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Andrew it may have been less than three weeks because when I looked at the site my package had 4 days to get there. It would have gone as signed for but it cant be done to a PO box
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No-one to blame for this cutie - raised from seed set on one of my own plants. Iris histrio.
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Iris Katharine Hodgkin has not flowered so early here before all the years. To my surprise it has very strong colours this time. It looks gorgeous.
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Wow Franz !
Gorgeous is the right word here ! I couldn't agree more.
Would special weather circumstances have caused these stronger colours than usual ?? ???
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Lovely irises, thanks. Tony yours is what I would imagine to be typical I. histrio, a pale flower with distinctive and strong spotting. Your seedling is beautiful.
Luc, you may be right about the cold intensifying the colours. Katharine always flowers here when the winter is at its coldest, - July - and is always that deep rich colouring.
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Nice pictures, Franz. Ours started flowering a couple of weeks ago but this year the colours are very subdued.
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These two posts moved here to keep Iris topics together. Maggi
First question from:
art600
Newbie
Posts: 10
IRIS
« on: Today at 01:56:34 AM » Quote Modify Remove Split Topic
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Having received seeds of many Iris from the surplus seed distribution, I am wondering if there are techniques to improve germination.
I seem to remember being told that seeds of bulleyana and chrysographes needed rinsing several times to remove surface inhibitors. Is this a general rule.
I have seed from Siberia, Yunnan, Californian hybrids and many more choicer named species
Arthur Nicholls
Anything bulbous
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Reply from:
Lesley Cox
Cake Maker in Chief
Sr. Member
Posts: 254
Re: IRIS
« Reply #1 on: Today at 02:20:27 AM » Quote Modify Remove Split Topic
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I've never heard this and regularly sow seed from the species you mention. There is always good germination if seed is kept moist once sown, and covered with around .75cm of grit. Oncocyclus and juno seeds are very erratic in germination and can come up gradually over a period of from 1-10 years. So don't throw out anything special.
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Lesley Cox - near Dunedin, lower east coast, South Island of New Zealand - Zone 9
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Hello,
Some iris that I grow last year
Iris xiphium
Iris babadagica
Iris serotina
Iris darwasica
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Franz, Iris Katherine Hodgkin has also very strong colours in my garden:
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It would be of interest to know whether in all gardens Iris Katharine Hodgkin has so strong colour this year.
By the way I think it is not always good the colour to use as a factor for the ID
Please compare the pictures of this and past year
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I'm sure it's right that colour can vary from garden to garde, year to year or climate to climate, so as you say Franz, not always a good indicator for identification though of course in the case of `Katharine Hodgkin,' there's nothing else really like her at all.
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In relation to colour might I comment that here on the forum we are judging the colours from photographs and that the light at the time of taking the photograph has an effect on colour and that the same flower can appear differently in different lights and in different photographs.
Paddy
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Very true Paddy, and using different film - if still using film - or different brands of digital camera.
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Hi Franz,
Are all your Katherine Hodgkin the same this year or is it only one? I have to admit when I find one with that dark blue colouring I usually dig it up and bin it just in case :-\ I have seen some of this colouration on the show benches so I don't know if there is a problem or not. Has anybody kept track of this variant for more than a year?
Susan
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Hello Iris-Friends
some Reticulatas from my garden
Iris histrioides var.sophenensis from Turkey
Iris danfordiae native form, Turkey
Iris reticulata from Iran
Iris x sophenensis ( histrioides var.soph. x danfordiae ) F1 Hybrid
Iris x sophenensis F2 Hybrid
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Dirk, super flowers!
Susan: we,like you, are very suspicious of these Katharine Hodgkin flowers with the darker markings.
We have not had any here, I am pleased to say. Altough at first glance, these stronger coloured flowers appear very attractive, we are worried in case the darker marks are evidence of a virus infection. The fact that the darker colouration appears in patches, rather than as an overall colour, is what bothers me. It will be interesting of someone can tell us more about this feature, as you say. Perhaps we are too cautious? It is certain that a plant infected with a virus can survive for several years, sometimes even settling in to a seemingly stable state and not dying out but We still worry!
It gives us something to do, I suppose!
To Franz' case,:I would be glad to hear how you feel about the feature, if you think there may be a virus at all? All your plants give every sign of being so strong and healthy, yet a virus can appear from "nowhere" can it not? Franz has so many years' experience, if he is not concerned, then I would have to concede that we are being somewhat alarmist!
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Dirk,
Great retics! I particularly like that Iranian one.
Have you done the s x d crossing yourself? Have you many of the F2 crosses flowering yet? I understand from Alan Mc Murtrie's web-site (http://reticulatas.com) that it's in the F2 generation that the real colour breaks occur.
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, that's a good Iris site I didn't know about, thanks for that. Scrummy things, are they not?
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Hello Fermides,
i have the F1 Generation from Alan, the F2 is self collectet seed
from this plants. 3 flowers in 3 several colours. We have to time
frost, the last flower is not complete open.
Iris x sophenensis F2 white form
Iris histrio dark form
Iris histrio var.aintabensis dark Form
Iris reticulata from Almeh, NE-Iran
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Hi Susan,
I have perhaps 50 flowering bulbs of Iris Katharine Hodgkin each year. The normal bloom time is March and not January. 8 bulbs of Katharine Hodgkin have this strong colour this year, and they grow at different places in the garden. The others do not flower yet, because we at present have frosty weather.
I am curious for the colour of the other bulbs. I cultivate this iris already 30 years. I did not have ever so a strong colour with my blooms.
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Udo
I love the various Iris, they look super, will they grow outside?.
Does anyone know if any of these forms are available either as seed or bulbs, I would very much like to get some. Particularly the danfordii, the usual garden centre ones never flower next year, they just break up into little ones and are probably virus infected as well.
Brian WIlson
Aberdeen
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According to Tony Hall at Kew (retired now) Iris danfordiae as available in commerce, is a triploid and so is sterile. To get seed one must have wild collected material (or ex wild collected) and the flowers on these bulbs are much smaller. In the slide Tony showed here, (which he gave me, but I have no ability to scan a slide) the flowers and whole flowering bulb were little more that 3cms high, the flower being most of this. Absolutely delightful but far from generally available.
Tony's opinion of Dutch stock of reticulate irises matches yours Brian - almost all virused. You could perhaps try to contact Alan McMurtrie through his website because he does distribute seed. He also hybridizes juno irises but again, Tony says that the bulbs Alan has sent to him (Tony) are frequently virused. But that is junos, so maybe worth trying the reticulatas.
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And yes, they will grow outside, even where you are :)
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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 (http://www.srgc.org.uk/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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I need to split my small ground this year. It's easy to remember when in full flower but once they are dormant ...
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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. :-\
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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 8)
Kind regards
Joakim
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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.! ???
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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.
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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.
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I have Iris bakeriana in bloom too, from Leonid Bondarenko. I hope it thrives as it is a lovely wee thing.
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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.
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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
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Unfortunately my garden soil is clay soil. :'(
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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.
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two new flowers after view days with frost
Iris histrioides `Michaels Angel`
Iris reticulata from Iran
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Dirk, sweet little things.
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Dirk, the Iranian Iris is beautifully marked.
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(http://)
The first pic was posted whilst playing. Try again properly.
A couple of weeks ago I complained about the washed colouring of Katherine Hodgkin, this is a later flower and I can't complain.
The picture was taken at the weekend, one flower. Now, Wednesday the whole clump is in flower but the weather is dull and damp. Will try a new picture later.
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David,
As with your clump of Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin' mine are becoming a little congested. This year when the flowers opened they were too close and were covering each other. Do you lift and divide? And, if so, when?
Paddy
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Paddy
This was our first attempt at a picture on the forum - thanks to Carol who figured it out. I see that the picture is still too big but I think we have found how to correct that for next time.
The Katherine Hodgkins have only just become congested. If we do thin them out this year I would expect to do it immediatly before the leaves disapear so that we can still find them.
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Hi, Paddy, Iris such as Katharine Hodgkin can very quickly become overcrowed to the extent that one cannot appreciate the individual beauty of the flowers. Also, the overlapping petals get stuck together when wet by rain and can rot: it is thus a good idea to lift and divide them about every three years, and spread them out a bit.They look better and it keeps them healthier. After flowering the leaves can extend to a fair old height, given how neat the flowers are, leaves up to fifteen to eighteen inches (approx. 36 to 45 cms) are common. When the leaves begin to discolour and flop, that would be the time to lift and split them.
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Oh dear,
We obtained some Iris winogradowii from the small bulb exchange in 2003 and have been carefully growing them on since. This is the first year that they have flowered and I was a little concerned about the blueish tinge to the buds at the weekend. They have now started to open and they are - Katherine Hodgkin.
Never mind, even though I was looking forward to a clump of winogradowii these are also a lovely iris.
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God - or the SRGC Goddess - forgive me for disagreeing with the spouse of the Bulb Despot, but I would not recommend lifting reticulate irises (`Katharine Hodgkin') while there is any green on the leaves at all. Mark their place David and lift them when dormant. So long as the leaves are showing some colour, there is still active root growth and that, combined with the leaf growth and the ability to photosynthesize, is a strong factor which will govern next year's flowering. Those long, coarse leaves aren't the prettiest but they have an important function and should be protected and encouraged as long as possible.
Likewise, when dormant, the bulbils (rice grain bulbs) will fall away easily and can be planted or potted elsewhere to make a new colony. They are still attached when there is root growth and can be damaged if separated. If NOT taken away, they won't grow on unless the parent bulb is damaged or destroyed. They will just quietly fade away and be wasted.
Also please note - The lady spelt her name with an a not an e. Katharine.
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Our way works for us, Lesley. Perhaps because most of them are in those lattice pond baskets and the growth has pretty much stopped when we do it.
And, please, unless we're laying down Forum law never worry about disagreeing with either the fat lady or the bulb despot. The bulb despot is the bulb despotbecause he of his constant insistence that everyone grow bulbs, bulbs and yet more bulbs, not because he tells people HOW THEY should grow bulbs, because he only says " this is how I do it, if you have a way that works for you, stick with it" , he is a despot because he nags that they SHOULD BE GROWING bulbs! For a real despot, he has too sweet a nature ..... mostly!
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I think I once made the KathArine not KathErine point long ago in the old Forum, but everywhere I see it nowadays it seems to be shown E, including the plant finder book, so I thought I was wrong again so went along with the E. If I'm wrong again, now, I'm sorry... good grief, I've said that a lot today. :-\
Yeah, I know, I am wrong again....... [attach=1]
And when I think of it, if growing in a pond basket, it is easier to find them when they are dormant, so that's even better... maybe that's why ours are IN the baskets!!??!!
Now, where is that bottle of hairdressers' peroxide?
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Lesely
Thanks for the observations.
I will try and remember KathArine and amend my labels. I did not know this before.
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Don't go overboard Maggi. You don't want to become what my late brother referred to as a "suicide blond." (Dyed by her own hand.)
You're very welcome David. I should apologise to you for being so very picky picky, an irritating trait as Roger frequently tells me. (Not that he hasn't plenty!)
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I have been busy with other things so I might have missed a lot but...
I was once told by a Dutch bulb specialist that Dutch Irises need a high temperature rest in order to develop flowers. At that time they kept the bulbs at thirty degrees for some time and then at lower temperatures. They were then sent out to the Scandinavian market to be planted as Gladiolii.
I tried and it worked very well. They flowered and I got nice fat bulbs at the end of the vegetation period but since I did not know, I did not give them the high temperature and they refused to flower a second time. They always froze to death if left in the soil and I had no thirty degree heating chamber so I gave up on them.
This is, I think, part explanation why the luck with them varies so much. Some of us have high soil temperatures in late summer some have not.
PS: I tried to write a ring for 'degrees' by using the Alt key plusthe numeric pad. This immediately collapsed the Forum with my half finished entry.
Belated but happy new year to everybody!
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Nice to have you back, Göte . It would indeed be difficult for most of us to acheive the 30 degree heat treatment. It is fascinating the "tricks" the commercial growers have for their business, is it not?
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Just type o and then highlight it and click sup and bingo you have o :)
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I was my I.Katherine Hodgkin forgotten and find the pot back covered with leaves and slugs are eaten some flowers
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three forms from Iris histrioides:
`Angel's Eyes`
`Lady Beatrix Stanley`
`Major`
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Ron and Lyn Bezzant kindly offered to buy wholesale s ome bulbs and corms to sell at the Stirling Group meetings to raise funds. Here is Iris reticulata 'Purple Gem'. Note the slug damage.
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I would like to place a small order with Leonid Bonderenko but since I have not ordered from him before I am not sure how to price it. According to his Web Site I can pay by cheque in £'s but then I need to add bank charges? How do I calculate what amount to add-or am I missing something?? ??? Can anyone give me guidance please.
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Hi David
I just sent Euros in a registered airmail letter.
Anthony
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Hi David
I just sent Euros in a registered airmail letter.
Anthony
Thanks Anthony-it just goes to show how times have changed, I didn't even think about cash :-[
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Does Bonderenko do a seed list? Bulbs are a no-no for us, from Europe especially from the more obscure nurseries to whom one would have to explain our draconian import regs. I'm sweating blood and losing sleep over the Ruksans list which Thomas kindly sent to me.
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histrioides George under glass now but destined eventually for a new bed in the garden that will be devoted to small Iris species.
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Try Leonard Bondarenko's web site Lesley: http://www.litbulbgarden.com/ (it seems to be down at the moment).
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It's working OK now, but don't see any seed on it. Of course given my advancing years I may have missed it!
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I have contacted Leonid privately and asked for a seed list,
but unfortunately he doesn't have one ! :-[
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Try Josef Jurašek in the Czech Republic (http://www.jurasekalpines.com/).
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Thanks for the websites boys. Much of interest on both - not that I need more seeds but I never can resist as Thomas knows only too well.
David, you really must stop referring to advancing years and failing eyesight. There are only 5 weeks between us and it's making me paranoid.
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I wish you hadn't mentioned the Jurasek site Anthony.
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Have just finished sowing a mixture of Primula and Mec seed which arrived from Josef Jurasek yesterday. I wish Anthony had put the info about his website on the forum a few hours earlier since the seed only came with numbers and not names. I hadn't saved the site address and spent ages trying to find it again >:( Looking forward to seeing the results in a few weeks time, no doubt I will manage to kill them before flowering, lets hope for a damper summer this year.
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David, you really must stop referring to advancing years and failing eyesight. There are only 5 weeks between us and it's making me paranoid.
Lesley, one of my birthday presents from my kids was a white painted walking stick. This marks an event at the latter end of last week (reported to the kids by one who should know better!) when on opening the front door I completely missed the step and finished up +++++ over +++ full length on the hall floor. Is there no dignity?
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By heck lad, ++++ over +++! You have been to Huddersfield. Did the Ritz become the ABC cinema?
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Born and bred Anthony, and sounds like you know the place as well? We left Huddersfield in the early 1980's for Bury in Lancashire and will have been in Devon for 20 years in June this year. The Ritz did indeed become the ABC and then became Sainsbury's. I obviously didn't need to translate the ++++ stuff ;D
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I was born there, as were my parents. My granny lived in South Parade and my Dad's parents in Long Lane, Dalton. I didn't live there much (left when I was two and stayed again in South Parade 1962/63 while we had a house built in Stirling).
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I will need to ask Sue Gill about the statistical probabilities of two Forumists being born in Huddersfield. I had no idea you were a Yorkshireman Anthony no doubt teaching the Scots the true meaning of generosity? ;D
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Am I completely stupid or what? (Don't answer that!) Where's this sup to click Anthony?
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When you click "reply" Lesley, don't you get rows of icons with B I U
S etc? Well the row below has others including sup and sub.
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o
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So I do. I hadn't noticed that one before. Thanks.
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Ah! now I see. I had been searching my computer keyboard for a key saying "sup" and of course could't find one. ::)
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You and I have a lot in common David :D
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A couple of reticulatas for you.
I. histriodes 'Lady Beatrix Stanley'.
[attachthumb=1]
Looking equally good in bud
[attachthumb=2]
as open
[attachthumb=3]
and I. reticulata 'Kuh-e-Abr'.
[attachthumb=4]
[attachthumb=5]
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NICE, Andrew was "Kuh-e-Abr" grown from seed, is there a supplier?
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You and I have a lot in common David :D
Lesley, in my case the statement on my signature line says it all. ;D
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Andrew was "Kuh-e-Abr" grown from seed, is there a supplier?
Not seed grown, supplied by the rare plants site.
I've added their site in the links page, so hopefully it will appear shortly.
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Andrew was "Kuh-e-Abr" grown from seed, is there a supplier?
Not seed grown, supplied by the rare plants site.
I've added their site in the links page, so hopefully it will appear shortly.
It's not on the Rare Plants Site Andrew, probably too late in the season so I shall look in early Autumn. There is a photograph of Kuh-e-abr on Alan McMurtrie's Site http://reticulatas.com/ The Site has been recently updated.
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Iris reticulata 'Kuh-e-Abr' is from that area of Iran, where it was found in 1977. Paul Christian (rareplants) sells it. I have it (see http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/283/23605.html?1141287206) flowering now.
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I like the `Kuh-e-Abr' form as unlike most (all?) of the Dutch selections, its leaves don't overtop the flowers at bloom time.
I had a look for it on the McMurtrie site but didn't get that far, totally stunned by I. winogradowii `Alba' which Alan says is actually a hybrid. With what for heaven's sake? But what a beauty!
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It's not on the Rare Plants Site Andrew, probably too late in the season so I shall look in early Autumn.
Yes, the spring list is now current but everything is still on the site, so if you do a search, you can find the inactive listings. Try this link,
http://rareplants.co.uk/product.asp?P_ID=622&strPageHistory=search&strKeywords=kuh&numPageStartPosition=1&strSearchCriteria=any&PT_ID=all
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It's not on the Rare Plants Site Andrew, probably too late in the season so I shall look in early Autumn.
Yes, the spring list is now current but everything is still on the site, so if you do a search, you can find the inactive listings. Try this link,
http://rareplants.co.uk/product.asp?P_ID=622&strPageHistory=search&strKeywords=kuh&numPageStartPosition=1&strSearchCriteria=any&PT_ID=all
Thanks for that Andrew. That tops my reticulata wants list for next year. Mind you if I then add on all my other wants lists a Lottery win will be necessary. :(
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Buying iris bulbs now?
I saw in the hyper market that they had iris bulbs and I presumed they would more dust like than anything else but they looked good.
It was the Duch type of named varities of 10 bulbs for 1£ so it is not expencive, but do they have a chance to establish and flower now?
I must admitt that the lot of sun we get here in Portugal is helping things grow but I am wondering about this.
Has anyone planted iris bulbs at spring? It is spring in Portugal for the moment we will see if it will be winter again or not.
An other question the only ones to flower (4 so far) out of the 50 bulbs I planted are all the same type, that is like this seen below. Is this the most recistent type or just an early one?
Kind regards
Joakim
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two forms from Iris hyrcana, Talish Mts., Azerbaijan
Iris reticulata, Kopet Dag Mts.,Tajikistan
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Joakim, if the bulbs feel sound then they may grow, eventualy. You get what you pay for and you take a chance. If the varieties are very cheap compared with market price for that variety then I would try a packet. If there is only a small saving then I would wait until the summer to buy fresh material.
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Thanks David
They look good! They even have some green showing.
At what deepth should they be planted? Is it a problem that the green is showing, I meen they will not get sunlight when they are planted so that part might be bad or will it just become white as it would be normally?
I let You know how I do and if there will be flowers I will show them.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Joakim
I would plant them in a large plastic pot with noses just below the surface. This year I would expect random growth with scruffy foliage and, maybe, poor quality flowers. I would then feed them up well, nurse them through the rest of the year and hope for better quality flowers next spring. In your case I would probably take them to Portugal for the hotter summer!
Buying cut price (rescue) bulbs that the supermarkets are trying to get rid of is a Scottish trait, Joakim. Do we add a touch a touch of Scots to your multi-nationality ;)
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David
I think the plants have been in a cooler untill now since they look very "fresh".
Thanks for the advice David I will put them together with some amarylis to make sure they get a lot of sun. 8)
To answer Your question as diplomatic as I can. On my mothers side I am from the part of Sweden that share the Scottish tendency of "not wasting money". :). I could use a different way to say that but I have promest to be nice :(.
The place is called Småland "Little land".
Kind regards
Joakim
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Ok, your Smålandic heritage explains everything to me ;D ;D
BTW my girlfriend wanted to buy some sale-out bulbs late autumn, I refused saying they wouldn't etablish before winter. And then we had the latest arrival of winter I can remember!!
Moral of this, always listen to your woman :-X :-X
Cheers
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Nice pics of nice irises Udo/Dirk.
It really makes me want more!!
You will here see the difference between some roots in Småland and not.
I would interpret the moral of Per-Åkes story as "always by bulbs cheap if they look good!"
You can not know the weather so why pay more?
Then not all bulbs I plant survive but I tend to forget that :)
Joakim
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Moral of this, always listen to your woman :-X :-X
The best advice any man will ever get!!! :D :D :D
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I kind of had a feeling that Lesley would have a comment at this ;) :D
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Lesley, I would be very interested to hear Roger's views on that!!!!!
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I said it was the best advice any man will ever get, not that any man will necessarily take it!
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the first flower this year of the fantastic Iris pamphylica
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One of the Best,
Iris reticulata from Halkis Dag, Turkey
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how marvellous it is !
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That is a beautiful reticulata Dirk-is it scarce or generally available?
Bio- your pamphylica is also beautiful.
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Yes, those two above are beautiful all right. I wish there was a seed source of I. pamphylica. Imported bulbs to NZ are simply not an option even if we could source them and get the horrific paperwork sorted.
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Hello,
I am waiting to see in bloom two Iris pamphylica that I have. If anyone keep the pollen we could exchange and mabye incrase this specie through all members interested in iris, by seeds.
Regards
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Hello,
I am waiting to see in bloom two Iris pamphylica that I have. If anyone keep the pollen we could exchange and mabye incrase this specie through all members interested in iris, by seeds.
Regards
For my part I have two different strains and I had had seeds 2 years ago.
How do you do, in which conditions, to keep the pollen ?
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It would be great if the two of you could get your irises together and have little seeds to spread around. I suggest the removal of a whole anther complete with pollen, from each flower. Put it in a small sealed plastic container or bag and post to each other. Remove anther from container and when pollen is warm, wipe it on the stigmatic lip which is under the style arm. Use it on all three lips per flower. Worth a try anyway.
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Many thanks for the advice Lesley. I will keep the pollen following your instructions.
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I'll try this sunday but the weather seems to be sad...
How long the pollen is alive ?
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Hello David,
this is a relative new form, offered last year by Njissen in the
Netherlands.
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Hello David,
this is a relative new form, offered last year by Njissen in the
Netherlands.
Dirk, I cannot find anything on Njissen on Google, do you have a Web Site address please?
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David is this the link you need?
http://www.pc-nijssen.com/index.php
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Thanks for that link Mik, some lovely things there and the prices seem very low in some cases. I wish..... Actually, I find we can import dormant bulbs from Holland from nurseries which use a MAF-approved growing scheme, and they don't need either a permit to import or a period of post entry quarantine. Still have to be acclimatized to the reversed seasons but where there's hope (and a hefty bank balance), there's, well, hope. But I'll have to brush up my (non existant) Dutch!
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If properly stored (sealed and refrigerated, I think pollen should keep in good condition for several months. Some hybrids have been made between species which flower in autumn and in spring.
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But I'll have to brush up my (non existant) Dutch!
Hi Lesley
The great thing about Dutch is it is not too dissimilar to English and hooray for latin names! I've bookmarked the site to go and have a look when the first bulb catalogues drop onto the doormat this year - that should give time to save up. . .
Sue
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David is this the link you need?
http://www.pc-nijssen.com/index.php
Hi Mick, thanks very much for that. It's well worth Bookmarking.
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Sorry David, for the uncorrect name.
Here a beautiful reticulata from Iran
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A real stunner Dirk - as so many that were posted earlier !
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An absolute stunner!
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Dirk
That iris is great. How do you grow your retics? Are they all potted or can you also grow them outdoors?
cheers
fermi
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That is a beautiful reticulata Dirk-is it scarce or generally available?
David, it [I. reticula 'Halkis'] is also available from the same supplier as I. reticula 'Kuh-e-Abr'.
That's where mine came from. ;)
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Hello Fermides,
all Reticulatas growing outside in pots, with protection by to many
rain in Winter and early summer.
Here a other form from Iran
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David, it [I. reticula 'Halkis'] is also available from the same supplier as I. reticula 'Kuh-e-Abr'.
That's where mine came from. ;)
Andrew, thanks for that, I'm making a list.
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Did anyone buy the unlabelled Iris from John Amand at last week's bulb day? The name was on a sticker on the edge of the tray. If I had known how it would look in full flower I would have bought a few more pots
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Mark, I'm hopeless at remembering these iris names, well, most names nowadays, so i have emailed Big John to ask him.
It is Iris 'Clairette'
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Beautiful Iris Mark ! Very good colour !
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Mark, that is what Jhon sold as Iris 'Clairette'. We bought one and it is lovely. John has a bad habit of not labelling all of his pots; I have learned to make notes at the time of what I buy.
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Dirk
that white and blue Iranian retic is a beauty!
Mark,
"Clairette" is also a good looker, I like that contrasting colour in the lip. I'll have to wait about 6 months more before I can compare it with the one I grow.
cheers
fermi
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thanks for the name. I'll have to source dry bulbs this summer
Ivor Fox had it last year http://www.miniaturebulbs.co.uk/acatalog/iris_et_al.html (http://www.miniaturebulbs.co.uk/acatalog/iris_et_al.html)
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Some more pictures from my meadow.
Iris Katharine Hodgkin and Iris reticulata. Iris danfordiae flowering in
its second year now.
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Franz is the second person to list Iris danforiae as flowering for a second season. We have exactly the same; first year in a pan then planted out and now making a display in the garden. My previous experience is that of them flowering well the first year and then breaking down to 'rice', hence my practice of growing them in pots as 'annuals' for the greenhouse or patio.
The bulbs described above were just garden centre purchased, I think Taylors.
Have we just been lucky to get a good clone this year or is it likely that the Dutch growers have found a way to prevent the bulbs breaking down?
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I don't know if those clever Dutch folk have found a new strain that is more resistant to the rice grain problem, but I do hope so, because Iris danfordiae is just a lovely thing, smells fab and don't we all wish we could have a form that would naturalise, for us?
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David, that is the first times that I. reticulata flowers so richly in the second year.
But it is the first time that I cultivate it in the meadow.
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Franz, i selected the dark form from Katharine Hodgkin
in 2005 from new bulbs from the Netherlands
-Sheila Ann Germaney
-Frank Elder
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Iris reticulata from Sewan-Lake
Iris reticulata x Iris winogradowii
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Oops, so sorry for my senior moment! It should be called correct -
I. danfordiae flowers so richly in the second year.
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Dirk, all irises looks very nice!
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Dirk, the Sewen Lake reticulata is very pretty. Was the reticulata x winogradowii your own cross, if so it is one to be proud of?
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Hi David, the cross is from Kanada.
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Hi David, the cross is from Kanada.
Dirk, thanks for that.
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Here is Iris winogradowii in a trough against a south facing wall.
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That's nice.
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So yours is in a warm place Anthony? Perhaps full sun and reasonably dry/warm in summer? Here and I thought everywhere, it is an iris for a cool, moist soil, from the Caucasus rather than middle east/central Asia like the other retics. (Not that sunny Dunblane will ever be VERY warm and dry I suppose :D :D :D)
They only call it sunny Dunny, in jest!M
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a very small form from Iris reticulata (Iran)
Iris winogradowii from Georgia
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That is a delightful retic Dirk, with such clean colour it looks like a reticulate version of I. cycloglossa :)
You say "very small." How small? There seems to be no foliage as it flowers which perhaps puts it close to I. histrioides do you think?
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Lesley, this reticulata is around 3 cm long, my smallest form and
one of the latest. The foliage come in view days.
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VERY little then, a real honey!
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the last Reticulatas for this year
Iris kolpakowsiana
Iris pamphylica
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Dirk, they are little beauties
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They only call it sunny Dunny, in jest!M
'Sunny D' please. 'Dunny' has an Australian meaning that I'd rather not go into, and while the centre on the town often reminds me of said place (due in the main to the greed of Stirling council's housing "policy"), I'd rather not be reminded. :(
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Bite your tongue Anthony. That quote was from Maggi, NOT from me. I'm sensitive about such things as the airlines use a luggage label for stuff coming to Dunedin, which says DUD. Even our city council has asked Air NZ to change it but no joy. still, I don't suppose DUN would be a lot better. I read a small book once (Australian of course) called "Dinkum Dunnies" with many interesting photos of back-of-beyond loos, both public and private.
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Aha, the quote came from your thread but the software can't distinguish an aside from a moderator. Sorry you got the blame.
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but the software can't distinguish an aside from a moderator. Sorry you got the blame
I can get a lot of people in bother in this way! Tee Hee!
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All this "toilet talk" seems to have scared off the iris exhibitors!
The retics have been wonderful to see and make me long for their season here - only 5 to 6 months to go!
Lesley,
I'll tell Tim to look out for the "DUD" luggage on the carousel at the airport! I think we're having lunch together at Otto's when you arrive!
cheers
fermi
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I'm pleased I'll be able to see you Fermi, such a long way to come, but I WILL have that little packet of Sorbus seed for you. I've checked, it's acceptable on the ICON database.
I'm coming from Christchurch though, not Dunedin, and in any case, (a quite unintentional pun) I suppose I'll have to collect my own luggage to go through customs. Then Tim can carry it, and welcome! I'll be too sleepy. Have to be at airport at 4.10am for a 6am flight. Less than 2 weeks to go now. Getting quite excited.
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But to return to irises, I have some nice fresh seed from Iris decora if anyone would like some. It's a very good form with large flowers and is long-lived compared with some others, having flowered well for 4 years so far and showing no sign of wanting to leave.
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Yes please, please, please,please Lesley
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It's on the way today David, along with the auricula which I couldn't send yesterday as I'd forgotten it was a public holiday (Otago Anniv Day) and the PO was closed, as well as everywhere else I needed to go. So both off now. There's still plenty of the seed to ripen fully over the next few days.
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Please see this page for Bearded Iris: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=371.0
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Maggi My comment was not necessary to make a new thread, especially not under Bulbs general since bearded iris in not really a bulb or is it, but to hope for a headline of iris like crocus and primula. Then it might have been better to have all iris in one tread including the junis but that is abit late now I think. That was only wishfull thinking with more headlines like galanthus and narcissus and have bulbs general for the more odd ones. It was an attempt to have more headlines so that will be easier in a year to find the treads one are interested in. As it is now with pages it is not that easy to find the treads one are interested in if one comes new to the forum. Maybe this comment should be in general forum. It is tricky to make it right. :-[
Sorry for making confusion :-[
Joakim
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Joakim, I have moved the bearded iris page to Flowers and Foliage Now, in the All Plants section
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I was given a very small Iris yesterday but no name. The donor thinks it may have Bowles in the name
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Nothing rings a bell Mark. Can you get a picture?
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yes I will when it flowers.
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Since this one might not be a bearded one I thought it might fit here.
Warning on the first picture I show my bare legs so for sensitive viewers be aware. I work in shorts in the glassed veranda. 8)
It is a iris? that is a free passanger to a shroub that I bought just for that iris? !
It is nice to feel rich 8) It was a cost of 1€ and it also included a second free passenger that was a nice clump of for-get-me-not.
(That name is the same in most languagees it is funny).
The flower faded befor I could take a picture but I tried to take one anyway and there is olso one on the foliage. Is it possible to ID the plant so that I know if it is a iris or not?
I wanted to buy some irises but they had none for sale, but they had irises as freepassengers in hibiscus syracusa plants that were sold for 1€ so I bought 3 and will have the hibiscus in Portugal, Sweden and Hungary. Often this is a trick to sell badly rooted plants (and generally much more expencive than that), but as you can see on the pics the roots were strong.
These irises seem to be normal bearded irises.
Hope You can help me identify what I got.
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I think your Iris looks a bit like a Libertia of some sort. In Scotland they don't flower until summer. The flowers are about the size of 1 euro and are several to a stem, not all out at once. Leaves are more grassy, more wiry, than most irises.
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I hope there will be more flowers they seem to be at least 2 and not coming at the same time. The color was white. I will also check if it is a Libertia. The size of the flower was slightly smaller and the leafs are somehere between the ones for germanica and sibirica, but closer to germanica.
Thanks for the help
Joakim
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Still no new flowers on the unknown iris/libertia but some new from the bulbs planted late winter.
Most have turned out to be blue like this and previosly shown but now there are two withse one indoors that is small and tight and one outdoor much more relaxed. The plants also differ a lot in size.
Blue outdoor,
white outdoor big relaxed
and white in dor tiny and petit
Joakim
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Hello,
I bought this Iris as an Iris narcissiflora but obiously it is not. After reading Flora of China 24: 297–312. 2000, Iridaceae part, and measuring the plant I think that this species corresponds to Iris dolichosiphon subsp. dolichosiphon
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I like the Leopard print on the falls
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It's very like my I. hookeriana but that is stemless. Same group I think.
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Yes It is Lesley, This is that I think at the first sight, because several Pseudoregelia species are very similar like Iris tigridia, but this one came from Sichuan is unscented, eventhough most important are the measures. This is the description, in red, the coincidences with the plant I have.
58. Iris dolichosiphon Noltie, Kew Mag. 7: 9. 1990.
chang guan yuan wei
Rhizomes short. Leaves linear, 3–23 cm × 2–7 mm at anthesis, to 55 × 1.4 cm in fruit, midvein indistinct, apex curved, minutely acuminate. Flowering stems short, base with sheathlike leaves; spathes membranous when dry, 1-flowered. Flowers very dark violet, slightly mottled, 3–8.5cm in diam. Perianth tube 4–14 cm; outer segments spatulate, 2.3–4.3 × 0.8–1.8 cm, abruptly narrowed into a 0.7–1 cm long claw, claw and base of limb with dense beard of white-based, orange-tipped, clavate hairs, limb elliptic, apex blunt or retuse; inner segments spreading or reflexed, 2–3.6 × 0.5–1.5 cm, claw 4–6 mm, limb oblong, apex retuse or truncate. Stamens 1.7–2.2 cm; anthers orange or pale violet, 8–10 mm. Style branches dark violet, paler at margin, 1.5–2.8 × 0.8–1.5 cm. Capsule borne at ground level, narrowly ellipsoid, ca. 5 cm, apex acute; valves remaining united apically. Seeds ca. 3.5 mm, arillate. Fl. May–Jun, fr. Sep. 2n = 22.
Among shrubs, alpine meadows, open grassy hillsides, limestone cliffs; 2700–4300 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar]
----------------------------------------------------------
Iris hookeriana Fos. Kashmir, India, Himalayas. 2-5" (5-12 cm), Lilac, purple or blue, mottled darker. Fragrant. 2n=22, 24.
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An Iris tingitana
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Lovely plant Rafa
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So far I have not managed to see any bulbus iris wild in Portugal only pseudacorus but the neighbour have iris very similar to tingitana :) 8)
I have a tall iris that is not bearded and not iris sibirica. It looks like a tall mix in that the foliage is not as grass like as in iris sibirca and more upright than in a bearded iris making the foliage 1.2-1.4m and only 20 cm wide. Each leaf is 2cm.
The plant came from Hungary and here in Portugal I have seen whiter versions of what looks to be the similar plant.
Can any one guess any parentage? Is it mixes like the one that Tambergs do? Warning they do very nice plants so only open if You can resist them!!!! 8) ::)
http://www.tamberg.homepage.t-online.de/homep36e.htm
I do not think my plant comes from them but it might be a similar one but I just like irises and do not know that much about the species but I am learning a lot here.
One can see the difference in hight with the lilac bearded iris.
Thanks for any help
Kind regards
Joakim
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I think your iris is probably what used to be called I. ochroleuca and is now called I. ? (Darn, memory slipped again, it will come to me, if someone else doesn't give a name.) It is a prominent member of the non-beared Spuria group and these are, as you suggest, what Tomas specializes in. When he was here in 2000 he left seeds of some of his hybrid lines and some super plants have come from these. They're big plants though and need lots of space. Undisturbed, a clump will grow to 1.5 metres wide!
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Having had a quick look at the Tamberg site, I need to change some of the above post. I didn't in fact, see any spurias there at all, though lots of other amazing things. However, I still think your iris is ochroleuca Joakim.
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Lesley thanks for the identification
In the Tamberg webpage I saw something called I orientalis "Friga" that is a Spuria hybrid by Rodionenko. It is not said anything more about the parentage but it is described as being vigorus and tall (almost as tall as a man) and this and the flower type is similar with the one I have. I did not see enought of the foliage to be sertain before.
Now I am sertain that it an iris in the Spuria group with Your help.
Thanks for the help and if You want to see the hybrid it is on this adress.
http://www.tamberg.homepage.t-online.de/hompg36e.htm
Maybe some "more iris" is neded to get to this side.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Hi everybody,
Do someone succeed with Oncocyclus ?
I would be happy to swap a part of my I. kirkwoodii with another strain...
I don't have time to post my photos but you can find some photos here http://plantes-passion.forumactif.fr/Les-plantes-d-exterieur-c2/Les-iris-f21/les-Oncocyclus-se-preparent-t331-0.htm
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Thanks Joakim, orientaliswas the name which I was trying to remember. :'(
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Lesley my pleasure :-*
Does anyone know if the spuria hybrids are good cut-flowers?
The flower look a bit like the ones called Dutch irises but the foliage does not and this one is rhizomos and the Dutch is not but Spuria also have one to two flowers per stem (I think) and Dutch irises are good cut flowers. Do this similarities and differences say anything about the quallity as a cut-flower?
Bearded iris last a week if one takes away the "over bloomed" ones but Dutch last atleast 2.
My mother-in-law has just had the beared lilac ones for a week and are looking for cutting something for next week and it will be the rest of the lilac ones. But for the coming week there is no obvious ones unless it is getting warmer here for the Spuria to come into bloom. For now only one is flowering the rest is still in bud.
I presume in a few weeks we will know the answer if noone here knows it and can tell us.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Spurias DO make good cut flowers but for BIG vases! :) Like many or most irises, they have a second bud behind the first and as the first dies or fades, this can be gently removed, leaving a fresher flower in its place. Hold the space firmly but gently and bend the old flower off, hopefully taking the undeveloped seed pod as well, for a neat appearance. Stems can be treated as with any other cut flowers, hot water, aspirin or whatever.
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Thanks Lesley
Now I will be able to make the mother-in-law happy even when we are not here. ;D
Joakim
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Well Joakim, it's always a good idea to keep one's mother-in-law happy. Oddly, I usually got on better with my mother-in-law than I did with her son! :'(
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Lesley I do not know if I should ;D or :'( with You so I do both. :-*
Kind regards
Joakim
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Thank you Joakim.
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Hello,
A little Iris suaveolens
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I love this smokey colour. Iris as a genus has all those subtle greys, blacks, browns, oyster and silver shades that no other genus has, along with the more brilliant reds, yellows etc. Is this a picture from the wild Rafa?
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Hello Lesley,
No, this one is in the garden. I have seen several forms of Iris suaveolens in gardens, but all the pictures from the wild wich I have seen show this brown form. I supose it could be the most common.
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Just for you then Lesley, another that was dug up from the Nursery and was in flower yesterday. Hope you like it ;D
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This iris seedling opened yesterday.
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Thanks Brian. I'm pretty sure I have this one myself but can't recall the name at present. I'm having that "intellectual overload" problem that Maggi mentioned. In other words, my brain is rotting.
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That's a very pretty seedling Anthony
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Yes David, I get one or two every so often. I think there is a yellow one somewhere else that 'just popped up' one year. I like that Iris suaveolens Rafa. It looks as if two hairy caterpillars are about to climb inside. ;D
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A Pacific Coast hybrid I think.
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Yes David, I get one or two every so often. I think there is a yellow one somewhere else that 'just popped up' one year. I like that Iris suaveolens Rafa. It looks as if two hairy caterpillars are about to climb inside. ;D
Anthony, how long from seed to flowering please??
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here's a stunning Pacific Coast Iris. I think the name is correct
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Never seen anything like it Mark !
Beautiful !
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It's a very apt name Mark, very pretty.
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Some Pacific Coast Hybrids from the garden.
Paddy
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I see a Hoverfly grub on Paddy's last photo. I like these Iris alot. Margaret Glynn has a huge collection from where mine came
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All the named forms are well worth growing but if they set seed, try that too as you get some amazing and very lovely variations of colour, veining etc. Can't be called by the parent's name of course.
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For no reason other than that I think it looks sublime here is a picture of a Dutch Iris in my garden today and I intend to have lots more of them next year.
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I think there is a bit of plant snobbery with the Dutch Iris but I like them.
Here's 'Raspberry Ripple' with only 4 petals
and one that Lesley corrected me on last year and now I cant remember if I changed the labels
and dwarf bearded 'Bright Button'
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A form of Iris setosa Mark, which, depends on how tall it is.
Now that's a REALLY good atavar pic but still, perhaps not just quite like you. Sorry I'm so hard to please ;D
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Maggi did it!
The Iris is about 12 inches / 30cm
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What is it? Looks like it should belong to Easter Island? ???
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one of Ian's pieces I would think
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Now that's a REALLY good atavar pic but still, perhaps not just quite like you. Sorry I'm so hard to please ;D
I'm with you Lesley, bring back the proper Mark I say!!
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what! there are no frown lines, nice smile but toothless what else!?
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Makes you look older than me and you can give me at least 20 years!! ;D
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Iris setosa v. hookeri then Mark, or perhaps more correctly called v. canadensis, also nana, and assorted other names. You could go for setosa low-growing form :) Nine times out of 10 this will turn up under seed listed as I. hookeriana, which is quite different, as here, and much rarer.
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Whilst on my visit to friends in Norfolk last week I called in at Hythe Alpines and, as usual, spent a fortune on a wide variety of plants. Amongst them was a little Iris attica that I intend to grow under glass but I need a bit of advice please. I usually re-pot all plants I buy before I put them in the greenhouse but, should I re-pot this one? If so I would be thinking of a JI No 3 mix with plenty of added grit and perhaps a handfull of peat for added humus-would that be OK? Does it need to be dry over the Summer? When should I start watering? Oh! and anything else I should be aware of ;D
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David, Iris attica is a delight and I'm sure you will enjoy it. But do you have a good reason to grow it under glass? It would be happiest out in a rock garden or potted outdoors if you want to show it, then brought under cover perhaps as the buds develop.
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I'm replying in 3 parts as for some reason I'm unable to do it in one. Told my session has timed out and to re-submit but when I do that it disappears altogether.
Repot if the compost you have already is peaty or very humusy. Of all plants, bearded irises dislike humus in their compost, so PLEASE DON'T add peat. Rather a good dressing of lime would make it happier. Otherwise, good drainage is best and grit added will be helpful. My feeling would be to go for a compost with at least some regular garden soil in it if you are determined to pot it.
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A potential problem to watch out for (and it will be MUCH WORSE under glass) is a possible infestation of greenfly or aphis which breed and multiply rapidly at the bases of the leaves, where they separate as they emerge from the rhizome. They will spread virus and debilitate the plant quickly but are almost invisible way down there unless you look for them. If you grow it under glass, give it a regular squirt with a systemic insecticide.
The plant shouldn't need drying out completely like an oncocyclus species, but be very careful not to over water after flowering, until autumn when it will be starting into fresh growth. Dividing is best done when flowering finishes. Trimming away any dead foliage also helps to keep greenfly at bay and stop fungus diseases spreading.
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David, Iris attica is a delight and I'm sure you will enjoy it. But do you have a good reason to grow it under glass? It would be happiest out in a rock garden or potted outdoors if you want to show it, then brought under cover perhaps as the buds develop.
Lesley, I only decided to grow it under glass because of advice given in one of my books that suggested this was safer as Iris attica, as well as the other tiny species, are favourite fare of slugs and snails. I think I shall take your advice though and grow it outside but put it in the greenhouse to flower.
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Good lad! I should have mentioned slugs and snails but I don't think about them much because - and I hate to tell you this ;D - I don't have any. I don't know why. They just don't live where I live. Am I sorry?
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Hello,
I would like to show you the fabulous pictures that my friend Sergey Banketov took in Azerbaijan a few weeks ago. There are white and vanilla standars of Iris medwedewi (or Iris paradoxa subsp. choschab). I hope you enjoy it
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Fabulous pictures, indeed, Rafa. Thanks to you and to Sergey!
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Hi Rafa
I'll second Maggi's thanks to you and Sergey! Those iris are absolutely fabulous! And wonderful to see them growing in the wild.
cheers
fermi
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OH YES!!!
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just another wild Iris xiphium
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These are very beautiful and I will add my thanks for posting these amazing pictures of amazing plants.
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Thanks Rafa !
Stunning pictures of great plants !
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Here are some iris that was still blooming in the summer house in th eend of June.
It was just one iris sibirica out of several that was in flower all the others had already set sead pods so it is nice to spread the flowering time with different cultiwars I think this is called butter and cream but is not sure. I like that it was so much later then the others.
The other is a iris japonica or enseata I think also a bit later then the others nice color if I may say so.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Here's a picture of some Iris decora seedlings (seed came from Lesley) which I sowed on 9 May last. I have re-potted them once from their seed pot and am feeding and watering them. My questions please are should I continue to water or will they eventually need a rest; will the leaves die back; and when should I start to water again? Nine thriving out of ten seeds sown, not bad really.
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Did I only send you 10 seeds David? That was pretty mean of me. ???
I'd go on watering and feeding (don't overdo it) until they die down naturally, probably around Oct, maybe a bit earlier or later. It does die right away for winter and won't come up again until well into spring, maybe as late as May, so don't panic when they don't come early. You could water from perhaps April on, but in any case, don't let them dry RIGHT out, as they'll dehydrate. They have storage roots like those of a juno but without the bulb on top of the roots. At this size and age the roots will be quite slender and vulnerable to drought.
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Lesley, thanks for your reply, just the information I needed. You did send me more than 10 seeds, I usually sow all my seeds in batches of 10 as I find they normally give me sufficient plants to manage easily as they grow.
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Hello I have just got 3 batches of seed on my tall white beardless iris and wonder what to do with them.
They are now stacked in a vitamin tube and in their open seedpods. Should I take them out and saw them directly or what?
Is there any chance7risk of hybrid with a beared garden iris (germanica?)?
It is described here http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=143.msg11730#msg11730 Could a not totally identified iris openly polinated be sent to a seed exchange or is it way to common/unspecified/unalpine?
Kind regards
Joakim
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If you mean is there any chance of a hybrid between your beardless one and the bearded or germanica kinds, no chance at all. But if you mean between different bearded forms, very likely.
Sow your seeds now, fresh or leave them until late winter but either way, a small patch of well worked soil in the garden would be fine, or in a deepish pot with a good covering of grit. I. orientalis is easy from seed.
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It's the start of the "Dutch" iris season here! And as usually I've lost the lables on most of them but I'll post a few pics anyway!
First, the most common blue in the garden, possibly "Prof. Blaauw"?,
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Another blue with slightly purple standards,which I think it's "Duchy Blue"
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A plain white with a shade of mauve to it,
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And finally a clump of a white with yellow falls, which could be "Apollo"
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cheers
fermi
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Here's the Dutch iris "Bronze Queen".
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Not the most stunning colour, but at least heading towards brown!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, glad to see there is another fan of Dutch Iris. Aren't they such good value for money?
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Aren't they such good value for money?
says David......
Well, no, not here in our garden, they never do well! And I can only think of one or two gardens within a two mile radius where there are any decent clumps... I think our soil is too acid for them to be happy ???
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Well, Maggi, I'd stick to the Erythroniums then!
The pacific Coast hybrids are in bloom though we only have a few - must get some more!
here's "Big Money" - in triplicate.
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And a Dutch Iris of my own raising from the old yellow "Golden harvest"
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cheers
fermi
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During August I made myself a new little bed for growing Dutch Irises with a nice gritty, limey soil. In early September I planted it up using a packet of bulbs with mixed colours from the garden centre. They must have liked the bed because most of them are already showing a good couple of inches of growth. This worries me a bit because surely they will have had insufficient time yet to get some good roots down and this could affect their flowering.
Am I right to be concerned and is there anything I could do to help?
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David I don't think you should be worried. September (for you) would be late enough to plant Dutch irises and they were probably "rearin' to go." If there are 2 inches of top growth I'd bet there will be at least that much underneath as well, probably more. You could give them a liquid feed when the leaves are a little further on and if you have a dry spell, you could make sure they are well watered but otherwise, I'd just sit back, wait then enjoy. :) In any case, this year's flowers will already be inside the bulbs, even before you planted them.
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Thanks Lesley, you have set my mind at rest. 8)
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Herte's a pic of Dutch Iris "Golden Harvest" which is the parent of my poor seedling. I think I prefer the parent! However another seedling has better form and when it's in flower I hope I get a chance to post its pic here.
cheers
fermi
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As promised, here's a pic of the sister seedling to my earlier posting: it has a more refined form than its sister or "Golden Harvest"
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And in the Rock garden one of the clumps of "Thunderbolt" has started to open, though a bot paler than they should be I think.
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cheers
fermi
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Taking a break from dutch iris......
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This is Iris laevigata ssp colchestrensis which is one of the water irises. Striking markings and a good grower. The assorted water irises are only just starting here.
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Taking a break from dutch iris......
This is Iris laevigata ssp colchestrensis which is one of the water irises. Striking markings and a good grower. The assorted water irises are only just starting here.
In general I like the Japanese water-loving irises very much, even the big floppy ones but having seen this of Paul's I can only be grateful that mine (from NZIS seed) died before it flowered :-X
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Paul that one is lovely very "strong" to say the least hope to see more 8) :o
Fermi and David I also hope to see some more dutch especially at my place but not that many survived :'(
Luckely there are more in the store ;D
Joakim
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Joakim,
Glad you liked it. Here's another water iris...
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This is an Iris pseudacorus hybrid called Phil Edinger I think. I'm assuming it is a hybrid as so much more brown in it, but could be a darker species selection like a number of others I guess. As you can see from the photo we've actually had a little rain here overnight (a whole 2.5mm, which is 5 times what they got in southern Canberra). Not much, but has wet the ground surface for a half a mm. ::)
Enjoy.
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This is almost certainly a selection but some way towards a whole new breed of irises from Japan and which are called "Eye Shadow Irises." for their lovely markings at the hafts. They are all based on Iris pseudacorus and first appeared in 1962 then again in 1971. The other parents are various cultivars of Iris ensata (the Japanese iris, as we know it). Unfortunately the crosses are wide and from diploid parents so are all sterile. I'd love to be able to import some from Japan but anything with I. pseudacorus is strictly prohibited as that species is a major weed in some NZ waterways.
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I have a Bulletin from the Japanese Iris Soc which includes some lovely pictures. I may be able to take one of a whole page.
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Lesley,
I would definitely be interested in seeing it. So in NZ do you have any of the pseudacorus selections there then? Things like 'Roy Davidson', 'Phil Edinger', 'Come in Spinner' (which I assume is an Australian selection?) and hybrids like 'Holden Clough'?
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All these Iris are fantastic.
David the Dutch and English Iris always show leaves at this time of year. I might go out and buy some later. I used to have them all
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Paul, we certainly have both `Roy Davidson' and `Holden Clough.' I don't know the other two. Your `Phil Edinger' I said was probably a selection but the more I look at it and compare it with the "Eye Shadow" varieties, I think you're right and it's a hybrid.
Here are the "Eye Shadow" hybrids mentioned on the previous page.
I don't belong to the Japan Iris Society. Nor do I have permission from anyone to show these pictures. They are photographed (last night) from the publication called "Hanashobu" which is the journal of the Japan Iris Society, and this issue, marking the Society's 70th anniversary, was sent to me as a gift. The writer of most of the journal and the photographer is Hiroshi Shimizu. Much of it is in Japanese characters but enough in English to make it very well worth while for English speakers. It is beautifully produced with outstanding photographs and this whole issue centres around first, the native species of Japan then for the rest of the journal, aspects of modern forms/hybrids of Iris ensata (what you called I. kaempferi Paul).
It's extremely interesting to see how the Japanese grow and show their irises. As we could expect, each plant is a work of art, whether in a garden setting, or in an exquisite ceramic pot, with pot, stem and foliage, flowers all in perfect proportion and in perfect condition. For showing, the plants are grown as a single fan or small group of fans with a single straight and strong stem showing a single flower.
If anyone is interested I'd be happy to photocopy any part of it and post.
Some pictures now
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oooo-weeee. Another addition!
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I've not cropped any of these pictures as the notes, numbers and characters seem to set them in a particular context which is appropriate to their origins.
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Mr Shimizu mixed native iris pollen with Iris pdeudacorus and selected a seedling which he called `Gubijin' which has proved to be an exceptionally fertile pod parent so that even though the seedlings as pictured here are sterile, he can continue along these lines. As he remarks, Japanese irises have so many colours and patterns in their flowers that many new and different plants can be created.
The last picture is from the front cover of "Hanashobu." It and many others have a very fine line of deeper colour taken from the main body of the flower and this line defines each flower beautifully.
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http://www.japan-iris.org/English/eye_shadow.html (http://www.japan-iris.org/English/eye_shadow.html)
http://www.japan-iris.org/English/eyeshadow_02.html (http://www.japan-iris.org/English/eyeshadow_02.html)
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Thanks Mark. After all this time (years), it still doesn't occur to me to go looking for things on the Internet ::)
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Lesley,
Oh Wow!! (to put it mildly). Beautiful just doesn't do them justice.
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Lesley,
thanks for telling us about these wonderful iris. I'd never heard about this line of breeding before!
cheers
fermi
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... and they dont send seeds out of the country
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http://www.japan-iris.org/English/nagai_type_01.html (http://www.japan-iris.org/English/nagai_type_01.html)
http://www.japan-iris.org/English/Nagai_type_02.html (http://www.japan-iris.org/English/Nagai_type_02.html)
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Here's a thoroughly odd (read nasty) iris, an arilbred obviously, which came to me as I. reichenbachiana. I wish...
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Thanks very much for introducing us in the (Iris)mysteries of the far East Lesley ! :-*
Totally new to me and wonderful (understatement) flowers....
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These Janaese Iris are exquisite... mouth-watering.
Lesley, dig that last arilbred virussed monster up and burn it, quick!
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It is actually a named variety Maggi but I suspect you are right and the "markings" are the result of a virus. The leaves too, look that way, tatty at the ends at flowering time, a trait common to many onco and arilbred irises. So yes, the bonfire is the best place.
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Lesley - get seed off it first!
It's now the start of the Siberian iris season (well in our garden at least!) and the first is a blue whose label I can't find (what a surprise I hear you say!). I'll search my records and label it at a later date, but it was a named variety from Tempo Two, a big grower of irises in Victoria.
cheers
fermi
P.S. I found the name: Seneca Blue Rose
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Very good looking flower Fermi !
I bet it thrives in your Siberian climate ;D
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Lesley,
At our local Horticulture Society Iris, Rhododendron and Azaleas show this past weekend I was discussing Iris laevigata ssp colchestrensis with Gary Reid from Wodonga (not sure whether you know of him or not) and he reckons that mine is a seedling of that species, not true to form. Apparently it should be spotted rather than the solid colour with white middle like mine has, although it is the correct "double" form to it. So you might not want to give up on trying seed of it and trying for the real thing. Just thought you'd like to know.
Current beardless iris that have started flowering over the last few days are Iris cristata, Iris tectorum and tectorum alba, laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel' (solid deep blue "double", stunning!!), Iris leavigata 'Elegantissima' (strong white variegation with deep blue flowers), x virginiana (rose pink single flowers), pseudacorus, and x 'Holden Clough'.
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The good old Iris pseudacorus is flowering well just now.
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And it's hybrid 'Holden Clough', which I just lvoe the colouration of.
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I can't for the life of me get a good photo of this one.... Iris laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel' just won't come out that wonderfully deep blue that it truly is. Lovely form to it and good and floriferous too.
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A favourite of mine is Iris laevigata 'Elegantissima' with it's great variegation to the foliage (which stays throughout the summer, unlike some other variegated plants) and blue flowers. A striking combination.
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And lastly we have Iris x virginiana which is a nice pinky-mauve colour.
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I finally got a decent pic of the dark blue-purple iris this morning....
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Iris laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel', this time much more correct in colouration, at least on my computer. A lovely deep bluey purple.
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Also opened today is Iris laevigata 'Rose Queen'.
Enjoy.
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Some nice Iris there Paul.
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Great stuff Paul !!
You're right about the I. laevigata "Royal Cartwheel", it's a gloriuos blue !!!
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I love that laevigata, Paul!
Here are a few "new" iris in our garden at Redesdale!
Firstly a couple of Spuria hybrids:
"Golden Lady",
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and "Intensity" which is supposed to be a brown, but I think of it as tan!
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Next the second of the Siberian iris to open, "Mesa Pearl"
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(BTW the earlier posting of a blue was "Seneca Blue Rose")
cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
The 'Mesa Pearl' is a wonderful colour for a siberian. Definitely worth having that one. Saw a plant of 'Pink Haze' recently and was quite impressed by the colour of it too.... a rather nice pinky mauve colouration and quite nice form. Like the form of yours too. Will have to keep an eye out for it. The siberians are good as another that is so drought hardy.
A great dark "brown" spuria is 'Mahogany Lord', which is a fantastic deep chocolate mahogany colour with yellow signal. I hope I still have it, as I lifted a bunch of plants from a massive clump I had at my sister's place which used ot be 7 different varieties before they all grew together. I am hoping that at least one of them is the mahogany one... the rest of them were nice but it I really wanted to keep.
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Wonderful pics and species unknown to me! Thanks everyone..I'm learning so much here!!!
By the way, did any of you ever grow Iris milesii?
I received a tiny split of a rhizome two years ago.
I keep it in a large container, planted at the surface, in a way similar to TBIs.
It has grown nicely, with 3 stout rhizomes now, but no signs of flower these first two years.
Maybe I do something wrong...and there is so little information available on the net or in my books! Or is it a matter of time only?
Would you enthusiastic iriso-holics offer me some advice on how to grow it better?
Thanks in advance
Zephirine
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I grow Iris milesii. Some people say it has too much foliage for comparatively small flowers but I don't agree. It is certainly great as a foliage plant, light green, wide, pleated leaves are very handsome but the flower stems will overtop the leaves, and at nearly a metre high can be spectacular, in shades of blue and reddish purple, with nice stippling and spotting, many to a branched stem. The flowers are wide and flattish and quite frilly. It hates lime and needs very good drainage.
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Thanks for the input, Lesley!
It gives me hope to see it bloom some day!
I'll test it in the garden next year, in my best drained bed, then!
Just sun and drainage, and rhizomes baking in summer, is that right?
Zeph
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No, definitely NOT baking in summer. This iris prefers a soil which is cool all year round. It is one of the "crested" irises, such as japonica, tectorum and others.
Here is another, a NZ raised hybrid (by the late Jean Stevens Maggi, mother of Jocelyn Bell) and called `Queen's Grace.' I. tectorum is one parent but I'm not sure of the other. I have a checklist of NZ iris hybrids but can't find it at the moment. The foliage is wide and neater than many of the larger plants in the group and the flower too, is relatively large, a beautiful lavender blue shade. It flowers freely if happy.
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and from the same section but hardier and tougher, (especially as you note the grass and sorrel through which it is struggling to reach the air), Iris cristata. I'm gradually lifting every plant out of this bed as it finished flowering, and will spray the grass and sorrel, both too far gone to control by regular weeding.
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A couple of new flowers: Iris tectorum, which is in a pot kept in the Shade-house,
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And another Pacific Coast hybrid, bought recently and still in a tube (3" pot).
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cheers
fermi
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No, definitely NOT baking in summer. This iris prefers a soil which is cool all year round. It is one of the "crested" irises, such as japonica, tectorum and others.
Very good news, Leslie, as this is what I have to offer the more easily! lol...
Thank you!
Zephirine
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The first of the Louisiana iris, "John's Lucifer" opened this week.
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Nice colour and the next door one is about to open and it appears to be a yellow, maybe a pic by next week!
cheers
fermi
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Beautiful specimen Fermi !
Tell us, how many different Iris do you grow ???? ???
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Great question Luc. Tops has to be the one still in a three inch pot
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I find it very hard to choose from all these beauties Mark, but I agree that the one you mention looks smashing !
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Fermi & Paul,
its a great pleasure to see your cultivars! Please post more! 8)
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The Louisianas look very good Fermi. Wrong climate here. They grow well enough but rarely flower so I've given up on them.
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Luc and Mark,
the answer is "as many as I can"!
Unfortunately our dry climate means some have to be grown in the shade house but I've had luck with types that enjoy cold winters and hot dry summers, such as the reticulata and DBI. My latest obsession (especially since the Prague Conference) is the Juno and Onco iris!
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, that's an obsession that will break your heart and your bank balance, though you'll be more successful than I am, with your rainless summers. Best of luck with them.
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In the meantime, the "yellow" Louisiana Iris turned out to be "Dural White"!
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cheers
fermi
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Hi
Fermides, your Iris are simply beatiful. What colors ::)
I have a Iris japonica (is this right) and it's started growing now. I have a question: does it like much water or can it stay more dry? And it's sensible to cold winter?
Thanks
Cris
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Iris japonica and all species in that crested group, prefer some moisture in their soil and they also like some overhead shade. They'll take dry conditions but don't flower so well then. The smaller species like cristata and gracilipes are very hardy but the taller species, including japonica, wattii and others don't like much frost. It doesn't kill them here (to - 6C maybe) but the leaves get very tatty. The overhead shade gives shelter though.
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While I think of it Fermi, will you, Otto and Cynthia go on the Mt Hutt day? My car (and lunch) will be available for 4 people. You would enjoy it very much I think.
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Thanks Lesley. This is a beatiful flower and I wanto to treat it well to can seen its flowers.
:)
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A third Louisiana Iris has come into bloom, "Black Gamecock" which I planted out last year into the "peat bog" and it obviously likes it!
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I didn't notice the caterpillar on the last flower till I "developed" the pic!!!
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cheers
fermi
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Fermi,
I used to have BGC years ago and loved it. Lost it at some point but always remember it as such a good colour to it. Great to see it again. Most of my louisianna and ensata iris are badly suffering from neglect as they haven't been repotted in quite a few years while I've been ill. They rarely flower now, but I guess they'll recover one year when I attend to them.
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Hi Fermi,
my 'Black Gamecock' has also just starting to flower. I always have trouble trying to take a pic of it (and the other dark forms) as the camera automatically tries to make it bluer. I. nelsonii and I. 'Gerald Darby' are also flowering while I. giganticerulea, I gracilipes and I. graminea -nicely scented- have just finished. Regards Ray.
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Hello, Ray, a warm welcome to the Forum. Great to see these lovely Iris.... who could resist them?
I see from your profile you have a nursery... off for a look at your website now!
Maggi
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Welcome to the Forum Ray. Those are cracking pictures of some very lovely Iris. If I lived a bit nearer to you I could become a 'nuisance' visitor to your Nursery. ;D
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Ray,
Welcome!! I'll be off to check out your website too. Love that Iris nelsonii.... interesting colour to it. It is related to Iris sanguinea? I recall sanguinea flowers are similar shape to that one, although obviously a different colour. It is one of those species that I used to have a few years ago but unfortunately lost along the way. Your pic of nelsonii immediately brought it to mind which is why I ask.
Great pics of all of them. :)
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Hi Ray,
welcome to the Forum!
Yes, that Iris is a bit difficult to capture but it's stunning in the garden!
Nice to see some of your other iris.
cheers
fermi
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Hi Ray, a warm welcome from NZ, to the Forum. Good to have another Aussie, but what about US? Come on you NZers, join up and get posting.
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Hi and thank you Maggie, David, Paul, Fermi and Lesley for the warm welcome.
The website is still under revision with pics yet to be added for the 'bulbs and perennials' and 'daffodils' pages. I collect iris and odd bulbs and sell plants at local markets and the 'nursery' is just a yard with lots of plants at present. I also experiment with plant photography using a cheap digital camera.
Paul, I have not seen I. sanguinea but the North American species iris site http://facstaff.hsc.unt.edu/rbarton/iris/nani.html states that I. nelsonii might be a hybrid of I. fulva. The flowers are pretty much the same with I. fulva having slightly longer falls.
Fermi, I have been trying a grey background as an experiment -after seeing one of Ian's bulblogs- and it seems to do a bit of good but works better with white or yellow flowers.
Regards Ray.
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Just caught up with this thread. Must find a plant of Gerald Darby! :) I've never met another Darby by chance. Only relatives at hatches, matches and dispatches,
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Ray,
The sanguinea is rounder in the petals, whereas the fulva and nelsonii are longer, but they were similar enough to remind me of them.
Anthony,
If you can't find a 'Gerald Darby' closer to home I can certainly send you a piece. Just coming into flower here at the moment, with lovely purple-black stems and dark base to the foliage.
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I have managed to loose the label for this Iris flowering today and the old memory isn't what it used to be. Could anyone help with an ID please from these admittedly pretty poor pictures. I can remember that the name of the species begins with 'L' and having looked at the Species Iris Database I would guess that is Iris lazica? As can be seen the slugs like it!
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You're probably right David. Iris lazica is closely related to (or perhaps a subspecies of) I. unguicularis (old I. stylosa) and yes, the slugs like all in that group.
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David,
It looks about right. The leaves on lazica are much chunkier (broader, a bit thicker) than unguicularis and a brighter green. The flowers sit well down in the foliage and I find are smaller too..... with the falls curling downwards quuite heavily instead of sitting out more horizontally in the unguics. Yo could certainly never mistake the two for each other, side by side.
That a help?
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I don't think that our garden suits the Japanese iris; I'm sure this Iris ensata "Rose Queen" had a bigger flower last year!
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At least it has deigned to flower for a second year, we'll see if it repeats next year!
cheers
fermi
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Well they do like masses of water after all. They do well for me but only at about half what their height should be. Do you have the gorgeous white form of `Rose Queen'? I think it was a sport originally and is called `Snow Queen.'
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Two out now are first, Iris douglasiana in its dwarf form, which comes true from seed, though there are usually just one or two pods But it's flowering better than ever before, this year.
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and second, Iris barbatula. This little tuberous-rooted species flowers at ground level, stemless. Each flower only lasts a day but there is a succession over 2 or 3 weeks. A single seed pod last summer, 12 seeds sown fresh. Just 4 germinated and they haven't appeared again this spring. It's a quite vigorous plant though and can be divided into about 20 nursery plants every couple of years, with enough left to plant back a reasonable clump.
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Lesley,
I like both of those. Very nice. The second species sound rather intriguing, flowering way down low and only lasting for a day. Sounds more like it should be a Moraee than an Iris!! ;D Must look out for it in the future I think, as an excellent little oddity by the sound of it.
Fermi,
As far as I know 'Rose Queen' is more laevigata than ensata? I grow it permanently submerged and it thrives for me here along with the other laeviagatas ('Royal Cartwheel' in particular is a corker!!). I find that 'Rose Queen' is a bit disappointing to me..... the flowers just don't have as much attraction as some of them, and they are "single" which I must admit I don't like as much as the "double" forms (for those who don't know a double in this case has 6 main broad petals, while a single has 3 main broad petals and 3 more upright thinner ones).
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Must find a plant of Gerald Darby! :) I've never met another Darby by chance. Only relatives at hatches, matches and dispatches
There's a G. Darby for sale on ebay these days!
Zephirine
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Thanks to Lesley and Paul for confirming my Iris lazica.
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Re Ebay, G. Darby..... so there is...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Iris-versicolor-Gerald-Darby_W0QQitemZ250195138448QQihZ015QQcategoryZ3184QQcmdZViewItem
and from a seller in Orkney, it seems!
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Richard is very reliable
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Mark, do you know everyone? ::)
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Under rain is born Iris unguicularis (second flower, first 1 december). Iris histrioides "George" point above the ground. Perhaps one flower at Christmas ?
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Here is another picture of Iris barbatula, with 16 flowers open all at once. I never had more than 5 previously.
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and here is the sumptuously coloured Iris chrysographes `Black Knight.'
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This iris should be looked on as a strain rather than a clone. It comes relatively true from seed and this is how nursery plants are almost always raised rather than from divisions from the original plant. Some seedlings have very fine stippling and veining of gold, on the falls. This plant is almost entirely free of that so looks quite black. It seems the camera sees colour which the eye - or my eye - doesn't. There is no suggestion of red or purple when I look at the flower, just solid black.
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Stunners Lesley especially Iris barbatula, will you have any seed? :-[
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I have just the one clone of this species David and didn't really expect any seed but last year I got one pod. It had 12 seeds in and I sowed them fresh. After 3 months, 4 germinated and were doing quite nicely, then died down for the winter (it is fully deciduous). I haven't seen them since and no more have germinated though I haven't thrown out the pot. I don't know whether they were too wet, or dry or cold or what during dormancy. I really wanted the babies, to give me extra clones. Maybe this year.
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Maggi I know everyone I need to know :D
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Lesley,
Super pics and irises.
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Nice pics and I am happy that I have one to share with You.
It is not mine but I got seeds of some other so maybe I can get some as well.
I think it is a pacific coast hybrid and do not know if it is a cultivar or "just standard". ???
The iris was in a garden in Old Town San Diego.
Hope people can tell we have real experts here on that subjects and it a pleasure to be thought by You.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Joachim,
it is a beauty but I have no idea.
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Yes, a Pacific Coast iris and not a species I think but whether a recognised cultivar or just a seedling, who knows? There are hundreds if not thousands of the former and millions of the latter. Even the named cultivars are in doubt as PCs are not easy to divide successfully and so are usually raised from seed in which case strains are probably more often offered than clones.
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I'd have to disagree and suggest that it isn't an "iris" at all! I think it's most likely a Dietes!
cheers
fermi
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Well, I thought that too but then thought there was too much foliage. On another look, I think you're right Fermi. (That didn't hurt at all ;D)
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They are frost hardy apparently, I may have a crack at some of them.
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Sorry for the confusion I have caused. :-[
There was a lot of "iris" that did not get any water like around the buss stop in "Old town" San Diego and a school on the way to Balboa Perk as well as beside the out door pool in our hotel. Most if not all was not flowering but was in seed (and they donated some to me). They where white the ones that where blooming and 70 cm foliage 3(feet)and flower stem maybe 80-100cm (3-4 feet). In a garden in "Old town" San Diego I saw and photographed this "iris". It was much smaller and I think they watered there. I just asumed it was a newly planted "iris" and hence bloomed slightly out of season and that was also why it was small.
Maybe it was a very different plant Dietes grandiflora in that garden and pacific coast hybrids else where.
I have not taken any pics of the later one only now on the seeds.
I think that the brown half moon shaped seeds are iris and the black are day lilies. There is also a squashed seed pod of the presumed day lily seeds. The size is 3-4 mm.
I will also attach a second pic of the flower and see if it helps identify the Dietes as grandiflora as suggested by Diane in a private exchange (hopefully it was OK to say that Dietes grandiflora looked the same as my picture Diane?)
Am I helping to identify or just making things more difficult?
Any suggestion on how to sow these seeds?
Kind regards
Joakim
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I sent your San Diego "iris" picture to some Californians and here is the
first reply:
Based on that picture I would say it is Dietes vegeta. A very very common nursery sold plant here in California. I would say it is probably one of the top 5 in sheer volume grown and sold here in California, along with escallonia and other plants that are typically installed in common areas of Home owners associations and condo complexes.
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Diane do You know if there is any pacific coast hybrids in big numbers in the San Diego area? Or is it to dry for them there?
If they are not present it seems to be the Dietes vegeta since it was present in the "public spaces" in quite high numbers.
Thanks a lot for the help Diane and maybe the second pics will clarify even better.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Even in the San Francisco Bay area, where there are several hybridizers who
sell Pacific Coast iris, they are not very commonly grown.
One of those growers
says that San Diego is "too hot and dry".
There are enthusiasts who make the effort, even in desert areas of the U.S.
Southwest. They are probably the equivalent of the Malaysian gardener
who rushed me past all the eye-blinding brightness of lush tropical plants
to admire his sad-looking potted rose, imported from Australia, and cossetted.
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Thanks for this info Diane :)
I saw the difference between watering and not watering in San Diego compare the rose garden with the desert garden.
Many "iris" plants were growing in what looked like totally bone dry rock hard land even though it had come some rain few days before.
Now I have seed of a different plant then I thought and need to study it to see if it survives the rain in Portugal in the Winter or not. Any one that know of these Dietes and knows if they need bone dry Winters?
Questions leeds to more questions but I learn so I am very greatfull for the help.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Sunset is a magazine for the Pacific coast of North America and
publishes garden information based on our 24 climate zones. These
zones are based on rainfall, winter minimum temperatures, summer
maximum temperatures, length of growing season, and humidity.
The zones range from Zone 1 on mountaintops, to Zone 24, frostless
marine areas of Southern California.
San Diego is zone 24 along the ocean, and zone 23 inland.
There is an explanation as to why it is so mild - it is in a subtropical
zone, about the same latitude as Casablanca, but also, warm ocean
currents flow up from Mexico.
You can find the zone descriptions here: http://www.digitalseed.com/gardener/climate/plantclimate_zones_key.html
This may help you to compare your garden area.
Dietes grows well in zones 8, 9, 12 to 24 and in Hawaii. This comprises most of the
California coast, and the interior valley. In zone 9, citrus can be
grown commercially, but zone 8 has cold nights so citrus is sometimes frosted.
The following information is from Sunset's Western Garden Book, as I
don't know anyone here in zone 4 growing it (though I do know of protected
citrus trees).
Dietes is evergreen and flowers almost all year, which is why it is so popular -
almost every shopping centre has beds of it. The flowers last only one day, but they
have lots of buds, and flower in bursts about every two weeks, which is why
it is called Fortnight Lily. They look best if watered, but once established they
are fine with infrequent watering.
D. vegeta (synonyms: D. iridioides, Moraea iridioides) is from East Africa.
To prevent self-sowing and prolong bloom, break off flowers individually, as
the flower stem produces flowers for more than a year.
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Thanks a lot Diane ;D 8)
Coimbra in Portugal used to have commercial citrus growing by the river and we are not that far away and does not really have frost. In the garden are 3-5 citrus trees without any protection so hopefully they will last here.
I will check the US zones even if other aspects like the length of days and how fast the seasons change also influence what plants thrive. I know it is very trick to compare US zones with Swedish climat but I think Portugal is easier.
Very great thanks
Joakim
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Joakim,
My first thought on seeing the "iris" was Dietes irioides, so I'm glad that Diane mentioned the synonymity as I wasn't sure what D. vegeta was. :)
A belated (haven't been up here much in a week or so, so it will take me a few days to catch up on everything) congratulation to Lesley on the Iris barbatula having 16 flowers at one time. Fantastic pic. Lovely to see the Iris chrysographes...... I've tried it a few times here but haven't managed to get the conditions right as it never seems to settle in for me. Maybe I have to try it from seed so that it is used to my conditions from the beginning. I didn't realise that they were a seed strain, although I was aware that there were some differences in amounts of markings and intensity of the black. I had thought there were a couple of clones around, but hadn't realised they set seed. Being a lover of black flowers it is definitely a species that has been quite upsetting to lose. :'(
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I think just about all the species/hybrids in the siberica group set good seed - well some mdern cultivars don't but they're sp overbred that that's a good thing to my mind. So it's a;ways worth a batch of seed from one of the seed lists.
In generall all the group prefers resonably moist conditions but in an open, sunny position. Not always easiest to provide. On the whole they're quite easy-going and perform well virtually always unless parched for months on end. MUCH better in the garden than in pots though.
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Lesley,
Mine were always in pots as I was afraid to lose them.... so maybe I ended up working it the opposite way to ideal. Next time will try them in the ground rather than pots I think. I actually don't have that many sibiricas at the moment. I have an unnamed one with unusual flower form and 'Pink Haze' which is a great colour. They do fine for me in the garden, but would prefer somewhere with a bit more moisture I think. They do OK though. Thanks for the info.
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splitting off this thread into smaller sections. ;)