Cover new irises with straw for first winter?

B289-20 -- Apparent Secret X Frosted Fantasy

Beautiful. I would think they would be worthy of introduction. I especially like A105A-17 and A105A-20.

What would keep you from introducing some of them?

I trust that the horned one & the next pic are siblings. Interesting what comes out. I have made a few mistakes on throwing away seedlings, but it happens. Interesting color patterns.

This is a cross I am going to be watching closely this year

in your dreams x mythlogy

D

Interesting shadings on the flower. Nice!

Love that center shading!

As I said want to watch this one this coming year

D

Thanks on the comments

DD, I love ALL your crosses! Would you like to try them grown at 7,000'? ^_^
I especially like the A105A-20 -- Amain X World of Color, cross! Is there something special about using Amain for the pod parent?

And Dee, yours is beautiful too! The splash of color is outstanding on the light background. I hope you are feeling better by now. Maybe winter will give you a chance to catch up on your rest.

HappyJackMom,

Amain has been a reliable rebloomer for me. My use of it as a pod parent has been an experiment to promote reblooming with other color patterns. So far, I have not been successful with any reblooming seedlings. I've also used Feed Back and I Do without success. I will make a note to get you a couple of rhizomes next summer.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, I'd even be happy with an Amain since it's a rebloomer. All of our iris from Cooley's are pre-2004 or 05. And we have only had Earl of Essex and Immortality rebloom, and not every year. But, I think that mulching with pine straw and watering some during the winter will help. We had to spent most of last winter away from home, do to my DH's two surgeries, so we even missed some of the early blooms. Boo Hoo! I had asked some neighbors to photograph the flowers, but they proved to be crummy photographers, though they tried, and that's what counts. But I wait all winter long just to get to see the beautiful blooms. We have a few orchids too (my DH favorites), but I lean towards the TBI. ^_^ I really like the blue iris, but we have so many that look alike, with missing labels, it drives me up the wall. I think this one is Memphis Blues (Schreiner 1987). I've always wondered what a cross with it would turn out to be.

Some posts here refer to hay others to straw. They are NOT the same thing. Hay has seeds and you should not use it, will sprout everywhere. Straw is the second cutting and does not have the seeds, very little sprout. What does sprout is just a grass stuff, pulls out easily. I use straw on mine. Straw on everything actually. It's lighter weight to handle and put down than mulch. It doesn't float away in a heavy rain. It rots down to a nice dirt. It looks a little raw at first, but after a couple weeks it settles in and the color mellows alot.

We have the advantage of 'salt marsh' hay in this area. No seeds. We do use the pine needles instead.

Usually straw is meant to be wheat stubble left over from combining. The stems are hollow and stiff and do not pack down as much as hay. Hay is usually alfalfa, clover or orchard grass or a mix of all three used as grazing animal food. Hay will rot more easily but has a tendency to pack much like grass clippings. Straw is used for animal beds, erosion control and cover for new grass seed. Even straw has lots of wheat seeds and will leave a ground cover of green wheat plants so some people spread it out on a large sheet of plastic and beat or shake it to separate the wheat seeds before using it for garden mulch. We cut wheat in mid-June but hay is usually cut several times from early summer to fall, depending upon the weather.