Rocky Mountain region forum new thread

Hey Kenton another thing we have in common. Hot dogs with mustard and relish. Nothing else for me.
Those Iris are very beautiful. Are those old pictures cause all of my Iris were in bloom in June not now.

JamesCo

Yes I grow all iris you mentioned. Oyez so far has been a very slow grower up here, I have replaced Oyez many times, the last rhizome I receive was large, & the size of rhizomes that are received, do have an impact if they are going to survive my winter. the other rhizomes I have gotten of Oyez were very small not even quarter & they did not survive winter, the last rhizome was huge & the plant is now 3 yrs old, I have not got to see it bloom for the frost always gets it.

This is not a great picture of Son Of Star, not recent picture

Starship is another very slow grower up here It blooms every other year & since it is a mid to late bloomer it does make it. I did take a picture of it this year,only to have them dropped off to be developed then lost in the mail.

Son of Star I like very much, It has been hardy in in Wyoming, the growth has been good.

Babbling Brook is a good bloomer every year if the frost does not gets it also, I have never had It rebloom in my area, the growth is excellent, very hardy in my climate, the rhizome are smaller here then they are in Colorado, I brought the plant with me when I moved to Wyoming back in 90, but it can not out do Jane Phillips.

The pictures were taken at the end of June & into July of this year. I have one reblooming iris out there in bloom & I can not tell you what it is, I got it from Woodlands iris garden, It was suppose to be the iris Notorious, but far from peach/red purple, the iris sent with the name Notorious on it turned out to be a reblooming iris that is white stn, blue fall,
it is 2 years old, it bloomed a month after I received it & had bloomed in late June this yr & now in bloom again, it is the only reblooming iris that has lived up to it's name & rebloomed in my zone, but what ever that name it, I have been trying to get the name ever since it first bloomed in the fall after getting it 2 years ago in July, & Woodland's just seem to not want to give me the name & I have sent them 2 pictures of it & they just asked me to send another, I know many people are looking for a reblooming iris that will actually bloom in a cold climate & this one will. This in not a great picture of Son Of Star, not recent picture

Your iris photos are beautiful, both the blues and Son of Star. I read in one of your posts that you grow Louisiana iris. I am amazed that you can grow them in Wyoming. I had enough trouble growing them when I lived in Louisiana. They really have to have a bog or something resembling one to get them to grow. Luckily, bogs are pretty common in south Louisiana. But Wyoming? They must have their roots down in the slough!
I love the arilbreds. I haven't tried any yet, but I read an article about a person in Albuquerque who breeds them, so I am guessing they would grow here. Our winters are milder than yours.
Bizarrely, I have only 1 reblooming iris and that is, of all things, Romantic Evening. It has rebloomed for me twice, but not this year. Most catalogs do not even list it as a rebloomer.
Your place looks lovely from the Son of Star picture.

I grow all classes of bearded iris here, I just have one species that is beardless the commom yellow flag that has adapted to the soil but it needs more water then the others . I can not grow Louisiana's due to the dry weather & the drought. Sorry for the misunderstanding. Bearded & Arils is what grows here.
I use to buy my arils from a place in Chaparral N.M but she lost her son & closed the garden back in to 90's I loved getting iris from her. Arils would do good for you in New Mexico that is where they mainly come from. I can grow them here, but they are slower to start. I crossed my first Aril this year "Sajetta X Aachen elf". got only one pod. I let the seeds dry, now I have to plant them.

www.arilsociety.org

Pajaritomt
Where are you from Farmington N.M I have relatives there.
You are looking for the blue iris you had a few years back.
what shade of blue was it, light, med, dark, did it have ruffles, lace, the time of bloom, early, mid, late, & how tall, reblooming.
maybe we can pin point it down.

Your one picture looks like splash of raspberry

Farmington is up in the NW corner of the state, in the Fourcorners region. We are in the North Central part of the state, NW of Santa Fe. We are about 200 miles from Farmington. We are high mountain terrain and Farmington, as I recall is high but fairly flat plateau and quite dry, but an oil and gas and ranching hub.

Thanks for the possible ID ! I thought that one might be Splash of Raspberry. Glad to get some confirmation on that. The iris from long ago was a medium blue -a little on the lighter side than the darker side. I moved away from that house in 1974 and the yard was absolutely full of these irises. It was the only variety there, but it was everywhere and bloomed very profusely. It was very good at clumping; Don't think it had ruffles or lace but it is hard to remember and I have no idea what time of season it bloomed. At that time I didn't have a clue when the Iris season was. The date might give you a hint though . People driving down the street would later tell me how beautiful it was. What would you guess?

Could have been Full Tide (1972) Wistera Blue
Have other names but it is a historic iris. I am looking up other irises.

Betty, you may have been thinking of my post. I have one Louisiana iris growing in a bog that we my helper fellow and I built. It is a pretty good sized clump now, and a deep purple, I think the label is still out there, will try to find it.

I have ordered and planted arils, but never had good luck with them. Think they are so pretty.

Donna

Pajaritomt Your place is pretty, in the pines. Remindes me of Evergreen Colorado

You are to wet up there in Washington for Arils, they like the dry., I wish I could grow some of the iris you can in grow up your way, but can't.

Mc, here where I live it is certainly not too wet. This is desert country, east of the Cascade mtns. We have had virtually no rain since June. I irrigate constantly. Lots of wind, and for past almost month a great deal of smoke from wild fires. My eyes run, and my nose the minute I step outside. The sun is a fire red globe when I can see it from 4 or 5 o'clock on, And so was the moon on the red side.

Thanks for the compliment Mainecoon,
And by the way, I am thinking full tide might be the blue one I am thinking of. It looks about right. I think I bought that house in 1974, not sold it. I don't know if they would have multiplied that much in 2 years since 1972 when it was introduced. But the picture is right.
I love the mountainous terrain and plants and the cool weather. I love Louisiana Iris, but will not even attempt them here. I have seen them used as pond plant but I don't have a pond and am years from having one. Donna, you are amazing with all of the plants you can grow in your arid area.

MC and RO,
I am thinking it is time for me to look in to arilbred iris. I have never seen one as far as I know, but the pictures are wonderful. I wish I had saved the article about the aril breeder in Albuquerque. Maybe some of these societies would list him.

MC and RO,
I am thinking it is time for me to look in to arilbred iris. I have never seen one as far as I know, but the pictures are wonderful. Here is the article I saw a while back on one of the breeders. Did you come to the show in Albuquerque?

http://www1.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19858_4669994,00.html

Should I go for aril or arilbred iris? I does rain here in the summer but annual rainfall is only 18 inches. I was in Turkey in April and thought it looked a lot like New Mexico and that is one of the places arils come from as I recall. I agree that they are very exotic looking and if I start them out right, they will probably like it here.

Pajaritomt

Aril breds would be best to start with, Half Aril, Half bearded
they are easer, Lavender Lemon, one of the pictures I have posted is an Aril bred, it's hybridizer is L Danielson in Chaparral N.M she grew both the pure Aril & Aril breds, most of my Arils are from her & the Aril Society which they have an annual sale for just members, & I grew some Arils for them this year & sent them out to be sold to the other members.
I have had certain iris that just exploded with it's growth in a year & looks more like a 3/4 year plant, so it is possibly Full Tide grew very well there in your climate.

I remember a trip to Washington & all it did was rain, rain , rain, I had friends in Bellingham that just moved to Deming
Rutholive were are you from there, it that to far up. What is your PH of your soil?

Pajaritomt

I think you are refering to Howard Shockey in Albuquerque
he died but his wife Irene is still there.

Mc. I live almost due east of Bellingham, entirely different climate. Tonasket is about 5 hours east of Bellingham, and 30 miles or so south of Canadian border.

My soil is very alkaline. To grow anything that likes acid soil I have to add, sulfur, peatmoss, pineneedles for mulch. Twice a year I add sulfur pellets to the soil around my 5 blueberry bushes, most of Oak trees, my few Azlaeas an Rhodies, .. Use lots of my own compost. My water is also alkaline so every time I water I don't help the situation. My soil is very sandy.

Arils grow in alkaline soil, my soil tested out at 7.2, I know Arils need alot of Calcium & magnesium, I use alfalfia pellets around them for the vitiams they need. I have alkaline water.
You should be able to grow them up there.

I was online searching for shade tolerant, drought tolerant, Utah/Rocky Mt. tolerant roses and found this site that may be of interest. It is in eastern Utah near CO and WY with dry, alkaline conditions: http://www.highcountryroses.com/about.html

Idvogt,
Bravo for great sounding Rocky Mountain rose seller. I am not super knowledgable about roses though. What do they mean when they say:

"Performs very well in Denver but may require winter chilling to bloom. "


It is my opinion that Denver has pretty gosh darn cold winters. Does it need more chilling than that? Sounds like only Soferdig and Mainecoon will be able to grow it. Or is it possible that I misunderstand the term "chilling". I have heard it used for fruit trees as well. Kenton, this sounds like something you might know -- or any others of you with lots of plant experience.


This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 8:19 AM

Your message did not show up PJ. Send it again.

Eh? Come again, dear Paja.

Oops! It must have made the cut but not the paste. I have edited previous post to make some sense, I hope. I added the quote I was referring to.

I would think that Denver does fine with chilling. Though you swing into warm pretty quickly and maybe not long enough chilling. Usually that is a couple of months. I have seen Denver go from 3 ft of snow at night and 70F in the afternoon.

I figure if it doesn't get enough chilling in Denver, it won't get enough chilling in Los Alamos. Our climates are almost identical, but if anything, it is colder in Denver. I wonder if that is what those nursery catalog writers meant. I probably should check with them.

I can't imagine a plant whose chilling requirement hours are not met in Denver. Daylight sensitives, maybe.

Another interesting link for desert/high country garderners: http://desertgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/desert_garden_glossary