Irises at Shadowood!

I have always segregated my beardeds for that reason! I whine about beardeds evry year and always wonder why I grow them, but I always do. Lately the SDBs have become my favs. But I've lost many the last 2 years. Same as it ever was. I've gotten used to never knowing what will live and bloom. And then I have my siberians to keep me sane. I've also been into historics because they are truly hardy beardeds.

Another maiden. This one doesn't look like he should (check the PF for accurate pics), but I assume that's either the result of the continuing cold weather patterns and/or a bit of RoundUp drift. It's also possible that he's misidentified, though I tend to think the name is accurate even if the color is way off this year.

Hustle (SDB)

Well, booj, your gardens are pretty no matter what happens! I go back and look at your sib iris pictures quite often for reference (and copycatting!)

Thanks, tabasco! Funny, i use those pics for reference, too! Glad they help others, too. Get ready for this year's show!

OK. Where's the booj sib thread for 2007?

Laurie, my not "Yak Attack" did not bloom. I will send the photo to Deb & get it identified for you. Okay?

Thanks, Wanda! That'd be great! If Deb wants to see other angles of the bloom, just let me know. I shot it from the top down, side, and front.

Laurie

Patience, tabasco, patience :) No blooms on the sibs yet, but they all look happy. My dark purple velvet NOIDS are budding up-always the earliest ones against the barn.

These next three photos are good examples of the sort of damage that freezing temps during bud development and/or exposure to RoundUp drift can create - deformed flowers and/or off colors. Please don't judge these poor little babies for their miserable looks this year. They're all actually very attractive SDBs under normal conditions.

Hot (SDB)

Nice vibrant color, but the flower itself obviously did not escape damage.

Cache of Gold (SDB)

Kit Fox (SDB)

This is a perfectly normal and delightfully attractive maiden. I'm very fond of this little newbie.

Lime Smoothy (SDB)

Tabasco, my lactea opened yesterday!!! No pic yet.

Kit Fox and Lime Smoothy -- adorable.

Love that Lime Smoothy!

I'm sorry about all of your losses, Laurie. It was a very tough year on septic systems and gardens up there. So many of our neighbors in Outing had real messes and expensive repairs. It made me appreciate that it didn't happen to me. My iris are stunted, but they'll recover and I'm still looking forward to adding some hardy little sweethearts from up your way. Will email you about what you may have this year or are you just going into a recovery mode for 2007?

Lily

Hi Lily,

To be perfectly honest, I haven't even had the courage to go through the beds and do a real inventory of losses. I've walked the rows many times, but I just keep hoping more of them will resurrect and put out tiny new increases so that I won't have lost the cvs entirely. Over time some of them have reappeared, but only with a rz or two still viable in what were robust, mature clumps last year.

You are welcome to email me privately about availability this year, but there's not going to be much. This is definitely a rebuilding year at Shadowood.

Here's the sad reality. On the left is the way my MDB/SDB rows looked last year at this time. On the right is the way the same rows (pic taken from the same vantage point) look right now.

Laurie

How sad. You really did sustain serious losses. Mother nature can be really tough some times. My condolences.

Those are the rows with the fewest losses! You should see the taller median and particularly the TB rows. There's almost nothing left of the modern TBs, though some of the historics are still clinging to life. The medians have been hit hard, too, though not quite as dismally as the TBs.

It seems that they did not even wake up - no dead folliage. So sorry to see the damage. Anything you think could have been done to prevent this?

I am admittedly a lazy gardener, and there is much I could do to better maintain my beds, but I have no influence over the weather. Most, if not all, of the rot and loss in my beds throughout this spring has been weather-related. There is a possibility that winter mulch may have reduced the losses ... or it may have increased it. I'll never know since I'm not inclined to mulch my beds over winter.

It wasn't exactly a matter of the irises not waking up. The rzs simply rotted before they put on any growth this spring. I've had this happen before after winters with prolonged periods of severe cold and no snow cover, but in those years the losses were almost all TBs. This year, however, has taken a toll on all bearded classes as well as some of the beardless, and that hasn't happened before. I think the final nail in this year's coffin was that period of freezing weather in early April. It was just too much for the irises that were already badly stressed by our frigid, snowless Feb.

In any event, the MDB/SDB rows aren't quite as mortally wounded as they appear in the photo. Most of the clumps do still have at least a couple of viable rzs among all the rotted ones. It'll just be a matter of starting over, and I was intending to dig and redo those rows this year anyway. They'll look much better later in July after I've removed all of the dead rzs and replanted the healthy survivors. It'll just take a few years for the clumps to fill out and give me really glorious bloom again.

Laurie

Laurie,
I am asking because I do have some bearded irises, nothing as spectacular as what you have, but in a trickier spot - road side strip. I was debating how to protect them, so I mulched last fall 2 of them. I will not do it again. I did not move the mulch in time because of the late and spring and the two that were mulched did not do as well as others. They started growing through the mulch and it was very hard to move it later. The folliage has damaged tips and I have but one flower stock on them.

Just curious what, if anything, I really should do next fall.

I don't know what to recommend to you, enya. I'm sure that mulch does help beardeds make it through the winter, particularly in a climate with severe cold and unreliable snow cover. However, mulch can promote rot if not removed at just the right time in early spring, and that ideal timing is nearly impossible to predict. It's one of those "darned if you do, darned if you don't" situations. Do what you feel most comfortable with and hope for the best.

I can't even begin to understand this magnificent and completely inexplicable surprise. In a year when even the irises I have known to be absolutely indestructible have succumbed and disappeared, comes a maiden that I never would have expected to survive this year's climatic conditions. I just can't believe it.

As I've mentioned before, I've tried a few arilbreds (aril X bearded or vice versa) here and there with little success, but it was just in the last few years that I've added any with significant regelia genetics. Regelia is a type of aril iris that is native to colder climates. I finally added my first couple of regeliabreds (1/2 regelia and 1/2 bearded) a couple of years ago, not really expecting success but hoping for it nonetheless. Sure enough, one of the two RBs has disappeared this year. HOWEVER, the other opened its first bloom yesterday. It is INCREDIBLE!!! And so with no further adieu, allow me to introduce the miracle iris ...

Genetic Artist (arilbred (RB))

another little maiden from yesterday ...

Huddle (SDB)

Congratulations! Whoda thunk it? Better plant some more of those.

Genetic Artist is absolutely beautiful Laurie. Enjoy.
Laura

Genetic Artist is stunning!

Stunning and, is it possible to take your breath away and be breathtaking at the same time?

Complexly (not simply) georgeous!

Beautiful photo of it! I ordered Genetic Artist in Feb for an experiment, glad to see it not only survives in cold climates but blooms as well. Thanks for explaining about regalia genetics. I needed that lesson. My first aril bought was Turkish Topaz. It is pampered by being in a sandy drainable area but still subject to cold being in a raised bed. So far it survived the winter and has two fans. I expect no bloom and know very little about arils or arilbreds.

Grin.

Julianna

I have a species iris, goniocarpus grossa, from China that I have been babying in a pot for 3 seasons. i just brought it outside yesterday. I was hoping to collect pollen and give it to a hybridizer but it hasn't flowered. I'm just proud that I keep it alive since it doesn't like much water. It doesn't leaf out till July. This is the first I've heard of regalia crosses. I thought most arilbreds are descended from the desert arils, oncocyclus.

Julianna, Turkish Topaz is indeed a pure aril - regelia, specifically. It'll be interesting to see how it does for you. That's one I'd love a piece of some day if it ever increases adequately for you. I've been growing Genetic Artist since 2004, and this is the first year it's bloomed. The clump still only has two fans, so it's not exactly a rampant increaser. I hope you have better luck with TT.

Kathy, good luck with your species baby. I hope it'll flower for you some day. As far as arils are concerned, they are a complicated section of irises. They include three subsections: Hexapogon (which includes regelia, among others), Oncocyclus, and Pseudoregelia. The arilbreds one finds in commerce are any combination of aril and bearded bred together. They can be bearded and regelia (regeliabred - RB), bearded and onco (oncobred - OB), or all three (oncogeliabred - OGB). You will find arilbreds further defined by the use of - or + added to a cultivar's designation to indicate the percentage of aril genes relative to bearded genes. For instance, an arilbred designated as OB means that it is 1/2 aril (onco) and 1/2 bearded. An OB- is less than 1/2 aril and more than 1/2 bearded, and an OB+ is more than 1/2 aril and less than 1/2 bearded. Confused yet?

It does seem that most AB hybridizers prefer to work with the oncos, I assume because they have that wonderful globular form and distinctively striking signals.

Laurie

This message was edited May 27, 2007 4:33 PM

I have only seen one arilbred in real life but the pictures are georgeous. I have a couple on order this year. Time to give it a try, I guess.

Great explanation. Because of my interest, I knew some basics, but not the details. So I had no trouble following you. I think my gonio is a pseudoregelia. Have any crosses included pseudoregelias?

Kathy, are you sure your gonio is even in the Genus Iris? I'm not coming up with anything on it at all.

I'm afraid I just about exhausted my knowledge of arilbreds in my last post. I don't know what sort of work has been done with pseudoregelia crosses, if any. I'm sure Sharon McAllister could answer your question, though. You could email her through her extensive aril/arilbred website at:

http://www.smcallister.com/

It's also known as i. cuniculiformis.

Anyone know this?

congrats on your maiden bloooms.
I just love the little dwarfs...such little cuties.
-T