I received this iris as a trade - help

can anybody tell me anything about it?

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/76655/

Hardiness a bit suspect in your area--you could try to overwinter it in a cool greenhous, or more likely a cdold frame.

I got them from somebody in my area. A DG'r lives in the next community over and we met for a trade. They have been in her yard forever. They don't look like any iris I have ever seen or heard of.

Hi again Deb,

Iris chrysographes is a siberian iris, or actually what has come to be known as a sino sib. Your average easy to grow garden siberian has 28 chromosomes, the sino sibs have 40.

What this means to most people is just that the 40 chromosome sibs are harder to grow.

It is hardy in your area, but because they are hard to grow people often think of them as not hardy. They will grow to around -20.

Iris chrysographes is a plant of marshy areas. The name chrysographes means gold markings and comes from the golden signal that is broken into straight lines. Height is around 18" Bloom is late in the season for a sib, around late June or July in your area.

A lot of water is required to grow chrysographes, especially during the summer, keep it moist at all times. It likes a heavier soil, and likes an acid soil, more so than most sibs. Keep them well mulched. It would be best to plant it in a 2-3 inch depression, fill the depression with mulch and mulch about 3" up the stem.

This message was edited Sep 11, 2008 11:03 PM

THANK YOU so much. That is exactly what kind of information I was looking for. I will give them a good honest shot. If they don't work out, I've gained a little more knowledge, If they do work out, wha hoo! I did it.

I would love to plan my iris garden for early to late color, I guess these will help with that. I just LOVE that deep dark purple color.