Prolific SDBs

This SDB Celebrate was planted last fall.

If I'm counting right it's the triginta-MOM, LOL. (That's 30, by the way.)

I just love the medians!

Yup Polly, do not know if the term is right LOL but they do like to reproduce and do it well.

I love them. They create a clump quickly. If the rain stops and I can get to Alpine Vista I will take its picture of the clumps and the blooms.

D

I'd love to see Alpine Vista, Dee.

Anyone want to guess how many blooms I'll get from this?

my guess will be 10-12 blooms

D

Not an iris but a Bromeliads "Queen of Tears" in the greenhouse

Alpine Vista, single bloom taken moments ago...
D

Clumps of AV

Frittalaria checkered lily

Alpine Vista is gorgeous Dee, even waterlogged. Looks like you have a lot of it, too. Good thing.

It really is raining there, isn't it.

I'll be very happy with 1/2 that many blooms on a one year plant.

Pink Helleborus

trillon

Crown of Snow
MDB

And image this is just the showers...since I can not weed, I will clean the house.

D

Glad you liked AV it is prolific and image that you could get that many blooms out of the little guy

Alpine Vista grows well for us, even not quite with the PNW vim. Crown of Snow is such an elegant flower. DH working in the garden. The bug with its constant coughing bit Has made we week enough so that I can't do anything. (Can sit & type though). Sat and wrote down plants which I want from different sources--then I have to go over the spaces available & really pare the lists. Daffidils in front of our stone wall are starting to bloom.

Oh, Dee, I dearly wish I could come tour your gardens. I bet they are going to be just stunning very soon, if not already! Hope you post lots of pictures!

I love the frittilaria. I actually discovered the checkered lily because it was on the wallpaper border I chose for my bedroom, and I had to get some so I'd have all the plants featured! LOL I just wish they multiplied. . .still the same tiny clump they were 3 years ago.

Angie

Angie they are slow this is a 3-4 year old clump...but everytime I see them locally I buy more bulbs and put them in other places, so far this is the only place they like...

Not much bloom yet.

D

So now what, Dee (or anyone)? I have not had medians very many years. How on earth can the rhizomes get large enough to divide when there are 30 fans after just one year. And all 30 on one side. Will the rhizomes push out far enough to allow them to grow large, if you understand what I'm talking about?

This is a pic of a dwarf sold as a tall bearded by Lowe's. Could be first year after planting
but I suspect it is the second year. Note the number of new blossoms and the old wrinkled
ones. I divided it last summer and kept 8 and gave the rest away. They were much smaller
than an expected TB but they all survived the winter and are putting out new increases.

They bloom early and can be divided by June. Size of the rhizomes apparently makes no
difference. Pic taken May 3 last year. That is early for zone 5b.

I'm going to have to find a couple of you to do some trading with as I have very few dwarfs or the medium ones. 99% of my irises are Tall Bearded. I just love the photos with all the little plants and ya'll say they multiply like crazy in one year. I just have to get me a few of them to stick in front of things in front of my regular flowerbeds.

Anyone want to trade me some????
Thanks in advance Marian

Well, that sure is a lovely mistake.

The rhizomes on some of those 30 fans can't be any larger than fingernail size. I assume they will get bigger, but I don't understand how they do it when they are so crowded.

Maybe someone can explain.

The Blitz that I spoke of earlier (enough for everyone) grows in a tangled mess three and four deep!! Polly SDB are dwarfs not medians. That would be border and intermediate bearded! LOL Happy Friday BIF's!! pic Dude (IB Keppel 02)

A member gave me some whites dwarfs last year. I kept 8 to go with my 8. Possibly
could pass a few along this summer after I see how they have done in the spring.

I thought technically all the irises other than TB and MDB were included in medians, and that even the MDBs are sometimes included.....

Have I been wrong all along about this? Wouldn't be the first time, LOL.

This message was edited Apr 10, 2009 10:22 PM

Just for my own info, I googled 'median irises'. First site up says Median bearded irises
are all classes of bearded irises measuring less than 28" tall.

Shortened to just add types. MDB SDB IB MTB BB

Median iris society eliminates MDB.

Polly hope this helps...First to divide your baby as of today it could be divided 5-7 divisions, cutting the mother rhizome...

Second, and hope this helps as Medians are confusing as one site will say one thing and another will say something else.

The Medianite says that it was all iris under 27.5" in height, then later changed to eliminate the MDB. Many people and growers still will say all that is under the 27.5" are medians..

Barry Blyth told me that medians do not NOW include MDB. I know I will occassionally slip and include all iris under the height requirement of 27.5".

Confused yet?

If you type in median iris you will find it both ways...sometimes.

Clear as mud isn't it. I have never gotten an answer to why it was removed either.

Great question.

D

Aha, cut the mother rhizomes to get the little guys. Makes sense. Just divide it into clumps of rhizome and fan, rather than worry about getting all the little fans off. That's different than how I divide the TBs. I just take off the increases on them, but didn't understand how you could on this one.

So to clarify, SDBs are medians, and MDBs are really not (at least as of now)? I was understanding it right then. Surprisingly, LOL. But to NickyBIFs credit, I have also heard the SDB and MDBs referred to as dwarfs. Confusing.

Thanks Dee, and Oldgardenroses.

The 4 median classes are: Standard dwarf bearded (SDB), Intermediate bearded (IB). Miniature Tall Bearded) MTB & Border Bearded (BB) They are managed by the median iris Society. Miniature Dwarf Bearded, (MDB) are managed by the Dwarf Iris Society. Both societies are sections of AIS.

Thanks Lucy. That explains it very clearly.

I'm sure where the misconception comes from is Standard DWARF Bearded, and Minature DWARF Bearded. It does sound confusing.

And is it correct that the most prolific are normally the SDBs and the IBs? My MDBs have been variable, some doing really well, and some not. The same with the MTBs. I don't have many BBs, but it seems like all the SDBs and IBs are good increasers.

Lucy? Dee?

Sometimes both of the dwarfs are 40 chromosome & you never know how big they will get.John's MDBs are a pumila & a species cross which stayed small enough while the sibs are taller. He enjoys playing with the pumilas. It get a kick about it when I use WORD, it doesn't recognize 'pumila' so I just ignore the little red line.

Most of them are, but of course, you can get some fizzles.

Lucy, please explain what a pumila is, and what species are used to cross with them. As you know I love the species crosses. I'm sure everyone can learn from your explanation. Thanks,

I. pumila is a mountain iris species native to central Europe. They are one of the dwarf species. When Robert Schreiner was about 21, he imported quite a number of seeds.3 of the resulting plants came from pumila seeds, at least one from Austria & 2 farther east. These were picked up by Paul Cook & Geddes Douglas & bred to TBs, developed the Standard Dwarf plants. Hence the Cook-Douglas Medal for SDBs. Since Paul lived in Indiana & Geddes in Tenn, they could send different types of pollen to each other because of the timing of the seasons. They have as you know developed into great plants and are 2nd behind the TBs in registrations. Whew!

Great info as always Lucy! I knew there were a lot of SDB registrations, but didn't know they were second to the TBs. Wow.

Pumilas are fragrant, are they not?

oldgardenrose, I think your SDB may be Splash of Red:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/126762/
It is one I grow and really like. Multiplies fast!

Susan

This message was edited Apr 11, 2009 6:37 AM

Polly, Lucy as always is a wealth of information that I value...
I had not known all that about pumila.
There are some of the medians that multiply like rabbits while others are slow. Genetics and enviroment. One I know just hates it here is Bach Fugue while Bach Togatta (sp) multiplies and grows like a weed.
I like the medians because they take the crosses easier than the TB for me and I love the height of them.

D

All of you are lucky that I could give information at a quarter to Midnight. Not usually that alert. We sort of specialize in SDBs & MTBs. I did an experimental BB cross in 1986 & then realized "oops, have to through." DH not too pleased with those, reminds him too much of TBs since he much prefers the little ones except for a couple of favorites in the larger group. He helps with his opinions & care when asked. I'm glad that the information was helpful & thank you for your comments.

The information was very helpful, as yours always is.

We are so lucky to have some of the iris experts like Lucy, and Dee, and Anita, and Laurie on this forum. Very, very lucky.

And Lucy, I think your husbands intro, Suslik, is probably my all time favorite bearded iris. I always look forward to the beginning of iris season with Suslik.

Suslik is pure pumila. It came from Signa seed collected in the Caucasus & is named after a fast increasing Russian ground squirrel. Wikkipedia has pictures of the true thing, if you enter the term.

If I recall it was seeds from Russia, right? I think collected by Rodionenko? I have a couple of JIs he introduced, Altay and Vasily Alfiorov.