weak stems?

I am fairly new to iris collecting. Recently I bought "Fancy Tales" and the description said it had weak stems. Knowing in advance will allow me to take appropriate measures. Then I bought "Santa" which looks like it might be related (and hybridizer is same). Does anyone know if these might need staking also? It is nice to know that I am not the only one with some iris that were purchased and tagged as one kind and then bloomed something altogether different. So far I only have about 200 different iris, but they are addictive.

Howdy

Fancy Tales tho a very beautiful iris is a very weak grower and very slow to increase, add to that the fact that it is prone to rot. Do I grow it, yes, because I want the pollen. Is it worth the trouble depends on how much you love it. Stake it very early on.

Santa has never been a weak grower here, and even tho by the same hybridizer does not carry the same genes.

Hope this helps you and enjoy both of them as both are beautiful

D

Thank you for the information! I had a problem with rot until I raised all my beds and ordered a custom sandy soil mix. I will watch that one carefully for sure. The color pattern of Fancy Tales intriques me and yeah I think it will be worth the extra effort. Nice to know I don't have to worry about Santa.

When I first got "Oyez" I was shocked at the little bity rhizomes. I pampered and protected (and prayed over) it. Then it bloomed and I got the most incredible photo! I absolutely love it. It is hard to imagine that such a masterpiece could erupt from such an unlikely source.

Aril/Arilbred are always small rhizomes and shipped dormant. You have to know that in advance as you are shocked by what you receive. I know the first I received one I was more than shocked but I knew they came from Iraq, Iran and the middle east so knew they had to such a difference in growing and all. Planted and it bloomed well the following year.

D

I adore Fancy Tales and hope mine survives, but it's not looking good. same as Dee said, I want the pollen.

by the way, Happy Easter y'all!

dee - question - will Fancy Tales set a pod for me? oh, wait, if I want to increase the sturdiness, I need the pod on the other side of the cross, right?

ah me, I'll learn

This message was edited Apr 12, 2009 11:09 PM

Bonjon

FT is the fussest iris I have ever had, never set pod for me and the pollen does not want to set on anything to date for me. Paul Black said it is very, very difficult.

Yes if you want to improve you would the pollen more than it to set pod.

D

I still am waiting for my fancy tales to bloom, is growing, but yes a very slow plant, but I figure worth the wait.....funny thing on an iris that opened today, small flower with a bloom that had 2 beards and 2 pollens on one fall, the others had nothing....I suppose when you have so many iris, you are bound to see a few odd things....

That type of thing, extra flower parts & not enough flower parts, is a genetic trait with plants subject to cold damage. Have you had frosts where you are? I know not often in CA.

Question from an iris newbie. How do you know if you need to stake an iris? Is there a certain time in the growth cycle when you can tell? Thanks muchly.

I think the local weather conditions & the number of open flowers tell the tale. We don't stake unless we have to, but those one the windswetpt areas have a greater neccesity. The wind catches the flowers & the stems go over. There is a lot of experimenting involved; observation. For example when I saw the great base of the stem with 'Blue Suade Shoes' (Schreiner) I knew there would be no trouble with it, Check the stems as they grow, if it is narrow & placed at one end of the rhizome, it is probably a candidate for staking.

I got Fancy Tales from D and Love the iris hated the plant. I finally in a miff put it in my ignore bed where Just when I think it died and I have a space for a new iris, the thing blooms and I fall in love and have to wait two to three years before it blooms again. It is in muck soil and the salks have been fine. When it was in the regular beds with all the goodies in it the stalks were terrible. It may be one of those rare Iris that do not like alot of extra nutrients. So it gets none now. but like D says it is SLOOOOOOOOW to increase.
A

I think Fancy Tales might be interesting in the garden (I have seen it). But I would not hybridize with it. Look up the parents if possible & see how you can work with those. Parents might have been seedlings, wheron you are sort of out of luck for that.

Thanks irisMA.

Oh yeah Anita. Once you see FT you do fall in love with too bad it has so many seedlings in the cross. If I could repeat the cross and get anything close to it I would, but put on something with a very strong stem and healthy growing habits.

SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW is not the word for increases. I know I had planted 20 of them one year and by the time it was time to dig I had 5...most died of rot.

I will have it until the last one bites the dust because I want the pollen

D

I think it would be good if one or more of you would post your comments on this cultivar in Plant Files. There is one comment that it is slow to increase, but nothing more. Maybe one or more of you could give more it a more in depth comment. If only one person says it is slow, that is one thing. If more people say it is slow -- to decreasing -- that is something else.
I realize that if you sell iris that may not be such a great idea, but Margiempv puts in honest ( not disparaging ) comments. They are very helpful and she seems still to be hybridizing and selling.

Wow, after reading all this I think I will put my new Fancy Tales in a pot and take it under roof when it rains too much. Seems like this one will be a challenge. I'm almost glad I don't know how to hybridize - that would be frustrating. I will have to study a lot before I try that. I live in the Ohio valley and it is either raining too much or not enough.

I have added my comment to the plant files, gave it a neutral

D

That's fine. It gives perspective on the one that is there.

I think FT is one of those iris you basically plant and leave it alone, ignore it and see what happens, patience.... I have a few iris that one has to be very patient, lucky for us there are enough other iris growing and blooming that we can let FT stew for awhile until it gets good and ready to burst....

Good idea, all, but I probably wouldn't buy it given the long wait. I have to wait long enough already.

dee, the fella at Superstition told me that same thing about All Night Long. almost no pollen, and doesn't like to set a pod. But that darn thing is SO glorious in my garden I just gotta try.... it's like pure WAX ruffles.

All Night Long is worth experimenting with. Timing can be all. Purgatory was not supposed to pod either (no pollen). I got a cross just because I hit it at the right time. Only 3 plants IBs; see they were all trying TB pollen.

All Night Long and Dusky Challanger are very much alike although DC does have seedlings and registered off spring it is difficult it take time and patience but doable
keep working
:)
A

I love All Night Long as well. I bought it the first summer after I saw it.

For those who have never seen ALL NIGHT LONG

and the photo doesn't quite do it all the justice it deserves, but you got close with that pic anita.

in my garden, it's got a shiny sheen to it that makes it seem to just glow.

Incredible iris. Good grower, too -- at least for me.

then I best add some more sand and gravel to my soil, pajar, make it more like NM. because ANL doesn't seem to like our heavy hard red clay, not one bit.

Bonjon add old retired mulch (not moldy stuff but what is under that hard caked junk), pea gravel adn a little sand works great :)
A

yup anita, I know, I know. it's just, it takes a pickaxe and backhoe to till anything in...

I've got the same stuff
LOL

Organic mater helps clay much more than sand. With sand and clay you get concrete. Iris hate it.

All Night Long just looks like a good sniffer. Is it? That's important to me, as I like to cut them for the house. Beautiful iris.

There's no scientific basis in this, LOL, but some irises just look to me like they smell good.

I feel like that too pollyk.

we had a record rainfall last season of 55", I have Fancy Tales planted in a raised bed along the edge of the board and in full sunlight, I figured along the edge would provide extra drainage. I had noticed last August a spot had started to rot, I cleaned it out with my fingernail, sprinkled a little comet on it and this year it is doing fine, it has 2 increases on it this first year of growth would have had 3. I did order another one just in case. I will plant the new one on a slope and see how that one does, I will add some sand to the soil just in case. In the raised beds I have riverbed soil and all kinds of goodies they like mixed in. I cannot believe how wonderful all of my iris are increasing this year. So I guess since FT has a tendancy to rot, we better take extra special care since we do not want this one to become extinct like so many, especially since it is a good pollen parent.

Polly Care must be given with dark iris in the house as they melt.

As soon as they begin to fade, I mean AS SOON AS they begin to fade snipe them off other wise they drip and stain

Anita, I didn't know that. Thanks. Of course the dripping and staining will go right along with what my grandkids do, dropping and spilling.

LOL
And you don't have to feed the iris, wash dishes, clothes and pack them up to send them back home
LOL
LOL
A

LOL

So true.

D

I don't remember much fragrance from All Night Long, but another very nice dark iris by the same breeder is fragrant -- Hollywood Nights. I planted it for the first time last year and hope I get a bloom this year. It doesn't have the ruffles that All Night Long has, but is very pretty in the pictures I have seen. We don't have to worry about the color of our iris dripping. They rarely get wet!