July 2012 in the Southern Hemisphere

[Maggi Young]

I've only been growing iris reticulata for about 8 years and during that time I've never encountered a problem. But this week one of the flowers (Harmony) has come up deformed. All the rest that have flowered so far have been fine. Could anyone suggest what may have happened to this one? Has anyone else ever had this issue?

Hello Jon, welcome to the Forum.
I'm with Paul, .... I would hope it is something environmental that is a one-off happening. Keep an eye on the foliage of that one as it extends.... if it looks very streaky then it perhaps may be a virus that has manifested in the deformed flower. For me, I think its better to discard one dud from a healthy patch than risk them all.

[Lesley Cox]

I agree with Maggi's comments re the 'Harmony' bulb. I've never seen anything like this before. Better safe than sorry maybe and discard and destroy this one now.

Yes we're moving but we don't know where to yet. It's all a bit odd really, as the agent says, nothing like this has come up on their books before. We're selling, hopefully with a long completion date (unless we get a HUGE offer) and when we have a definite sale, we'll look for another place of maybe quarter to half an acre, instead of the two we have here. This place will appeal to someone young and energetic and prepared to work hard to achieve future benefit (I'm beginning to sound like the agent here). Needs lots of TLC but has heaps of potential for the right person/young couple. We will get something reasonably handy, in the general Dunedin area but not further south, and if it takes a year to sell it doesn't really matter. The thing is, with my recent illness and now rib problem, as well as Roger's back which will just not get fully better, we know we can't go on here and the place is losing value the longer we stay so better to make the decision now and stop messing about. I'll keep you up to date no doubt. The only things I'll really regret are Querus cerris and our very nicely shaped copper beech, both replaceable in the long run. But we won't be able to do anything about Woody, Teddy and now Cain, all buried in the garden but with small trees over them so hopefully they won't be disturbed. I do feel very bad about leaving them.

No Paul, the thought of Anthony a mere 1500 kms or so up the road hasn't been bothering me. I am determined to get somewhere eventually where I can ask people to stay which I can't here (need another bedroom/bathroom). Anyone who wishes can help with the packing up and retrieving the plants. Don't forget spade and boxes. I'll provide lunch and cups of tea ad infinitum.

[fermi de Sousa]

Lesley,
sorry to hear that you've had to "down-size" but at least you've been able to make the decision yourselves instaed of it being forced on you!
here are a few more flowers in the garden;
the first is Crocus abantensis which came from SRGC seedex in 1993 and which was flowering back in 1997 but didn't take to life in the rock garden as it was but fortunately a single cormlet had been rescued to be built back to flowering size!
The next 2 are Iris 'George'
the last is the first Iris 'Harmony'.
cheers
fermi

[angie]

Lesley my friends have downsized from a wonderful landscaped one and a half acre garden. They built this up from nothing and they weren't looking forward to the move but guess what they love their new home, smaller house and much smaller garden but know they aren't running about trying to keep everything the way they liked.
Fermi is right better making the move now. That is exactly what my friends thought. I couldn't understand how they could leave their home but now that they have I can see it was the right move. Hope you find somewhere nice and at least like you said there is no hurry.

Angie 

[Rogan]

I'm 'downsizing' to seven acres from the half we have now (!) in a year-and-a-half's time    - I must be mad...   

[Maggi Young]

I'm 'downsizing' to seven acres from the half we have now (!) in a year-and-a-half's time    - I must be mad...   

Not mad, Rogan, just optimistic - there's no harm in that!

[Mini bulb lover]

Thanks Paul, Maggi & Lesley. I think I will have to remove that Iris reticulata "Harmony". There are a few more in the same pot that are yet to flower. It will be interesting to see if they too are affected.

Here are some of the other iris reticulatas that have started to flower in my garden: "Alida", "Purple Gem" and today "Springtime" burst open (in winter). I've also included a picture of Crocus tommasinianus "Yalta" - the first one to flower in the pot. The others seem to be reluctant!

[Maggi Young]

Hi Jon,
may I suggest that as well as resizing your pics to under 500kb, you also take the pixel size down to around 800 by 600  ? ( and just doing that usually reduces the kb size when I do it here - 760  is a good size for width of pix for the forum)
 

[Mini bulb lover]

Thanks Maggi. I realised after I posted the images that they were enormous when viewed on this forum. I quickly dropped the size down and re-posted them. They still look a little large - I'll have to play around with them.

Good luck with the move Lesley. They say that a change is as good as a holiday. When I find out who "they" are, I'll send Otto's people around to sort them out like they did with Paul - haha.       I'd prefer the holiday...

[Maggi Young]

Cheers, Jon... the handy thing is you are able to edit your post as you wish to be able to resize and repost the pix!
 
 

[Gerry Webster]

I have Sternbergia candida and it flowered beautifully (and with a delicious perfume) the season after it came from Marcus but hasn't flowered since. I think we may not have sufficient heat in summer to ripen the bulbs.

Lesley - While most autumn flowering Sternbergias seem to need a very hard bake to promote flowering here, I'm not sure this is the case with S. candida. Mine flowers reliably every year (other Sternbergias are erratic) & did so this Spring depite the  previous, miserable Summer. Mine are under glass, therefore dry,  & I feed heavily with a high K fertiliser.

[Lesley Cox]

I'm 'downsizing' to seven acres from the half we have now (!) in a year-and-a-half's time    - I must be mad...   

You ARE! Unless you have assorted large animals to be accomodated.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Gerry. Mine is outside and like you, in the UK we had a miserable summer, this time and last so no real drying off of any bulbs. I'll try that and also the high K.

[Otto Fauser]

 007 (640x307).jpga few Reticulata Irises in flower at the moment - grown in pots as I have lost many inthe open garden in the last 2 summers due to high rainfall ,following 10 years of drought.

[Otto Fauser]

first pic. Iris ret. 'Michael'
second pic . Iris ret. 'Alida'

  and I. histrioides 'Lady Beatrix Stanley'