Reticulate Iris-2012

[ashley]

Perhaps rationalist/atheists like you (& me) cannot help but look at nature as if it had been purposefully made by an intelligent being or an artist even though, rationally, we think it has not.

Certainly Gerry, but why?  Appreciation of exquisitely intricate mechanisms & functional designs might be considered to confer competitive advantage, but it's harder to extend this to our perception of purely aesthetic beauty

Another thread swerves wildly into the sunset

[Gerry Webster]

I don't know why we have an aesthetic sense. Perhaps that's not an answerable question. Or, as the Darwinists might say when confronted by something inexplicable in adaptive terms, it's a byproduct or an accidental product of something else which is adaptive.

[mark smyth]

I'm puzzled by the lateness of my Sheila Anne Germaney and Frank Elder. These were bought as dry bulbs so maybe they aren't settled.

[Janis Ruksans]

Clairette as well others old Dutch reticulatas are quite easy outdors, but Alan's McMurtries new reticulata hybrids with me better grow just outside than under cover. Outside they makes larger bulbs and really didn't suffer from moisture. All Alan hybrids are sawn in open garden and grown up without protection, so nature selects best growers on his hybrid beds. Here are two problems in open garden - rodents which can destroy stock (didn't happen yet, because there still are crocuses - more tasty for rodents) and night frosts which can damage early flowers. But bulb crop in last years was very good even when left without annual replanting.
Janis

[PeterT]

I have a friend near Reading (UK)who also finds Alan McMurtries crosses do well in the ground.

[Darren]

........We grow a number of them in an outdoor raised bed, uncovered all year round and they do very well.... ............

It must be your drier climate Ron. I've lost count of the times I've started with a batch of ten bulbs or so and the following year finishing up with two/three if I'm lucky.

Me too David. Our mild wet winters in NW England also suit slugs which I find devastate reticulate iris here. The junos (bucharica and magnifica) are grazed too but usually not too badly and we can keep these going planted out. Pots or the bulb frame only for the reticulatas - where I can keep the little slimy devils at bay. A shame because our limy and perfectly drained soil otherwise suits bulbs really well.

Nice to see 'Clairette' Ashley - possibly the nicest reticulata to my eyes.

[ian mcenery]

Here is Iris winogradowii. This year I appear to have lost a group and the main stand is flowering one bulb at a time. It was probably too dry here in the summer

[ronm]

Rather similar results here Ian. Although still well established, a few less flowers so far this year. I am wondering however if they were interrupted by that cold snap we had last week after a period of very mild weather. I say this as only I. winogradowii was affected, and it happened to be emerging flowers just as the change happened.

[David Nicholson]

I think I'm right in saying that I. winogradowii requires some moisture during the summer. I haven't tried it but if that is the case it ought to do well here!

[Janis Ruksans]

Yes, winogradowii needs some light shade and some moisture in summer. Otherwise it is quite hardy but sometimes I lost some part of stock, too.
Janis

[Lesley Cox]

Light shade and some moisture David - but not a bog or continuous downpour, as you frequently give us to believe you have.

Funnily enough, the other day at the market I met someone from Ivybridge. I always ask where someone comes from when they have an obviously non-kiwi accent. I said I knew someone who lived there and he frequently mentioned the very wet weather. The woman's face became downcast and miserable and she said "oh yes, it's always like that."

[ian mcenery]

Rather similar results here Ian. Although still well established, a few less flowers so far this year. I am wondering however if they were interrupted by that cold snap we had last week after a period of very mild weather. I say this as only I. winogradowii was affected, and it happened to be emerging flowers just as the change happened.

I think I'm right in saying that I. winogradowii requires some moisture during the summer. I haven't tried it but if that is the case it ought to do well here!

Yes, winogradowii needs some light shade and some moisture in summer. Otherwise it is quite hardy but sometimes I lost some part of stock, too.
Janis

As soon as I can I always try to plant bits in various conditions for safety. I will have to start again

[David Nicholson]

Funnily enough, the other day at the market I met someone from Ivybridge. I always ask where someone comes from when they have an obviously non-kiwi accent. I said I knew someone who lived there and he frequently mentioned the very wet weather. The woman's face became downcast and miserable and she said "oh yes, it's always like that."

It's a very small world Lesley. Glad they backed me up as far as the weather is concerned.

[fredg]

My first Iris for many years.

I blame daveyp1970 for getting me started on bulbs again 

Katherine Hodgkins, just opened today  

[ronm]

Welcome back to the fold Fred, .
Lovely 'K.Hodgkin' pictures. May I ask, was this from a commercial ( i.e. Garden Centre type ), source or from a private collection? I only ask as it seems a particularly fine, clean looking specimen.