Iris 2011

[McDonough]

Iris minutoaurea foliage does not go wimpy-floppy for me.  It does lengthen after flowering, but not to the extent you showed on the forum (I don't remember if  it was here or SRGC).  But my plants have more room than the one in your pic, Mark.

In the case of I. minutoaurea, for me the foliage does not go wimpy-floppy; it stands upright, but gets to about 16" long, whereas the plant in flower is barely 2" tall. 

In my photos posted on another thread (see below) this Iris is being crowded out, so this summer I relocated the encroaching Epimedium, to allow this fine Iris to expand unencumbered.  I wonder too, if there are more than one form of this Iris going around; mine came from Darrell Probst at Garden Vision Epimediums.  Rick, where is your plant from?
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5627.msg156824#msg156824
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4736.msg128032#msg128032

[RickR]

A mistake on my part, my blooms are 2.5 inches high, certainly not 4!
But foliage is never longer than 12 inches.  One plant was given to me by a Chapter member who grew it from seed from the NARGS seed ex labeled as Iris sanguinea.  (What a wonderful surprise!)  The other came from Betty Ann Addison's nursery, Rice Creek Gardens, here in Minnesota.  It was sold to me as Iris arenaria.  I don't have a clue where she got it.  Both plants behave the same.

[McDonough]

Thanks Rick... regardless, it's a wonderful little Iris.  This year I plan on dividing it up into as many pieces as possible.  Let's hope we have a better summer than the 2010 ultra-drought year.

[WimB]

Wim, quite an eyeful of gorgeous Iris there.  There are a few with names I don't know; are 'Evening Twilight', 'Morning Glow', and 'Vivacious Begginings" McMurtie hybrids?  And do you have any brief info on there beautiful blues: 'Beautiful Day', 'Blue Ice', and 'Alida'?

Something I want to document later in the season, is how people cope with the greatly lengthening summer foliage on the retics. This past summer I intended on photographing the leaves on some of these, that I have measured as reaching 3' (1 meter) in length in past summers.  But as it turned out, with our severe drought, they didn't get that long and dried up much faster than normal.  I did take a picture (I think I did) of a small massed planting of Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin' where it makes a very messy mass of long foliage afterwards, I'll see if I can find it.  It is my one criticism of the otherwise beautiful retics, and to a lesser extent some of the Chinese Iris like I. koreana and minutoaurea, that the foliage grows so long after flowering.

Thanks McMark,

'Evening Twilight', 'Morning Glow', 'Vivacious Beginnings', 'Beautiful Day' and 'Blue Ice' are all McMurtrie hybrids (all of them Iris sophenensis x danfordiae crosses) bought from Janis Ruksans last year. 'Alida' is a selection taken from I. 'Harmony'.

Leaves up to 1 meter   The max we ever get is 20-25 cm. If you place them near to herbaceous perennials the leaves get covered in a month or two.

[Paul T]

Wim,

I too echo Mark's question re the unknown ones.  Interestingly, I grow pretty much all you pictured bar the McMurtrie hybrids here, or at least have done.  The 5 names you showed as his are the 5 that I'd never seen.    It is also interesting that you say that 'Alida' is a selection from 'Harmony'.  I've thought them very similar, at least in my garden, and wondered about the naming.

Mark,

Leaves a 1m!!    Ours never get anything like that, although Hermodactylus tuberosus does.  None of the retics ever get leaves more than maybe 30cm here, in many cases not even near to that.

Rick,
Getting minutoaurea instead of sanguinea was a bit of luck.  I've only ever seen pics of the minutoaurea myself.  Not that I'd sneeze at sanguinea for that matter, as I loved it when I used to grow it maybe 15 years ago.  Such an excellent intense purple colour to it, or at least the form I had of it (which is the only one I've ever seen in person, so I have no idea whether it was standard or not).  Of course, it has been 15 years since I last saw it, so absence may have made the heart grow fonder, or at least the memory hazier!!? 

[deesen]

Does anyone grow Iris lazica? I have a large clump that I badly need to split, when would be the best time to do it?

[Paul T]

David,

I've butchered my I. lazica in autumn in the past without a problem, in fact I think I've taken pieces off mine at various times of the year without any problems.  I love it's chunkiness compared to the unguicularis, and the very different green of the leaves.  I've found it hardy here from shade to full sun.  Mine existed for many years in a small pot amongst grass at our old property when it was rented out.  After a couple of years of sitting amongst the grass in it's pot I discovered it still alive and more or less green, despite the other pots of other things like daffodils etc also hidden in said grass all dying.  This was in total blazing sunshine (other than perhaps some light cover from some of the grass at certain times of year?) without any artificial watering at all.  I was amazed at how hardy it was.

[McDonough]

David and Paul, aren't you going to tempt us with some nice photos of I. lazica?

[Paul T]

Mark,

Happy to oblige.  Not brilliant pics, but you get the idea.  

Iris lazica in my garden.  The pics were technically taken in 2005 and 2006, but they were prepared today, hence the watermark for 2011.    These pics were taken in September in those years.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Nice show everybody !

I've got another Juno flowering at the moment : Iris nusariensis from Syria

On the second picture you can see a second flower bud developping nicely... 

[Paul T]

That's a beauty, Luc.

[WimB]

Nice show everybody !

I've got another Juno flowering at the moment : Iris nusariensis from Syria

On the second picture you can see a second flower bud developping nicely... 

Wonderful Luc,

it reminds me of the color which the sky of Belgium often has 

[WimB]

Excellent plants to give the N. American winter some colour Wim !

Thanks Luc,

here are two more which were flowering today:

Iris 'Cantab'
and Iris 'J.S Dijt'

[deesen]

IRIS lazica

First of all I should say that I had written most of what follows and prepared the pics before I had seen Paul's pics higher up the page and thanks Paul for the splitting advice.

Let's have a look at what Brian Mathew says about Iris lazica in "The Iris"

Well, it grows about 15-25cm in height (roughly 6-10 inches) !! (see later); is March flowering (see later); is endemic in the Black Sea coastal regions of south west Caucasia and north east Turkey as far west as Giresun; and it grows on shady banks but is in damp conditions for most of the year.

My plant grows in full sun (when we get some) and boy does it get damp conditions for most of the year! That's maybe why my plant forms a rough square of about 36 inches(91.4cm) and is about 30 inches (76.2cm high) and that's why it needs to be split As far as flowering is concerned I've had it in flower in August; it's been in flower in December and the pictures of it in flower below are from February 2008. Last week it had four flowers on it but when I looked today the snails had done their worst with them.

[Paul T]

David,

15-25cm high is WAY smaller than mine as well, and the clump size is about the same as yours I think.  It seems to get to a certain size though and then doesn't seem to expand anywhere near the same rate after that, if that is any help.  I'd be putting a shovel through it and lifting part of it out, leaving the rest of it in place if you're worried about the moving process.  That way half (or whatever amount you decide) doesn't get disturbed, while you divide up the rest.