Iris 2012

[RickR]

Typically with rather floppy standards, this is Iris sanguinea.
        

And a nice powder blue form that appeared in my seed grown collection:
              

[bulborum]

Nice ones Rick
Small typo
must be Iris sanguinea

Roland

[deesen]

I do love the Iris season, here are some of mine:-

Two I. sibirica cultivars, the first 'Perry's Blue'  (although there could be a label walkabout involved here!) the second 'Sparkling Rose'
Iris pseudacorus-this grown from Exchange seed (labelled Iris tectorum!) that thrives, surprisingly in one of the driest parts of my garden. Incidentally I have another pseudocorus elsewhere in the garden also grown from mislabelled seed.
Also seed grown-Iris graminea

[RickR]

I could have sworn that "i" was in there, Roland.
Fixed.  Thanks.  

[deesen]

A few more Iris sibirica pictures:-

Iris sibirica 'Chartreuse Beauty'
Iris sibirica 'Outset'
Iris sibirica seedling-grown from seed scrounged (with permission) from a National Trust garden.

[Toole]

Iris 'george'
I understand it is a hybrid of Iris histrioides and Iris reticulata.

Still only one healthy bulb after many many years   --just wish it showed some hybrid vigour --at least for me.
I'll take another shot when it's fully out.  

Cheers Dave

[bulborum]

Maybe it need a little more fertiliser
Here they multiply well

Roland

[Toole]

Thanks for that Roland
Never thought of that !.

I don't think i've ever fed it ...Duh !!

I'll 'nuke'   it with bone meal and see what happens .

Cheers Dave.

[bulborum]

Maybe also with an ordinary fertiliser like 12-10-18 + micro or spore elements
Bonemeal is fantastic
but a very slow fertiliser
also maybe a little chalk , Dolomite or whatever you call it where you live
if your garden is a little acid

Roland

[Fermi]

Dave,
"George" does well for us but I'm pretty sure we're a lot drier than you are!
We don't feed them and they still multiply but that could be because the soil is a rather rich but heavy "adobe" clay [to which we've added a lot of grit/gravel/sand]. The other thing we do is plant them in raised beds or mounds so that drainage is as good as possible.
cheers
fermi

[Fermi]

Here's the first flower on Iris planifolia in the rock garden
cheers
fermi

[bulborum]

Fermi

What type of soil do you have
I have to try this one in my garden
they don't like much my potting mixture
but probably my soil is to wet in the summer

Roland

[Fermi]

Hi Roland,
We are on heavy adobe type black clay! But this iris is planted in a raised bed which has had the soil "amended" by the addition of compost and a lot of coarse sand/grit. In parts of this bed it is almost 50% sand.
We usually have dry summers but the last 2 years they have been quite wet with over 2 inches of summer rain! I think the extreme drainage is the only thing which saved this iris! One small [partly-rotted] bulb was rescued from its pot [which hadn't been kept dry] and was re-planted in almost pure sand - I don't think it put up any growth last year but I just noticed some foliage emerging just this week, so I'm very happy that I didn't lose it altogether.

At present we have more retic iris in flower:
- the first we just bought on the weekend in bud - 'Purple Gem'


'Harmony' is the most popular or at least the most commonly grown retic iris here


This is the main clump of Iris 'George' - originally from a single bulb planted in 2002!

cheers
fermi

[Toole]

Fermi --i'm not sure if my 'unnamed 'Iris below is I.ret.purple gem ---whatever it is it's such a good 'doer' here  --quick to multiply and plenty of blooms.

Pic taken last Sat ,there were 5 flowers open as at today.

Cheers Dave.

[Toole]

So pleased to see this in bloom today --Iris winogradowii --I used to have a good sized patch in the garden but for some reason they were going backwards --potted up a few ,the last   ,(I'm getting old ),   or maybe the year before so i haven't lost it altogether.

There is another bulb with a bud yet to open.

I was out with the paint brush just before to try and 'self it' but i wasn't sure if i had managed to transfer any pollen from the anthers to the stigmatic lip ,(i wiped both sides of the anthers ).Does anyone know if i should be able to see Iris pollen with the naked eye ? .Thanks.

Cheers Dave.