From: nicmad!klebba%astroatc.uucp@spool.cs.wisc.edu (Bob Klebba) Subject: Spurious Iris Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1993 14:40:13 GMT I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden on Sunday and saw a whole bunch of fun things. I couldn't resist the plant sale that was going on and amongst the ordinary day lilies and irises, a garden club was selling Iris spuria. I was told that I. spuria has the following attributes: likes water doesn't mind the cold pH adaptable blooms after beardeds goes dormant in mid summer habit like I. pseudocorus some varieties have "bronze" flowers no standards Does anyone else know about these iris? I bought two rhizomes and am wondering whether they are truly pH adaptable (my soil is ca. 7.5 - 8). They are supposed to come from the middle of Asia, so I was told not to worry about hardiness. Wet spots are not a problem this year (two of the roads leading from my house are closed today due to flooding). Any additional information about this "spurious" iris are appreciated, particularly experience with pH. thanks in advance. === From: jwilson@bach.udel.edu (Jim Wilson) Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1993 15:16:21 GMT I. spuria includes quite a wide variety of plants, native to places from China to Spain, and that probably accounts for their adapting to a wide variety of conditions. The 40-chromosome ones account for most of the modern garden hybrids. These grow real well in the warm and sunny parts of the U. S. but also have been grown successfully even in places like Michigan. Neutral or slightly alkaline soils are best, but they also like organic matter and good drainage--a combination that some places takes some work to achieve. They do like water, but some garden varieties also demand a dry dormant period in August and early September. They like to be fed too. When grown well, clumps can go over ten years without being divided. Flowers do have standards, although not the full and closed type that you may be used to seeing on beardeds. Zone 4 may be a challenge--be choosy with varieties. Besides meeting the cultural needs above, your biggest challenges might be viruses, mustard seed fungus, and aphids. Breeding work is making some progress to get to virus-resistant varieties. You may want to treat your soil with Terraclor to keep the fungus from being a problem. And you can pick your favorite aphid cure. I don't really know how far you can stretch an individual plant's pH tolerances, but I just now tested the soil of a happy clump here (DE) and found it about 6.1, even though the references say higher is better. The tried and true method is to find the nearest successful grower and learn the local lore. Some good sources for further information--a chapter on Spurias in _The World of Irises_ by Bee Warburton and Melba Hamblen, the July 1984 issue of the Bulletin of the American Iris Society, and finally you may want to join the Spuria Iris Society, a section of AIS. Some of these plants are true giants in the iris world, and their flowers are very striking in the garden and when cut and when used in arrangements. They can be well worth the effort. -- === From: jwilson@bach.udel.edu (Jim Wilson) Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1993 17:15:43 GMT jwilson@bach.udel.edu (Jim Wilson) writes: > I. spuria includes quite a wide variety of plants, native to places > from China to Spain, and that probably accounts for their adapting > to a wide variety of conditions. Correction: I meant here "The Spuria series," not I. spuria. Some of the other species included are I. monnieri, I. ochroleuca, and I. graminea--there are about 15 in all., -- === From: billmc@microsoft.com (Bill McJohn) Subject: Re: Spurious Iris Date: 08 Jul 93 22:17:28 GMT I have some spuria irises that I love--one is an old clump in a neglected corner that was on the property when I bought it two-and-a-half years ago; the other is Iris 'Sunny Day' from Garden Perennials in Nebraska. They are beardless Iris with a wonderfully elegant open shape. Sunny Day is a saturated yellow (very close in color to Achillea 'Coronation Gold'); the unnamed clump is white with yellow markings on the falls. The leaves are stiffly upright in fans, and stay handsome throughout the season. The flowers appear late in the Iris season; both of mine are about four feet tall. Spurias like plenty of water while they're growing actively and blooming, but prefer (so I've read) to dry out a bit in summer. In other words, they're tailor-suited to Seattle's climate. (But given that I got Sunny Day from a nursery in Nebraska, I expect they'd do fine in Wisconsin, too.) They grow into large clumps; I've read that they resent disturbance, but the plants of Sunny Day that I planted last November bloomed beautifully this year. (The quantities of compost & manure that went into the planting holes may have something to do with that.) I did dig up a chunk of the old clump to transplant into the garden proper last spring, and it didn't bloom this year. Digging them up is difficult; when I hit the main root, I thought it was a tree root. Plan on leaving them wherever you put them! My experience so far has been that these plants are tough as nails--the old clump is growing under a virtual heap of blackberries and bindweed, and bloomed even so. They also seem to respond to a modicum of care by blooming even more generously. I find their flowers much more graceful than bearded iris, and their foliage is a real asset to the garden.