|
|
Bloom Season 2014 |
|
|
Bloom Season 2014 |
My reticulatas are mostly in a warm and sheltered bed along the front (southeast face) of the house, where they bloom four to six weeks ahead of those in the open garden - a welcome preview of spring. Iris bloom started on January 29, when the first Iris danfordiae opened. Many more popped out during the next few days, pushing through some cold weather and snow the first week in February. The purple reticulatas started a couple weeks later, on February 15, with light blue Cantab blooming the following week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
reticulata iris (probably 'Purple Gem') |
March brought temperatures 5 to 10 degrees (F) above average, but without wild excursions. Everything came into spring growth nicely. Bearded iris season started on March 18 with Hildebrandt/SIGNA I. pumila seedling 04A004, four days earlier than last year. The violet I. pumila from Wild Ginger Farm started on March 27, and was soon putting on a show as usual. On March 31, I had an unexpected surprise as a psammiris I had gotten as "Iris sp. ex Pamir" came into bloom. With the help of Oron Peri in Israel, I identified it as I. potaninii. I. pumila taurica started blooming on April 2, looking very robust this year. Some very cold nights put a hold on things early in April, but by April 7 things were bouncing back, with a yellow/brown pumila and pumila MDB 'Royal Wonder' opening on April 7. April 10 brought out 'Wild Whispers' and 'Steppe', as well as the first of my pumilas from Sevan Lake, Armenia, raised from seed I obtained from Josef Jurášek in 2010. The first I. attica seedling (same source) opened on April 12, followed by a violet one the next day. On April 18, Iris sp. aff. reichenbachii ex Vardar Gorge bloomed for the first time for me, and its seedling 05B011 put up a fresh bloom (an earlier one had been frozen). I. suaveolens (from Janis Rukšans) bloomed nicely this year. I. aphylla fieberi opened on April 21, the first aphylla of the year, soon joined by the clone from Arrowhead Alpines. This was followed by an I. reichenbachii from Greece and two more aphylla cultivars, 'Ahlburg' and 'Slick'
Iris
potaninii
(Coleman, 2013)
(Coleman, 2012)
(J. Burton, 2010)
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris attica
Iris attica
Iris attica
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris pumila ex Armenia
Iris pumila "taurica blue"
ex Vardar Gorge, Macedonia
ex Vardar Gorge, Macedonia
(Chacellor/Rust, R. 2013)
(L. Markham, 2003)
Dwarf cultivar bloom got off to a bumpy start, with MDB 'Rosa Brooks' opening on April 3, only to be met that night with temperatures below 20F. It tried again with a second bloom on April 9; 'Trimmed Velvet' opened the same day, but the cold made the bloom very atypical. 'Storm Compass' opened on April 14, on a day with snow all morning, yet! MDB 'Dollop of Cream' opened on April 18. As usual, 'Urban Myth' was the first SDB to open (April 23), but this year shared the honors with 'Abuzz with Charm'. Old favorite 'Rain Dance' opened on April 25, followed by 'Kaching' on the 26th. The weather turned cold and windy over the weekend of the 26th and 27th, but 'Bluebeard's Ghost' and MDB 'Icon' opened unfazed on April 28. Warming temperatures brought on SDB 'Eye of the Tiger' on May 1 and the first tetraploid MTB, 'Say Red', on May 3. The following week brought out IBs 'Nickel' and 'Starfield', BB 'Oops', and SPEC-X 'Night Mood'.
|
|
|
|
|
(J. Burton, 2010) |
(D. Spoon, 2006) |
'Storm
Compass' |
 |
 |
 |
|
(Black, 2006) |
(Chapman, 2011) |
(Coleman, 2013) |
 |
 |
 |
|
(B. Jones, 1979) |
(Black, 2009) |
(Keppel, 2008) |
 |
 |
 |
|
(Black, 2006) |
(Black, 2008) |
(Craig, 2008) |
 |
 |
 |
|
(Markham, 2003) |
(Craig, 2003) |
(Black, 2006) |
 |
||
|
(Tasco, 2012) |
The first aril, tetraploid RC 'Tadzhiki Eclipse' opened April 22. This was followed by 'Dunshanbe' and 'Tadzhiki Bandit' on April 25, then Iris iberica elegantissima and I. stolonifera 'Chocolate' the following day. 'Werckmeister's Beauty' opened amid wind and cold overnight on April 27. I. stolonifera 'Network' opened on May 2, followed by RC 'Dardanus' on May 4. Iris paradoxa atrata bloomed on May 10, followed by Iris barnumae urmiensis (two different clones) on May 11. That night and the following night saw temperatures just above freezing, and on the morning of the 14th, it got down to 25F, with 29F the following night. Iris barnumae urmiensis was literally the only iris in my garden whose blooms endured the ordeal.
'Tadzhiki
Eclipse'
(Ransom, 1997)
(Ransom, 1997)
(Ransom, 1997)
(Wilkes, 1977)
(Ransom, 1997)
(Ransom, 1997)
(Werckmeister by McAllister, 1992)
(Werckmeister by McAllister, 1992)
(Van Tubergen)
(Van Tubergen)
same clone after 25F freezing night
second clone after 25F freezing night
Arilbred seaon began on April 21 with historic arilbred median 'Zwanenburg' (Denis, 1912) and 'Turkish Topaz' (Austin, 1962). OGB arilbred median 'Concerto Grosso' bloomed on April 26, with classic arilbred dwarf 'Loudmouth' following the next day. Three arilbred medians opened on May 4: 'Childsong', 'Anacrusis', and 'Iridescent Orange'. Historic diploid arilbred 'Oyez' opened on May 10.
|
|
|
|
|
(L. Denis, 1912) |
(Austin, 1962) |
'Turkish
Topaz' |
 |
 |
 |
|
(Mathes, 1998) |
(Rich, 1970) |
(Jensen, 1984) |
 |
 |
 |
|
(Mathes, 1992) |
(Mathes, 2001) |
(White, 1938) |
A devastating hard freeze in mid-May pretty much put an end to things, with only Iris urmiensis and a couple MTBs remaining in bloom. The taller ABs and the TBs were a complete loss.
March 2014
Updated May 2014
|
|
Unless otherwise noted, all text and illustrations copyright Tom Waters and all photographs copyright Tom or Karen Waters. Please do not reproduce without permission.
