If you don't
subscribe to Garden Gate magazine, I highly recommend you purchase the
June 2004 issue. It has eight pages devoted to iris stuff, with lots
of good pictures, too. They cover a little history of iris, including
a fact I did not know that iris originated from the Middle East, even
though they are sometimes called German irises.
The author of the article commented that a good way to
tell if an iris will perform well in your garden is to see if it's won
any AIS awards, such as the Dykes Medal, or Award of Merit or
Honorable Mention, because these award-winning irises have been tested
and compared to lots of others, so you'll know you're getting a good
plant. Well, I think that the real way to tell if an iris will do
well in your garden is if that iris is doing well in your neighbor's
yard. That's why our annual rhizome sale in July is such a benefit to
the community. Local folks can be sure that these iris are grown
locally and will do well for them, too.
The article talks about designing with iris in the
garden; it recommends choosing an area with at least six hours of sun
and very well-drained. Often iris are planted in a mass planting by
themselves, so they can take advantage of a sunny, dry, well-drained
site. But I prefer mixed plantings in my beds, or summer-long
color. Even when the iris bloom ends, the strappy, sword-like iris
foliage contributes to the many textures in the rest of the plantings.
They talk a little about re-bloomers, too, but Gary
Clark is the only one I know who actually gets some iris to re-bloom.
They don't re-bloom for me, they die instead. I think the secret may
be to plant the re-bloomers on the south side against the house for
warmth. Gary shared that secret with me, and gave me a few
re-bloomers last fall, which promptly disappeared from the sheltered
bed I put them in.
There is some interesting information on care
(low-nitrogen fertilizer like 6-10-10) and on dividing. The division
part is very descriptive, complete with step-by-step photographs.
Now, for the fun stuff. Starting seed indoors can be
very rewarding this time of year. I've compiled a start up list for
our area, based on our average last frost. When I put this together
several years ago, our average last frost was May 27th in Missoula and
May 24th in Hamilton. Generally we have about 111 frost free
days. The dates are weeks before last frost.:
3 weeks ahead or about
5/6:
- Broccoli out
- Watermelon inside
- Dahlia bulbs out
- Glad bulbs out
- Harden tenders
Average last frost about 5/27:
- Corn, beans out
- Tomato, pepper out
- Cuke, melons out
- Marigold out
- Radish out
- Dahlia plants out
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2 weeks ahead or about
5/13:
- Cuke seed indoors
- Radish out
- Lettuce out
- Spinach out
- Nasturtium seed out
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1 week ahead or about
5/20:
- Bachelor button seed out
- Harden tenders
- More lettuce out
- More spinach out
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