Dutch iris requirements

Lee Poulsen wpoulsen@pacbell.net
Fri, 12 Sep 2003 11:43:12 PDT
>So far we have had success reported from Australia, Texas and New Mexico.
>
>A couple of nurseries in California say they will naturalize easily 
>and multiply rapidly.  One of these is just north of San Francisco 
>in grape country.
>
>Other successful places mentioned on the web: Las Vegas, Oklahoma.
>
>All these places seem to me to have high summer heat in common.
>
>Maybe  digging the bulbs up after flowering keeps them warmer than 
>if they stayed in the ground where the soil insulates them.
>
>OK.  I'm going to experiment.  I'll get back to you in a couple of years.
>
>--
>Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
>maritime zone 8
>cool mediterranean climate (dry summer, rainy winter - 68 cm annually)
>sandy soil
>_______________________________________________

This is so interesting. I, like Paul, thought they were so easy to 
grow that I never thought twice about them. They've basically 
naturalized in my parents' garden and I just assumed that everyone 
else in cooler climates easily grew them. I guess that since I;ve 
seen the Dutch bulb companies offer them so cheaply and so massively 
for years that they were one of those commonly grown temperate bulbs 
and I was just lucky to get them to grow so well in Texas.

I'm going to have to send some of these newer, more interesting 
looking varieties that have been offered in recent years to my mother 
to have her try them as well.


-- 
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10


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