Aril Society International
Dennis Kramb (Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:06:31 PDT)
At 02:41 PM 6/21/2006, you wrote:
They are incredible. It states on the Society website that aril's are just
as hardy as bearded iris. Any zone 3 growers out there, or close to? Our
wettest month is usually June but I do have some very dry spots in the new
yard.
"Arils" actually means the original desert-dwelling species. Those
tend to be more temperamental than bearded irises. "Arilbreds" on
the other hand, especially the quarterbreds are indeed just as hardy
as bearded irises. At least in most gardens (I guess you can't
always say "always")!
On the ASI yahoogroups forum there are some Zone 4, 3, and 2 growers
in Canada who have been trying to grow arilbreds for a couple years
now. A couple of them are finally reporting success with
bloom. They seem to survive fine in the northern climes, but bloom
has been a bit of a challenge.
There are at least 2 Canadian hybridizers currently working with
arilbreds. I'm not sure what zones they're in, but I visited one of
them in Guelph (I think it was) a few years ago.
Dennis in Cincy