Iris winogradowii
totototo@telus.net (Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:52:48 PST)

This iris has been in my possession for nearly 25 years, and does
well for me.

The best growth I ever had was at my old house: it was in a largish
terracotta pot (say a 9" diameter azalea pot, which is somewhat
shallower than a standard pot), potted in a mix including lots of
peatmoss, plunged in a raised sand bed in nearly full sun, with
overhead protection from excessive winter wet.

I believe the magic secret was that every morning before I made a
fresh pot of tea, I'd run outside in my bathrobe and empty
yesterday's cold leftover tea into the pot. This kept the soil nicely
damp at all times; the sand plunge wicked away excessive moisture so
it never stayed soggy.

Also, being plunged in sand, the bulbs were kept on the cool side
during the summer. This is one reticulata iris that will die if you
bake the bulbs in the sun!! I lost my stock, except for one bulb,
leaving the bulbs out in the sun for a couple of days one year.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island