Sisyrinchium
Tony Avent (Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:44:44 PST)

Jim:

I can't speak to the hardiness of Sisyrinchium palmifolium, but it is
one fine garden plant...we have grown it since 2000. The bright yellow
flowers are huge and unlike other species we have grown, they open in
the late afternoon. S. palmifolium is completely evergreen, so I'd have
a hard time believing it to be as hardy as something like S.
idahoense. The other superb, but little known plant is Sisyrinchium
'Suwanee', a plant that was wild collected in the Florida panhandle, and
doesn't behave like any native species from that region and doesn't
reseed around the garden.

Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website http://www.plantdelights.com/
phone 919 772-4794
fax 919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent

James Waddick wrote:

Dear Friends,
The newest bulletin of the American Iris Society arrived
yesterday. There's a good article on the 'The Other Irids, Part II'
dedicated to the genus Sisyrinchium. The authors, Edmund and Rita
Heaton, hold the National Collection in the UK. A few native 'weedy'
species can be grown here, but they claim the hardiest is S.
palmifolium, a species I never heard of before.

Can anyone comment on this species?

I see that Plant Delights sells it and only gives hardiness to Zone 7.

Anyone grow it in colder climates?

Anyone have seed to share?

I have to state that all other yellow flowered Sisyrinchium
are not hardy here except for the borderline S. macrocarpum.
Currently deceased.

Thanks for info. Jim W.