Two more iris events
Jane McGary (Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:35:14 PST)
Dennis wrote,
I've tried Hermodactylus tuberosus from seed and from bulb. I've had no
luck with it whatsoever. I've stopped trying.
I've never seen it bloom in real life. I think the photographs in books and
on the web are all fake.
Hermodactylus is now called Iris tuberosa. It may be too tender for
Dennis's garden in Cincinnati, Ohio. It does well for me in western
Oregon, and I have grown it from both bulbs and seed. It sets seed in
the bulb frame and has self-sown there. Some years ago I purchased
three different color forms from Monocot Nursery and still have them,
though they haven't increased a lot. One has a lovely blue-green hue
in the flower. Typically the flowers are green-and-blackish. In rich,
fresh soil it can become a very vigorous clump, but in the wild it is
smaller and usually solitary.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA