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Today's Topics:

1. Beneficial nematodes (Dell Sherk)
2. Floral Treats (James Waddick)
3. Tigridia light requirements (Leo A. Martin)
4. Re: Floral Treats (Jane McGary)
5. Re: Floral Treats - wide crosses (James Waddick)
6. Re: Floral Treats - wide crosses (Jim McKenney)
7. Re: Floral Treats - wide crosses (Boyce Tankersley)
8. yesterday's missing messages (Diane Whitehead)
9. Re: yesterday's missing messages (Diane Whitehead)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 17:02:16 -0400
From: "Dell Sherk" <ds429@comcast.net>
Subject: [pbs] Beneficial nematodes
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <001d01cafb84$64bec840$2e3c58c0$@net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I don't remember our having had a discussion about nematodes for pest
control. I have used them for a number of years to control whatever insects
eat holes in my vegetable root crops. Last year I began trying them for
control of cucumber beetles. There I neglected to control the adults
adequately and lost most plants to bacterial wilt. Nematodes are also
supposed to help with flea beetles and any other insect that spends part of
its life underground. And they are not supposed to be harmful to earthworms.

So it occurs to me that they might be useful against insects whose larvae
burrow into bulbs and tubers. Has anyone tried this? Note: they are also
advertised as being effective against fungus gnat larvae.

I'll be interested in hearing what our collective experience with these tiny
critters is.

Dell, in SE Pennsylvania, zone 6/7

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 17:15:07 -0500
From: James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com>
Subject: [pbs] Floral Treats
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <p06240803c820a5af8d49@[192.168.0.101]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Dear Friends,
After weeks of unseasonable chill and damp, the sun has come
out and temps near 90 (same for humidity). This has triggered some
much awaited bloom.

1. Helicodiceros musciverous. I have written a few years
ago about trying this in the ground here and surprised at its
survival. You can still Google this and find it is only hardy to Zone
9/ 10. It has survived at least 4 years and perhaps longer, but this
year after a long cold continuous chill it came up strong and has
bloomed yesterday. The incredible (and incredibly stinky) flower
(inflorescence) is one of nature's wonders. Perfectly shaped to
resemble the rotted rear end of a dead horse (as it is commonly
known). The spathe spreads wide in a putrid sort of pink color. The
hairy tail-like spadix emerges from a hole (no imagery needed here)
and flies swarm too it like candy. The odor is as bad as you can
imagine for rotting flesh.

Considering its often reported tenderness I am thrilled to
have a blooming plant in the garden, stink and all.

2. Dracunculus vulgaris Closely related to the above in odor
and as another Aroid, this is a far more common plant in my climate.
I have 4 good sized clumps that bloom regularly. Two flowers open
yesterday and continue perfuming the garden today. The flowers are
well over a foot long and half that width looking like a slab of meat
that has gone 'off'. But the color is rich and robust with a deep
black imposing spadix to offset the weirdness. I have at least 6
flowers to go and anticipate each wonder as they open.

Recently Tony Avent, Tom Mitchell, Alan Galloway travelled to
Crete and Tony posted photos of this species in the wild with white
spathes, yellow spadix and a range of marbled colors as much as 6 ft
tall. Wow! Check out his Plant Delights blog if you haven't already.

3. Sisyrinchium patagonicum On a much smaller scale. I've
tried a variety of South American Yellow Flowered Sisyrinchium and
none have proven hardy in my climate until now (I wish S. striatum
'Aunt May' was hardier). After starting from seed last year and
planting out in mid-summer, the resulting plants have produced a
number of small yellow star-like flowers of bright clear yellow. A
first!

The flowers are one and one half times as big (but still
small) as our common (weedy) 'Blue-Eyed Grass' S. latifolium and a
good variation. Now I wonder if they'll set seed or even cross with
each other.

I also tried S. palmifolium without survival, but I have a
few more seedlings to sacrifice.

4. Iris speculatrix This is a fairly rare (in
cultivation) iris in the Chinenses Series. Originally described from
Hong Kong it grows farther north along the E. Coast of China. I've
grown this for years, but it has never been happy. At least 2 -maybe
three - moves and it has found a spot to its liking. The clump
doubled last year and now has 4 open flowers. The flowers are small
with a mix of pale lilac, white and yellow with an interesting halo
marking around the signal.

This is in the same group as I. odaesaanensis, I. koreana and
others. A good woodlander that would be happier a zone or 2 south of
here.

5. Iris 'Alley Oops' This was introduced a few years ago,
but I have finally grown a plant. The ancestry is unknown, but
guessed as a rare cross between I. pseudacorus and some Siberian
Iris. This is an odd chromosomal mix and surely it is sterile. The
flowers resemble I pseudacorus, but the falls have fine purple veins
washed with pale yellow. The yellow fades quickly to white. It is a
vigorous and intriguing mix of characters. So far, I 'think' I like
it.

Of course other choice non-bulbous plants are popping up
surely (in part) to our sudden change to warm weather. It would be
nice to be somewhere inbetween chill and sweltering like 'moderate'.

Oh well. Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 18:14:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Leo A. Martin" <leo@possi.org>
Subject: [pbs] Tigridia light requirements
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <2a2d54f5fa3447ec627b8487b9bbaf67.squirrel@http://www.possi.org/>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

I've taught myself I can't grow garden variety Tigridia outdoors in our
summer heat, but I still want them. What is the light like where they
originate in Mexico? I have some very bright windows.

By the way, Milla magnifica bulbs from the PBS BX a few years back are
sprouting. I moved them into a very large pot. Maybe flowers this year?

Thanks,

Leo Martin
Phoenix Arizona USA

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 18:37:33 -0700
From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Floral Treats
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <E1OGj7N-0007sy-GX@elasmtp-spurfowl.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Jim Waddick wrote:

This sounds very similar to 'Holden Clough', which I have in this
garden. It is a lot shorter in growth than I. pseudacorus but has
flowers like Jim describes. They make elegant floral arrangements,
especially in a copper or bronze container. It is a vigorous spreader
but fortunately I planted it where I didn't want anything else.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 24 May 2010 23:22:35 -0500
From: James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Floral Treats - wide crosses
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <p06240805c820fecd7051@[192.168.0.101]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Dear Jane and all,
Sort, but only slightly. 'Holden Clough', named after the UK
nursery where it was found was known to be a seedling of a 40
chromosome or Sino-Siberian and guessed at the other parent. Some
people think it is I. pseudacorus, others favor I foetidissima. It is
a bit tender here and I can't keep this one going.

'Alley Oops' is a cross with a 28 chromosome or Garden
Siberian with an unknown, but guessed to be I. pseudacorus.

Siberian Iris Series contain 2 distinct groups of species:
Sino-Siberians with 40 chromosomes each and a half dozen species, and
the more common garden siberians with only 3 species (siberica,
sanguinea and typhifolia). There's one know cross between these two
groups. Oddly both groups are all found in China (And some spread a
bit further afield)

40 chrom siberians have been crossed with a lot of other iris
most notably PCNS to make a group known as Cal-Sibes. The 28 chrom
species form the basis of most modern garden siberian iris, but there
are relatively few wide crosses.

......and there's relatively few people trying these odd
crosses , so when one turns up like 'Alley Oops' or the earlier
'Holden Clough' we all sit up and take notice.

Best Jim W.

--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 09:48:16 -0400
From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Floral Treats - wide crosses
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <6ED8348AA8814904A27FE092BD30D70E@Library>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I grow Iris 'Sea Krill' which I think is an I. pseudacorus cross. But I
don't really know anything about its ancestry. Can any one fill me in?

It?s shorter than typical I. pseudacorus and the flowers are a paler yellow.
They also have a burst of short red lines on the falls. Take a look here:

http://jimmckenney.com/iris_sea_krill.htm

Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871? North, 77.09829? West, USDA zone
7

My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/

BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/

Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS

Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/

Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 09:10:02 -0500
From: "Boyce Tankersley" <btankers@chicagobotanic.org>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Floral Treats - wide crosses
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID:
<52857FDB394B7E45BA1F2E60D7313E2A1223E05F@cbgmail.chicagobotanic.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I find this discussion of Iris pseudacorus very interesting. When we
were researching the literature for the invasive species risk analysis
we discovered this species actually has a number of races (I am not sure
this is the correct term) within in it with different chromosome
numbers.

Phenotypically, they all look identical to the human eye - and they are
all mixed up in commerce.

One of the hypothesis explaining why this 'species' has been so
successful in naturalizing native habitats is this genetic variability.
If one set of chromosome numbers doesn't provide the adaptive
characteristics apparently sometimes a different set will.

Like Jim Waddick in Kansas City, we have at last broken out of a cold
damp period and are enjoying some warm weather. Some of Jim Shields
Crinum crosses are in flower and a dark pink Hippeastrum hybrid. Both
are planted against the south facing side of my home where the winter
soil temperatures are moderated by the relatively warm basement wall.

Boyce Tankersley
Director of Living Plant Documentation
Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022
tel: 847-835-6841
fax: 847-835-1635
email: btankers@chicagobotanic.org

I grow Iris 'Sea Krill' which I think is an I. pseudacorus cross. But I
don't really know anything about its ancestry. Can any one fill me in?

------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 07:53:46 -0700
From: Diane Whitehead <voltaire@islandnet.com>
Subject: [pbs] yesterday's missing messages
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <80B3C233-3C78-4D49-9D18-9A076AE595E4@islandnet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

I was puzzled by Boyce's message this morning about Floral Treats -
wide crosses. It has Re: in front of it, which means he is replying
to a previous message, but I didn't receive the first message.

I checked in the archives and found messages sent yesterday that I
didn't receive.

It is possible that some others of you missed messages too. The place
to look is the pbs archives:

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…

Diane Whitehead

------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 08:10:36 -0700
From: Diane Whitehead <voltaire@islandnet.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] yesterday's missing messages
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <F23E403B-9530-4D4C-B7DE-9196DF80A264@islandnet.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

Well, wouldn't you know it - as soon as I complained, yesterday's
missing messages arrived from wherever they'd been hiding.

However, knowing about our archives is a good thing, not just for
messages that didn't arrive, but also for ones you may have deleted in
error, and ones that were posted long before you joined the PBS list.
It starts in June 2002.

You can search by date, author, subject and thread.

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php

Diane

------------------------------

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