Iris cretensis is one of my all-time faves. I've had it for about 15 years now, and I've had it bloom many-a-time on Christmas Day some years, and New Years Day in other years. It will pretty much bloom whenever there is a warm spell in the 50's & 60's during winter. Oh, by the way, I grow mine outdoors unprotected year-round. Dennis in Cincinnati On Sat, Dec 21, 2013 at 5:13 PM, Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>wrote: > Temperatures here in the greater Washington, D.C. area were in the upper > sixties F today - a few warm spots probably topped seventy. A quick look > through the garden turned up a few snowdrops blooming here and there and in > one of the cold frames a Cyclamen persicum and an Iris unguicularis. In > another cold frame little Iris cretensis is blooming too. Iris lazica grows > in the same frame and has not started to bloom yet. In an opwn space > between the two cold frames, my longest established Iris unguicularis is > also blooming. In my community garden plots about a mile from home I > noticed yesterday that a plant of Crocus ochroleucus was more or less in > bloom. > > On a windowsill inside the house two plants of white hoop petticoat > daffodils were blooming for about two weeks (I keep the house cold). The > names are different, but they look alike to me. These will go out into the > cold frames soon. > > A handsome male robin stopped by today and chirped for me for a few > minutes - I took the hint and threw him some raisins. > > The next drop into the below freezing range is predicted to occur on > Wednesday morning, just in time to put the Christmas list in doubt. > > Jim McKenney > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where on a day like this > it's easy to spend a lot of time examining the foliage of the seedling > cyclamen in the unprotected frames. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >