Iris paradoxa habitat, was Onco seedlings
Jane McGary (Wed, 21 Oct 2015 10:40:50 PDT)
Bob Nold wrote,
"I was told that some of the oncos, like Iris paradoxa, grow in soils
with quite a bit of organic matter in the wild, but here they get “sandy
loam”, a purchased soil with no organic matter in it. "
I haven't seen all the onco species in the wild, but have seen a number
of them, and some of their soils didn't look very organic to me. A photo
of Iris paradoxa will appear with a little article I wrote for the next
Bulb Garden newsletter, and I hope it shows the substrate, because it
was on the very top of a rocky hill in what looked like pure mineral
soil, and flowering like mad. On the same trip I saw two subspecies of
Iris iberica (ssp. lycotis and ssp. elegantissima), and lycotis was
growing in grassland, but elegantissima atop a rocky knoll. Some other
species grow in desert sands. We did visit an agricultural experiment
station in Azerbaijan where various iris species (Onco and Bearded) were
being grown in a field in what appeared to be clay soil, but they had
been place on top of berms. We also saw Iris gatesii, an onco, growing
in a garden in woodland, but the gardener told us it came from far up
the nearby mountain.
Here in Portland, Oregon, growing pure Oncocyclus species is very
difficult because of the humid winters. Even under cover, the irises
(which make leaf growth in fall) are afflicted by molds unless regularly
sprayed, which I don't want to bother with. (An exception seems to be
Iris kirkwoodii, which I grew from seed and it is doing well in the bulb
house.) However, the Regeliocyclus hybrids, many of which have
beautiful flowers, do much better here. I've recently moved divisions of
some of them outdoors.
Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA
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