Is there some confusion about what species of Iris is being discussed
here? Iris latifolia ("English iris") is not from England at all, it is
from Spain and the French Pyrenees. When summer-dormant, the bulb has no
active roots and can be shipped dry. My plants are in amended clay soil
in areas that are watered only occasionally during our dry summers.
Although Brian Mathew ("The Iris," p. 136) describes its habitat as
"damp grassy places," it seems not to require any more summer moisture
than some other bulbs of vernally wet meadows, such as Camassia. I.
latifolia bulbs grow fairly shallowly and it's easy to pull them up by
mistake while removing the withered foliage. Had I known there was
interest in this species, I could have sent some to the earlier BX,
since they increase very fast and can be shipped easily in late summer,
which was how I received them as dry bulbs originally. I assumed it was
so common in gardens that no one would want them. Will try it next summer.
Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA
On 10/11/2021 11:15 AM, Robert Lauf via pbs wrote:
> I've seen reference to the fact that they are rarely offered commercially because they are hard to ship because the roots need to stay moist (like Louisiana iris). Is it possible to ship them from overseas nowadays, with the delays associated with APHIS, etc., and not have them die from drying out during the odyssey?
> Maybe APHIS would permit them to come in with hydrogel beads wrapped up in the roots? They are transparent and obviously clean to the eye, and if this approach has never come up, maybe someone should approach APHIS and get an advance opinion on whether it's a way around the requirement that imported plants need to be free of soil and potting medium? Just a wild thought that has likely occurred to others as well.
>
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