Bearded Iris Progress Report. 7.19.14

Historic Bearded Iris Raised Bed #2

Historic Bearded Iris Raised Bed #1

I really messed up the historic iris beds last year.  I gave them lots of TLC, compost, lime, coffee grounds, eggshells, and a small nitrogen boost.  Growth was lush and thick.  They looked great going into winter.

Then this Spring, they grew lush again, then were hit with multiple waves of bacterial rot.  Clump after clump was affected, with some losing almost all of the leaf fans, some losing a few.  A few were lost entirely.  Some have one tiny shoot remaining.

Meanwhile, the irises I planted in the fence-row, and in borders by the house, were entirely neglected and had no bacterial rot.  They bloomed reasonably well.

Realizing the TLC was the problem, but not knowing what aspect of TLC, I left the historic iris raised beds alone for the rest of Spring and early summer.

Meanwhile, this Spring I received an order of several varieties from Old House Gardens, and this week a partial order from Schreiner's.  I would not have ordered them, had I known the bacterial rot would be so challenging, but those orders were from some time back.

Today I weeded and culled Historic Bearded Iris Bed #2.  Culls:  All but one cluster of Cherry Garden.  That variety did survive the epidemic, but blooms too early, in the rain, which destroys many of the flowers.  The bloom time is short.  I still like it, very pretty, so kept one cluster.   I culled Romeo, which may be mislabeled, was ugly, bloomed only in Fall for 2 years, when the flowers are made even uglier by the rains.  Some varieties came through the epidemic like champions - Loreley, Sunny Disposition, and some fans of Los Coyotes.  The new rhizomes of Owyhee Desert and Gay Geisha barely survived, but have some small baby shoots.  The rest were in between.  From the areas where I removed rhizomes, or where there was no longer a cluster, I dug out the soil, replacing with powderized mole hill soil, without supplement or compost.  I planted the replacement Gingersnap  from Schreiners, where the prior one died.  I planted Mrs. George Darwin, Dauntless, and Crimson King where others were removed, in the replacement soil.  Dauntless has a suspicious area, may have bacterial rot.  Will try anyway.  I removed the weeds and all of the sedum, so there would not be plants shading the rhizomes.    I watered them in.  Debated doing that.  The summer days are hot, sunny, and dry.  I hope that means no further epidemic, and the watering helps them establish.  But no other TLC.

I pulled just enough weeds from bed #3 to plant the new variety "June Krauss".  That is also in un-enriched replacement soil.

I pulled some weeds and removed clusters of Chinese Chives from Historic Iris Bed #1. I liked the Chinese Chives there but they take too much room.  I dug out the first row, including the tiny remaining sprout of Shannopin and small sprouts of Flavescens and Alcazar.  I replaced the soil with unimproved soil, and replanted those 3 plants.  They may not have enough growth to bloom next year.  If they produce enough for growth the following year, that will make me happy.  I removed a few more weeds, watered the rest lightly because the soil is too hard to get the weeds out, and watered in the replanted irises.

I don't want to lose the Alcazar.  I hope it survives.

The Chinese chives are sitting in the shade.  They need a new location.  They are seedlings from my parents' yard, so I don't want to lose them.

Beared Iris Order. Traits to seek. Lessons Learned. 5.7.14

Today I added orders for 3 varieties of bearded iris.  Two are heritage varieties.  Heritage varieties are 30 years old, or older.

Beverly Sills.  1979.  Listed as vigorous.  Pink.  There are not a lot of pink heritage varieties.  The vigor would be welcomed as well.  Bloom time early midseason.

Gingersnap.  1969.  Fragrant, listed as root beer scent.  I bought this last year, but it succumbed to bacterial rot.  I am taking a change to try again due to the fragrance.

June Kraus.  2009.  Not a heritage variety.  Nice ruffled pink.  Listed as late season.

Traits to seek.  Lessons learned.

Currently the irises that were not in the raised beds, did not develop bacterial rot.  Some were in beds that had added compost.  I had over-nurtured the raised beds with dilute plant food last summer.   Ultimately, all of the irises in the raised beds had some bacterial rot.  This hear, I will not over nurture them.  Just remove weeds. remove some of the unwanted varieties and replace with new ones or others I already have.

So -

-Don't water in summer or fall.  Or be very careful.
-Don't fertilize.  Or be very careful.
-Take note of the least affected varieties.  In this case, that's Pallida dalmatica, Pallida vareigata, Germanica, and a few others.

In addition, the earliest bloomers are the most affected by rain.  It's drier here after early may.  Try to aim for late season varieties.

The tiny ones can be nice, but are so short, they are difficult to see and almost impossible to smell.  I will remove some of those to make room for later, taller varieties.

That's the plan.

Despite the bacterial rot, there are more flowers this year than next year.  The worst seems to be over.  Some references state remove all of the affected varieties, but in my case, that's everything in all of the raised beds.  So I will depend on plant hygiene and more appropriate growth conditions, and see if they grow better this time around.

Iris Bed. New additions from Schreiner's.

New Iris Order from Schreiner's

 Iris order from Schreiner's came today.  As in previous years, the rhizomes are very big, firm, clean.  The leaves are green.  The packaging breathes, so they don't start rotting in shipment.  I don't think anyone does as good a job packaging and shipping iris rhizomes.

They sent a bonus rhizome - variety "Red Dirt Road".  Looks like a beautiful variety.  I added it to what will be iris bed #3.

New Irises, Planted.

The new rhizomes are planted.  I removed a large variegated, scented geranium.  Last weekend I moved out two large lemon balm plants.  They went to the orchard, fruit tree surrounds.  Much too big for the iris bed.  The chives may have to go soon too.  Or I can arrange differently.  Oregano also grows too large for this arrangement.

This bed is getting close to capacity.  I might change the arrangement of herbs next year, so they don't crowd the irises.  The big leafy plant is swiss chard.  It will come out soon.  Tasty in stir fry.

The white material is crushed eggshell.  Pacific NW soils are reported to be calcium deficient, so I save eggshells, dry them, crush in a large mortar and pestle, and sprinkle them liberally over the soil.  They will gradually mix into the soil and won't be visible, in a few weeks.

The miniature marigolds grew nicely and are blooming.  They have a nice marigold leaf smell.  Makes me wonder why buy marigold plants, when they do so well from seeds.

Bearded Iris Order

Gingersnap 1965

Gracchus 1884

 It's a rainy day, 4th day in a row.  Chilly, 40s.  Not inspired to work in the rain in the garden.

Even though I'm streamlining in some ways, and giving up some varieties, I ordered these.  Mainly for the heritage varieties and fragrance.

Gingersnap is described as having a root beer scent.

Gracchus is not described as scented.  I saw a bed of this variety at Schreiner's.  It is better in person than in the catalog.

Owyhee Desert is unusual.  The flowers are described as smaller than most.  Good in a rainy climate were the big flowers fall over.

Photos are from Schreiner's.  Since I'm linking to them, I hope it's OK that I'm posting them here.  Every order from them has been excellent.

Owyhee Desert 1997