The following four articles have been taken from past issues of the Group's Newletter.

SIBERIANS at Cleeton in 2000 by Jennifer Hewitt (February 2001)

      The year here did not go too well; although the early months were generally fairly mild and not too wet, there were some very chilly spells in late March/April, and so much rain that some of the sibirica beds became waterlogged, covered in thick liverwort or a black slime mould, and plants had to be rescued and moved to (relatively) drier places. This, though, solved the problem of where to plant a number of moisture-lovers, including a number of Tony Huber's versatas and others which have been sent to this country with a view to being entered in a trial for such irises at the RHS Wiseley Gardens - if or when such a trial comes to pass.
      The flowering season was nevertheless quite successful though as usual some varieties took a year off, not always for the first time! I am sure that our cool conditions account for newly arrived irises being slow to get going, though not all do so. Two rather cool summers, and 2000 was a third, doesn't help. At least there were some dry days suitable for making crosses though only about one-third eventually gave seed. Among irises flowering for the first time here were several which made a particular impact. 'Noel Aidan' (Foster '93), named after Harry's death for his son, is a tetraploid and a better shape than some of his earlier ones. A self rich blue-violet with small white signal and white-edged falls, it has been slow to start but now I look forward to seeing more of this good flower. It can also be seen in the sibirica trial at Wisley. 'Dawn Waltz' (Schafer/Sacks '98) is more willing, producing 6 stems in only its second summer here. A diploid light lavender-pink of broad ruffled form with creamy style arms, a very pretty iris. Similar in colour but otherwise quite different was Tomas Tamberg's 'Sibtosa Princess' ('98), bred from a converted tetraploid ('Pink Haze' x lavender I.setosa) x 'Fourfold Lavender' so it is ¾ sibirica ¼ setosa. This too flowered well and made an effective clump with well-branched stems and multiple blooms. Being tetraploid, it is fertile and set a number of bee pods, though crosses tried with tet Siberians failed.
      A third lavender-pink was Anne Mae Miller's diploid Siberian 'Aqua Whispers'('87) which won the Morgan-Wood Medal in 1995. A pretty flower, I have seen it doing well in the USA but it is not really happy here; I'm sure it would prefer hotter summers as in its home garden, but it does keep trying.
      I fell for 'That's My Baby' (Hollingworth '93) when I saw it in Michigan in its registration year and had to have it, but it is another which has taken its time to begin flowering here. Worth waiting for, though. It is a deep wine-red diploid, dwarf in height and at 12" (30 cm) did not reach its registered height of 21" (51cm) but to my eyes, being short just added to its charm.
      The real star waited until the beginning of July but can be forgiven as it only arrived in late 1999, and was certainly worth waiting for. Duncan Skene kindly sent me Barry Blyth's 'Superact' ('94), a very appropriate name for this glowing reddish violet diploid with gold signals and a lot of character.
      Some which have flowered before but are worth mentioning include Currier McEwen's tets 'Harpswell Snow' ('95) and 'Harpswell Snowburst' ('90). The first is particularly vigorous, a white of faring form. The name of the second refers to the expanded white signals which occupy a fair area of the falls which also have a white edge. Bob Hollingworth's 'Coronation Anthem' ('90) is a dramatic deep blue with large creamy signals which won the Morgan-Wood Medal in 1997 and does very well here. I wish I could say the same for his 'Over in Gloryland' which is the winner this year but lost it soon after it arrived; it is, however, a good iris elsewhere. 'Roaring Jelly' (Schafer/ Sacks '92) is one I make no apologies for mentioning again as it is a great favourite and anyone who does not grow this lavender-grey and raspberry diploid, Medal winner in 1999, is missing a treat.
      But finally 2000 was crowned by the award of the BIS Dykes Medal to Cy Bartlett's 1996 tetraploid 'Perfect Vision', another which everyone should grow as soon as it is available. The large, but proportionate to its height, flowers in shades of blue violet with pale turquoise and blue style arms which light up the centre have great personality. They are ruffled enough for liveliness but not so much as to hide its overall good form, and it grows and flowers generously, with good blue-toned foliage. It really is a good garden iris and one which will set a standard for years to come, though I hope judges will not overlook diploids of equal quality in their own way. A truly uplifting note on which to end.

PACIFIC COAST IRISES by Philip Jones (May 2000)

      In 1977 there were three things that attracted me to Pacific Coast Irises. The first was a photograph of the mixed hybrids in the Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue. Secondly some sensible person on an iris stand at one of the RHS shows in St Vincent Square sold me Victor Cohen's guide to the said irises and the author claimed that I did not need a greenhouse to germinate the seeds. All that was required was to leave the seed boxes outside during the winter. If it snowed you were allowed and even encouraged to roll snow balls on top of them. This I felt I could manage. Thirdly the key to success was to transplant in September. Any other time was fatal - though nowadays just after flowering is reckoned to be safe as well.
      I bought my seed from Orpington and it all germinated for me. For a week I felt I might be becoming an important horticultural person but then, not for the last time, I was moved to another religious community. I sent my iris seedlings to our community in Chawton where we have a large garden and a professional gardener. Nowadays a few of these irises still survive even though we have tried to dig them out. This is useful because we can compare these plants with the kind of irises we can grow from seed today courtesy of the British Iris Seed lists.
      Ten years ago, just after I arrived in Birmingham, I enquired about seed from the BIS. The secretary sent me a bagful to be going on with. I ordered more from the seed lists in the spring and I ended up with far more plants than I could manage for what is a small garden. However, there had been some interesting developments. The colour range was greater with rather strong browny orange shades, some of which I did not care for. There were a number of small plants, almost rockery size, which had pale mottled flowers. All these flowers grew well - far too well. They took over the whole garden and I decided to remove ones I did not like. I also divided them drastically after flowering. This was probably a mistake. It has taken a long time for the remnant to re-establish themselves. However, much of what was over I have sent down to Chawton, and our gardener Eddie Croucher, has started to select colour strains for crossing. The irises probably grow well for me because the soil is not too alkaline and the flower beds are raised - I try to grow lilies as well - and receive a heavy mulch in spring of compost made from stable straw.
      In the last couple of years some irises grown from the seed lists seem to show a different direction in breeding. Some of the flowers are smaller than usual even though the plant is medium height. Perhaps there is no intention at all, but if this is the case I consider myself fortunate because the flowers balance the leaves (which) are narrow tending towards grassy and bright green. It will be interesting to see if the second year is as good as the first.


My Irises(2) by Ray Jeffs (January 1979)

Since I started growing irises seriously (just after the war) I have probably been more interested in the beardeds but being interested in the whole genus have always enjoyed seeing other people's species and beardless and have always grown some of them. My first memories of irises were a long row of a sibirica hybrid my father grew on his allotment for cut flowers and sale to a florist. I think it was probably "Perry's Blue" and in about 1926. The fascinating gold veinings were much of the attraction and I must say I find modern varieties lacking the veins sometimes a little dull. Now as to my present irises. Water irises include I. pseudacorus "Golden Queen" (so much better than most forms), ditto bastardii and alba and my most recent acquisitions are from Germany - 3 tetraploid forms which look very flourishing. I have lost most of my collection of I. laevigata but have had most of them in the past - they don't stand neglect very well and that hot summer finished off several which have not yet been replaced. I love the red form of I. versicolor (kermesina) which is most reliable and proof against most conditions. Iris virginica is a fine one and is naturalised in a boggy spot together with several old varieties of I. sibirica, but I find the oldest varieties make the best clumps in these conditions. The grass is cut down around them after the irises flower and some manure sloshed on to suppress its growth and to encourage the irises. Of the interesting hybrids "Holden Clough" and "Gerald Darby" both do well and make huge clumps. The only P.C.I.1 that enthuses in my soggy waterlogged clay is "Banbury Beauty" whose F.C.C.2 was very well deserved. I. foetidissima, I. graminea, forms of I. spuria and its hybrids, and I. xiphioides which is the only bulbous one which puts up with my soil, all do well. Modern sibiricas include some Brummitt hybrids which do fairly well but "Cambridge" does not like me, being short of stem and relunctant to emerge from its spathes. Some of Dr. Tamberg's hybrids and Dr. McEwen's are yet too small to flower but I live in hope. I have just started to get I. kaempferi (I don't like its new name)3 to flower but it has taken them two years to recover from the drought year and I thought I had lost the variegated form. When it feels like it the Louisiana I. fulvala condescends to flower but our winter conditions are usually too harsh and the buds get killed. I can only grow the forms of I. reticulata in two places - one in a rockery and the other in some soil that incorporated masses of boiler ash. Of the Evansias I have a fine collection (thanks to Dr. Ellis) and they all do well in a cool greenhouse in which I grow cacti and succulents. Of them I think "Bourne Graceful" is the queen for colour, form, freedom of bloom and prodigality of buds, but not to mention its ease of cultivation and general good looks through the year.
If I could grow one iris I think it would be "Bourne Graceful" (if I had some protection for it) and if it had to be an outdoor one it would be the best form of Iris pseudacorus that I could lay my hands on. "Golden Queen" sometimes reaches 8ft in height with six branches and dozens of large golden flowers of rather floppy shape. I hope it will be replaced by one of the tetraploids with their solid substance and large well-flared flowers. However I hope to grow lots more species and hybrids in the future.
1      P.C.I. = Pacific Coast Iris
2      F.C.C. = First Class Certificate
3      I. kaempferi is now I. ensata

Raising Spurias from Seed by Adrian Whittaker (February 1988)

The method I use is the result of over a decade of trial and modification. It is simple, gives satisfactory results for me, and will, I hope, be of help to others.
      Those of you who have raised seed of other Iris groups and garden perennials should have no trouble. The results are comparable with, say, T.B. seed and the method similar.
      Rembering that, in the main, for the Spurias, seed will be scattered from the pods, in the wild, during Autumn/early Winter, to lie on or near the surface of the ground during a cold winter until the site becomes marsh-like in Spring and early Summer, we have some idea of the conditions required i.e. winter chill followed by moist warm conditions.
      The condition of the seed at planting is significant, in terms of the time to germinate. Well ripened seed will normally take a full year to break dormancy, therefore seed other than your own should be assumed to be in this state, unless obviously very fresh. If you intend to raise seed from your own plants, it is possible to save a year, in most cases, by planting straight from the pod, whilst the seeds are still beige or pale green in color. Watch the pods carefully, until they start splitting at the tip, then open it up, remove the seeds and plant immediately.
      I have tried both putting the seed outside to overwinter and also chilling for several weeks in a domestic fridge at between 2-4 degrees cent. I now, always overwinter outside, since the results appear fractionally better, maybe because the temperature 'cycles' rather than remaining constant.
      Seed can be planted, either in a prepared bed or pots - there are valid arguments for both methods. I've settled for pots, since they can be moved around, for example, into the shade if you go away on holiday or into protection, if the Winter is really severe and the seedlings still small. The price to pay is the necessity to transplant, which with Spurias can be a little tricky.
      Seed is planted ½" deep in large pots (or a 4 litre plastic ice-cream container, with drain holes cut into the base), about 15 seeds per pot is plenty since they have to remain in the pot for at least a year after germinating.
      After planting, cover with a thin layer of fine gravel/grit to prevent disturbance of the seed by wind and rain. I use 50/50 sand/peat mix. The pots are then placed against a S.West wall and kept moist not wet at all times. If the seedlings dry slightly, at any stage, dormancy can set in, and everything comes to a halt for a year. Pots soon dry out, so light shade can be a good idea in a hot Summer. Once the seedling germinate, I give a half strength liquid feed every two weeks, until the onset of their first Winter.
      Mature Spurias generally transplant best in Sept./Oct. in my experience, but if you have planted green seeds in the Autumn you might expect and see germination the following Spring. Therefore, assuming at least a year in the pots, from germination, you have the choice of planting out the following year in, say, April or September. Any drying out of the seedlings during or after transplantation must be avoided, so choose suitable weather conditions and keep a watch on them after transplanting.
      I would expect over 50% germination in most cases. Look out for any small but steady growing seedlings, since these sometimes produce much better flowers than the 'galloping green giants'! Do not forget the labels at all stages. When planting out to the final spot or row, remember that Spurias, generally, do not enjoy a move. Do allow enough room for each one to develop fully in its chosen place.
      At present, I am trying out Hydroponics as a means of speeding the growth of seedlings, but althought there is some improvement in the rate of growth, the resultant root systems are not really ideal for normal soil culture, later on, as might be expected. It could be a viable technique if you wish to grow the plants to maturity by this means, however.
      Good Luck in your seed growing...

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