am I limited to these colours?

15 years ago

Around here everybody seems to think we are considered "zone 3" but when I look on the zonal map when you create a post, it seems I am more 2a-1b-ish. Am I truly limited to the type of iris I can get to grow here? They are my favorites and I have tried in the past to plant non-purple ones (eg, the ones that everyone and their dog has), but I've moved a fair bit and they haven't survived the constant transplanting. Now that I am in a more stationary place (if you follow what I mean because I don't think I used the correct phrase), *is* there anything else colour-wise that I can grow here, or am I stuck with the purples, purple & whites, yellow & browns that seem to be the only things that I have ever seen?

I admit I don't treat them very well. My last transplant involved me cutting a *large* chunk off someone's clump that didn't want them anymore and I just chucked them onto the pebbles at the edge of my garage - these'd be the purple ones that no one can kill. They bloom. They thrive. Them and the cockroaches, lol, will outlive armageddon.

I bought some pink(ish) spuria seeds off the web (I know I shouldn't trust sellers' opinions but they looked so purdy) and they have rather odd sowing instructions: drop in hot water overnight then in a warm local in dirt for a few weeks and then in the fridge in dirt for a few more weeks.

I successfully grow what is called here "grass iris" and looks just like the spuria seeds I purchased (in a different colour).

SO where I am going with all of this is: Am I *truly* limited for colours?

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Comments (2)

iris_gal
15 years ago
Hi Twyla,

The ubiquitous purple I assume is a Bearded. From reading here I know Tall Beardeds have a rough time in the very cold zones. People have better luck with the Standard Dwarf Beardeds (SDB).

Laurie Fraser is in zone 3 or 4 and has plenty of information at her site as well as a long list of what survives in Minnesots:
http://lfrazer.com/iris/catinfo.html

Chuck Chapman is a Canadian hybrizer in Ontario and has Tall Beardeds too.
http://www.chapmaniris.com/

The instructions for treatment of Spuria seeds I would follow. It is a method for stratification. Do you know anyone who grows Spurias in your zone? They are native to the Mediterrean but some have been grown in Montana & Minnesota (according to the Spuria Iris Society). They are a beardless iris and usually are about 4 feet tall.
TwylaG
Original Author
15 years ago
I haven't tried chapman's yet, but when I browsed inventory I found it was cheaper to go with Walnut garden's inventory.
I have a couple of dwarfs (but they are purple) and a couple of bearded (purple like in the link below.) All inherited.
Last fall I bought a colourul mix of five and of course when they shipped them the ground's already frozen, so they are in a pot in my living room right now. Last time I bought colourful ones they all just died outside; simply didn't grow.
WHen I buy an iris, it seems like I am jinxed and it just won't grow at all, so all of the ones I have now .. .have been "inherited".
re: spuria.
I bought the seeds on a whim because they were pinkish and I have in my side yard this ginormously tall "grass iris" (no, not blue eyed grass, i put that somewhere else). The grass iris has a stringy purple (of course) flowers and is as tall and occasionally taller than me with super thin blades. I don't know what else it would/could be, but it looks close to spuria so I am gambling on these seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: purple iris
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