Starting Again

And just what are we starting again? Everything, I suppose.

 I decided to start writing again, after a lengthy hiatus. In the past, I would write about goings on in the pottery studio or in the photography studio. With both of those endeavors in the rear view mirror now, it felt like a good time to turn my eyes forward to what we are exploring in the garden. I always love reading garden blogs, especially those written by those actually understand the value of good writing. All too often nowadays, "content" boils down to whatever can be monetized or will increase readership. I would wager that a year from now, the majority of those sites will be entirely written by AI. For all I know, it might even result in better writing. 

Which begs the question: Why return to writing now? I would argue that it is a sign of defiance. After the election, I fell into an abyss of angst and despair. Rather than give in to the feelings of helplessness and desperation, I thought about the nature of refusing to comply. Disobedience. Sabotage. How does one say: "No, I will not go peacefully"? 

I have always felt that gardening is one of the most clear signs of refusing to follow rules. Ask any gardener, and they will tell you how they tried something that "the rules" said wouldn't work. They wanted something to grow in a place that was ill suited. They wanted to bring a little sunshine to a dark place in the yard. That's disobedience. That is refusing to go along with the accepted rules.

And in the end, it is creativity unleashed.

 

Winter sown seeds covered in snow, January 2024

Iris virginica 'Contraband Girl', (Mrs. W. E. Duplechain, R. 1953)

Four years ago, I started experimenting with winter sowing. At the time, it was a very hip thing to do. Gather ye milk jugs while ye may. I learned a great deal from my winter sown seeds. I learned bits and pieces about stratification, vernalization,... what works and what fails. Along the way I also found out that most annuals are quite tender, and most perennials are far tougher than I had thought. That informed each successive year's winter sowing.

As the years progressed, I discovered that milk jugs don't survive terribly long when exposed to the elements. Three years, tops. After that, I often found myself surprised by the rim of a gallon jug suddenly cracking into tiny pieces which usually resulted in me wearing whatever seedlings happened to be in that jug. Oops.

In 2023, I had tried starting some of my open pollinated seeds from my Siberian iris 'Caesar's Brother'. Not knowing the pollen parent, it was a bit of a guess as to how they might turn out. 2023 was also the year I discovered that I have congestive heart failure. More on that in another post. 2023 was the first year I purchased Siberian irises from other growers and hybridizers. By the end of summer, there were a few Siberian irises, dotted throughout one of our newly made beds. Bit by bit, I started learning more about Siberian irises and other beardless irises. I joined our local iris group in Rochester (Greater Rochester Iris Society). It didn't take much for me to realize that most growers of irises tend to favor the bearded sorts, especially the tall bearded irises (TB). My soil conditions tend toward the wet, heavy clay side of soil and the weather in our area often has early freezes in the fall and late frosts in the spring. Supposedly we are zone 5, but I remain skeptical.

Fast forward to this year. Back in January of 2024, the year started off with my first attempt at germinating iris seeds from SIGNA and NARGS. SIGNA is the Species Iris Group of North America, and NARGS is the North American Rock Garden Society. Both offer seed exchanges in the winter.

In the photos above, you can see the gallon jugs, with their lids removed, encouraging the snow to accumulate during the winter. The hope was that the rains and snows would wash off the germination inhibition coat that most iris seeds have. I sowed seeds from so many different varieties of irises... all in the overly optimistic hope that they would all germinate like seeds from the garden store. Hah!

I'll give away the results right now, but will save the details for another post. Not even half germinated. 

But those that germinated in the early spring were subsequently either potted up into module trays or into their own larger pots. Eventually they ended up being lined out into the garden area reserved for these new iris seedlings. 

The initial poor germination was very disappointing. It took a fair bit of research before I came to realize that irises need a little deeper understanding to grasp their ecological needs. Luckily, a few folks on Facebook suggested that I not panic and instead should be patient and hope that they germinate after another winter's rest under a blanket of snow. Ironically, this has been the driest autumn I have ever experienced in this area. Usually we can count on weekly rains from September through November. We have had two minor rains since August. Makes me concerned about the seeds having enough moisture flushing the inhibition coat off... but we shall see.

In other posts, I hope to remember to discuss germination, ideas on root development, growing goals, hybridizing ideas, folks I have met (both in person and online)... but I'll save that for other posts.