Thursday afternoon, just before shutting down my work computer, I got an email from my arborist. His crew was going to have time to take out a few trees that he had been unable to finish cutting down earlier this year. I thought: fantastic! He let me know the crew would be here at 9am. Okay, I was a little surprised, but still excited. Six am and the backup beeping of a tractor-trailer outside my bedroom window shocked me awake. Even my neighbor, the former excavator, wouldn't start moving heavy equipment at 6am. Bleary-eyed, I went outside to confirm that this crew was in fact going to repair our little rural road. Today. Well, that was fine. I needed to head into town to go to the doctor's office and have some blood drawn. Blasted off a little after 7am and arrived a half hour later, none the worse for wear. No one was waiting, so I was quickly called to the front desk. The usual pleasantries were exchanged: name, DOB, referring doctor, was I fasting, etc. The nurse...
Two years ago, we planted our first few iris pseudata... starting with 'Yukiyanagi', 'Alabama Blue Fin' and 'Yarai'. All of them grew so much in the last two years that they have needed to be divided and moved. In 2024, we acquired quite a few more, including the ones in the photos below. 'Alabama Blue Fin' might get the grower-of-the-year award after more than doubling in size in less than a season! So what's the big deal about iris pseudata? For one thing, it is a species cross (sometimes written SPECX) between iris pseudacorus and iris ensata (images below). From this combination you achieve tremendous vigor from the pseudacorus, and you get color variation and richness from the ensata. 'Ause' ( Carol Warner , R. 2014) SPEC-X (pseudata) One of the most reliable pseudata/pseudacorus parents is 'Gubijin'. Not a true pseudacorus, with an odd chromosome count of 2n=35. However, it is happy to be the pod parent for nearly all ps...
The 2025 Society for Siberian Iris /SIGNA Joint Convention in Ames, Iowa, was a glorious study in contrasts. As this was my first iris convention, I had no idea what to expect. Driving from Des Moines to Ames I found myself staring out the window, catching sight of Baptisia minor in full bloom along the interstate. Coming from Upstate New York, where the seasons had only recently begun to creep into spring, the weather in Iowa was quite a shock. Apparently, Ames had already experienced multiple days above 90°F and was actually experiencing a cold spell during the convention. Since I had arrived early, I took advantage of the time before the first garden tour to zip over to the nearby Reiman Gardens. These botanical gardens at Iowa State University were a suggested side-trip for anyone attending from out of town. I was surprised by the glorious Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing at the entrance. Despite being told by the docents that there were hundreds of individual butterflies insi...
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