Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the
pond!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 25/03/2014 22:27, Sacha wrote:
Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the pond!




Good luck with that, Sacha. I love irises, so I understand your angst.
I've got a few to plant, but put it off while my finger healed (the
dreaded Cellulitis!), so as soon as I can I must put them in a sunny spot.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

On 2014-03-26 16:42:24 +0000, Spider said:

On 25/03/2014 22:27, Sacha wrote:
Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the pond!

Good luck with that, Sacha. I love irises, so I understand your angst.
I've got a few to plant, but put it off while my finger healed (the
dreaded Cellulitis!), so as soon as I can I must put them in a sunny
spot.

Thanks, Spider! I hope your healing is rapid! The strange thing is -
or is it? - that while some Iris the very generous Bob gave me simply
drowned in 2012, a truly appalling wet year, Dahlias are never lifted
here and so far, continue to thrive. But it is fair to say that most
of those that have done that so far are species. I hope the Dahlia
varieties we had in front of the house last year all come back this
year. We've had so little frost but it has been wet here and there!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

"sacha" wrote

Spider said:

Sacha wrote:
Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the
pond!

Good luck with that, Sacha. I love irises, so I understand your angst.
I've got a few to plant, but put it off while my finger healed (the
dreaded Cellulitis!), so as soon as I can I must put them in a sunny
spot.

Thanks, Spider! I hope your healing is rapid! The strange thing is - or is
it? - that while some Iris the very generous Bob gave me simply drowned in
2012, a truly appalling wet year, Dahlias are never lifted here and so far,
continue to thrive. But it is fair to say that most of those that have
done that so far are species. I hope the Dahlia varieties we had in front
of the house last year all come back this year. We've had so little frost
but it has been wet here and there!

It is strange but we had the same sort of wet as you and we are on clay/silt
but ours came through well after a slow start.
Looked at them this week and gave them a handfull or two of Growmore,
despite the winter wet they are already back looking good for this year.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 2014-03-26 22:48:45 +0000, Bob Hobden said:

"sacha" wrote

Spider said:

Sacha wrote:
Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the pond!

Good luck with that, Sacha. I love irises, so I understand your angst.
I've got a few to plant, but put it off while my finger healed (the
dreaded Cellulitis!), so as soon as I can I must put them in a sunny
spot.

Thanks, Spider! I hope your healing is rapid! The strange thing is -
or is it? - that while some Iris the very generous Bob gave me simply
drowned in 2012, a truly appalling wet year, Dahlias are never lifted
here and so far, continue to thrive. But it is fair to say that most
of those that have done that so far are species. I hope the Dahlia
varieties we had in front of the house last year all come back this
year. We've had so little frost but it has been wet here and there!

It is strange but we had the same sort of wet as you and we are on
clay/silt but ours came through well after a slow start.
Looked at them this week and gave them a handfull or two of Growmore,
despite the winter wet they are already back looking good for this year.

I'm very hopeful because these are looking very spritely. The only
exception is one that was a freebie, which looks a bit bedraggled but
one can hardly complain!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 2014-03-26 22:48:45 +0000, Bob Hobden said:

"sacha" wrote

Spider said:

Sacha wrote:
Today, I planted out 13 Iris I had bought from Cayeux. They've been in
pots for months and Ray had kindly moved them into a tunnel when we had
incessant rain. The border they're in is very narrow and faces due
south and west as it turns a corner. Lots of grit was dug into it, so
now I cross my fingers and hope for the very best! Ours is a wet
garden, so not ideal for these beautiful plants so this is my last
serious attempt to grow them. If these fail, I'll buy just a couple
more and put them where another appears to have seeded itself by the pond!

Good luck with that, Sacha. I love irises, so I understand your angst.
I've got a few to plant, but put it off while my finger healed (the
dreaded Cellulitis!), so as soon as I can I must put them in a sunny
spot.

Thanks, Spider! I hope your healing is rapid! The strange thing is -
or is it? - that while some Iris the very generous Bob gave me simply
drowned in 2012, a truly appalling wet year, Dahlias are never lifted
here and so far, continue to thrive. But it is fair to say that most
of those that have done that so far are species. I hope the Dahlia
varieties we had in front of the house last year all come back this
year. We've had so little frost but it has been wet here and there!

It is strange but we had the same sort of wet as you and we are on
clay/silt but ours came through well after a slow start.
Looked at them this week and gave them a handfull or two of Growmore,
despite the winter wet they are already back looking good for this year.

I'd guess the problem with your originals is that the border they were
in was at the bottom of the field at the very back of the Nursery. We
know it's always inclined to be wettest up there if there's any wet
about but in 2012, it was saturated and a lot of water both above and
below ground must have drained down to those beds. You may remember
there's a fair slope there, so neither the iris at the bottom, nor our
attemtped veg/fruit plot halfway up, stood a hope in hell!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

"Sacha" wrote
I'd guess the problem with your originals is that the border they were in
was at the bottom of the field at the very back of the Nursery. We know
it's always inclined to be wettest up there if there's any wet about but in
2012, it was saturated and a lot of water both above and below ground must
have drained down to those beds. You may remember there's a fair slope
there, so neither the iris at the bottom, nor our attemtped veg/fruit plot
halfway up, stood a hope in hell!


A bit like our allotment site where the roadway is lower than our plots so
the water drains off the plots into the "grass" road making it a mud bath.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 2014-03-28 12:22:32 +0000, Bob Hobden said:

"Sacha" wrote
I'd guess the problem with your originals is that the border they were
in was at the bottom of the field at the very back of the Nursery. We
know it's always inclined to be wettest up there if there's any wet
about but in 2012, it was saturated and a lot of water both above and
below ground must have drained down to those beds. You may remember
there's a fair slope there, so neither the iris at the bottom, nor our
attemtped veg/fruit plot halfway up, stood a hope in hell!


A bit like our allotment site where the roadway is lower than our plots
so the water drains off the plots into the "grass" road making it a mud
bath.

Sounds like it! I actually got stuck in the chicken run up there one
day, wobbling about on one foot as I fought to extricate a wellie from
the mud! It came out with reluctance and just before I overbalanced.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk