Hi, I think I should re-introduce myself before I
do my message. I was reading and posting a bit
a couple of years ago while I was building up
my garden from nothing. It's a small north facing
E. London garden which is quite jungly and looking
very lush at the moment.

I have a small pond with 3 goldfish that are growing
nicely and a large clump of iris Pseudacorus growing
in a pond basket rather too nicely. They've grown 5'
and I'm going to replace them with the smaller
iris Laevigata Dorothy next week.

After living in the pond would they thrive in the
ground if I gave them to neighbours? Alternatively
is it worth offering my Pseudacorus to anybody
here or are they like 10 a penny and everybody
gets rid of them? I don't have room for a compost
heap here and I hate throwing stuff away...

I have some iris Sibirica which I intended to plant
in the boggy bit of the pond but when my hubbie
completed the pond he couldn't quite manage the
bog. So I re-potted them last month, they're not
dying but not thriving either. Could I chance them
in the pond? Or should I find a friend with
a boggy area?

*******
Barbara
Pick out the stones to email me
*******

"BK" wrote in message
...
Hi, I think I should re-introduce myself before I
do my message. I was reading and posting a bit
a couple of years ago while I was building up
my garden from nothing. It's a small north facing
E. London garden which is quite jungly and looking
very lush at the moment.

I have a small pond with 3 goldfish that are growing
nicely and a large clump of iris Pseudacorus growing
in a pond basket rather too nicely. They've grown 5'
and I'm going to replace them with the smaller
iris Laevigata Dorothy next week.

After living in the pond would they thrive in the
ground if I gave them to neighbours? Alternatively
is it worth offering my Pseudacorus to anybody
here or are they like 10 a penny and everybody
gets rid of them? I don't have room for a compost
heap here and I hate throwing stuff away...

I have some iris Sibirica which I intended to plant
in the boggy bit of the pond but when my hubbie
completed the pond he couldn't quite manage the
bog. So I re-potted them last month, they're not
dying but not thriving either. Could I chance them
in the pond? Or should I find a friend with
a boggy area?

*******
Barbara
Pick out the stones to email me
*******

Barbara,

The Iris sibirica will do fine if planted in the ground. Just water
them well in dry weather. I don't have a pond and all my irises,
including ensata, do fine in well-drained soil, just so long as they
don't dry out. They have all flowered well this year. According to
the iris specialists in France, Cayeux, all irises are fine if planted
in the ground just so long as you keep them watered in the hot summer
months.

Regards
Iris McCanna

BK wrote:

Hi, I think I should re-introduce myself before I
do my message. I was reading and posting a bit
a couple of years ago while I was building up
my garden from nothing. It's a small north facing
E. London garden which is quite jungly and looking
very lush at the moment.

I have a small pond with 3 goldfish that are growing
nicely and a large clump of iris Pseudacorus growing
in a pond basket rather too nicely. They've grown 5'
and I'm going to replace them with the smaller
iris Laevigata Dorothy next week.

After living in the pond would they thrive in the
ground if I gave them to neighbours? Alternatively
is it worth offering my Pseudacorus to anybody
here or are they like 10 a penny and everybody
gets rid of them? I don't have room for a compost
heap here and I hate throwing stuff away...
Oh yes.. I sold them at a local plant sale at 50p a root (clipped down
and bare rooted) and they went like hotcakes.. They weren't even in
pots, just laid on a bit of plastic

At that price its not worth selling large ones online though. Unless
you find a willing buyer elsewhere.

Quicker to give them away or swap.. Some of us are having a 'meet' at
Kew on Tues.. we will be swapping plants..;-)
//
J

"BK" wrote in message ...
iris Pseudacorus growing
in a pond basket rather too nicely.
After living in the pond would they thrive in the
ground if I gave them to neighbours? Alternatively
is it worth offering my Pseudacorus to anybody
here or are they like 10 a penny

They are robust and easy but still a nice plant to have in the right situation - which is pretty well anywhere so long as it's
reliably moist.

Rod

Barbera wrote in message ...


I have some iris Sibirica which I intended to plant
in the boggy bit of the pond but when my hubbie
completed the pond he couldn't quite manage the
bog. So I re-potted them last month, they're not
dying but not thriving either. Could I chance them
in the pond? Or should I find a friend with
a boggy area?

I have I sibirica planted in our pond and they thrive. Just keep the crown
slightly above water level and they will love it. Could replace you I
pseudoacorus with them. They look nicer all summer with their grassy
foliage.

--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

"Jim W" wrote
Oh yes.. I sold them at a local plant sale at 50p a root (clipped down
and bare rooted) and they went like hotcakes.. They weren't even in
pots, just laid on a bit of plastic

At that price its not worth selling large ones online though. Unless
you find a willing buyer elsewhere.

Quicker to give them away or swap.. Some of us are having a 'meet' at
Kew on Tues.. we will be swapping plants..;-)
//
J

Jim and everybody, thanks for your advice. I think I'll have to persuade
neighbours to grow them - it feels like re-homing my cat LOL!

I'll try to come along to the meet if I can. The Orangery at 10:30? Is
that still the arrangement? I haven't been to Kew for years, its about
time I made the effort g. If I do come, how should I prepare the
irises? I haven't taken them out of the pond yet but can do this
evening.

While we're talking about swaps, I'm looking for something to plant
against a small 3' wall at the front of my terrace house. Something
fairly fast growing and a bit different. South facing once it grows
over the wall. It's not a cold spot, I have a pelargonium that
survived the winter very nicely and is resting its flowers on the
top of the wall.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

--
*******
Barbara
Pick out the stones to email me
*******

"BK" wrote in news:3f22bc83
@dnews0.news.legend.net.uk:

After living in the pond would they thrive in the
ground if I gave them to neighbours? Alternatively
is it worth offering my Pseudacorus to anybody
here or are they like 10 a penny and everybody
gets rid of them? I don't have room for a compost
heap here and I hate throwing stuff away...

I have some iris Sibirica which I intended to plant
in the boggy bit of the pond but when my hubbie
completed the pond he couldn't quite manage the
bog. So I re-potted them last month, they're not
dying but not thriving either. Could I chance them
in the pond? Or should I find a friend with
a boggy area?


You can make quite a good boggy area out of a cheap black plastic pot or
bucket sunk into the earth, as long as it doesn't have holes in (cheap
ones from a market often don't).

Dig large hole: insert pot with top at ground level.

Fill with the garden soil you dug out, and plant irises.

Top up with water till soggy.

You can't see it's a pot if you plant stuff round the edges, and it's
much less of a pain to keep watered than wet-loving things planted
straight into well-drained soil. Just give it a topup if it stays
really dry for weeks.

Recommend only using black: anything else will be visibly plasticky.

I've done this with iris, and they stay green and cheerful even when the
soil is cracked with drought.

Victoria

"Victoria Clare" wrote

You can make quite a good boggy area out of a cheap black plastic pot or
bucket sunk into the earth, as long as it doesn't have holes in (cheap
ones from a market often don't).

Dig large hole: insert pot with top at ground level.

Fill with the garden soil you dug out, and plant irises.

Top up with water till soggy.

You can't see it's a pot if you plant stuff round the edges, and it's
much less of a pain to keep watered than wet-loving things planted
straight into well-drained soil. Just give it a topup if it stays
really dry for weeks.

Recommend only using black: anything else will be visibly plasticky.

I've done this with iris, and they stay green and cheerful even when the
soil is cracked with drought.

Victoria

That's a great idea, thanks. And thanks for the other tips.

Would somebody please cast their eyes over this little lot please...

http://www.crazycaz.com/pseudacorus.jpg

(I have to take this down after a couple of days as it's my
daughter's web site g)

I didn't realise they were so difficult to pull apart. Have
I taken too much off the roots and rhizomes? I'll cut the
green back and put them in a bucket tonight.

And that's less than half of what I've got so far! I'll pack
up a few to take with me to Kew.

*******
Barbara
Pick out the stones to email me
*******

"BK" wrote in news:3f258c4e$1
@dnews0.news.legend.net.uk:

Would somebody please cast their eyes over this little lot please...

http://www.crazycaz.com/pseudacorus.jpg

(I have to take this down after a couple of days as it's my
daughter's web site g)

I didn't realise they were so difficult to pull apart. Have
I taken too much off the roots and rhizomes? I'll cut the
green back and put them in a bucket tonight.

I think they should be OK like that: as long as there is some root they
will come bouncing back. Just make sure they don't dry out.

If you are trying to get rid of them though, you might want to cut the rest
into bigger chunks! That's an awful lot of friends and neighbours!

Victoria