Planting seedlings

I found a large paper packet of seeds from 2010 BIS distribution. A complete mixture of things  but all looking dark and fine. Having had instruction on speeding up seedling growth a couple of weeks ago, I though I'd give it a go.

soaking seeds

Plastic bags purchased from IKEA - they're pretty red stripey bags, perlite from Homebase - not so pretty and jolly expensive, and a tray loaded with soaking seeds - 48 hours in the end.

teeny seeds 'relaxing' in the perlite

The idea is to soak the outer coat before easing it off - NOT as easy as it sounds, then pop the de-coated pale seeds into moist, not wet, perlite in a plastic bag, seal the bag and put that in the fridge for 6 weeks. Of course labelling is vital but as you can see mine smudged all over so fingers x'd it will be readable in 6 weeks.

hydrator bound bags of seeds

Follow that by planting them in compost and leaving on a warm windowsill from xmas to actual spring when they are ready to go outside and into the ground - in theory.

Basically it fools the seed into thinking it's had winter (vernalisation in the fridge time!) and that spring is  nice and warm/wet. Then there is a really LOOOOOONG summer (from planting to the end of real summer). Plants can apparently flower in 15-18 months with this method, which is great considering normal process is 2-3 years to flowering!



My hydrator is full of red stripey plastic bags full of vermiculite and tiny pale seeds.

Re Blooming

SO Ben a Factor has rebloomed. Bearing in Mind it is 8th October and this plant was moved, and divided in August, I think it's quite the feat.

Some iris re-bloom true but ask the experts and they will tell you that it takes a lot out of the plant to do this, sometimes they will then not be able to flower the following year or it simply weakens the plant thus making it susceptible to disease and less able to recover from predators.

Ben a Factor is not actually listed as a re bloomer, nor has it been fed or pushed in anyway. Remarkable, all I can think is that it thought spring was here during our warm October spell and quickly got a flower spike up, it is one of the earlier ones.

The single flower is not one of the best, the colours are a bit muddy and it's only 1 flower, usually 5-7 on each spike but nevertheless a flower.

We will be watching that plant carefully for the coming year.

Surplus

The surplus was in the end quite shocking to behold, in fact I am still potting up the remains of it!

The exciting thing is that we have also sold some of the rhizomes to enthusiasts and a nursery. I didn't really plan on selling on our stock, which was clear given the rush once we realised just how much we would have left over, but we have sold about 100 rhizomes, so about 25% of our extras.

Perhaps next year with some common sense marketing and preparedness we might be able to sell more like 75% which would be wonderful as it would obviously fund the purchase or new varieties (!) and also go towards the ongoing maintenance of the collection - be great if the collection 'wiped it's face' as the auctioneers say, even greater if it made a bit of profit :)

And if any iris nurseries out there are looking for someone to grow on stock for them...look no further!

Adding

We thought we had done our buying for the season but misjudged the timing of the RHS plantfinder release. After much debate we decided to locate the remaining MTB's not already in our collection of 44. We actually don't need them to meet the Plant Heritage requirement of 75% of those listed in the Plant Finder but we'd like to be holding them, and the other 48 listed but now not available. It's a slow process in the end.

My collection partner has done the lion's share of the phoning round this time which is a good thing as she is a real people person and finding out all sorts of useful information during her telephonic tour of iris suppliers.

One of the key things we discover, which in reality is not news but a confirmation, is that plants identified in the Plant Finder may or may not actually be for sale, grown by or even known by the nursery! claiming to stock it. Which makes one wonder about a) how the RHS go about updating the plant finder on a yearly basis? b) how nurseries check what they are listed for in the PF? c) whether anyone (RHS) ever does a spot check on the listings accuracy? d) why PH use it as a guide when it is apparently well known (several nurseries have pointed to the consistent inaccuracy of it) that it is not accurate.

With nurseries holding 000's of plants one can imagine it is quite an onerous task to update it, though some clearly do. I also imagine it is a good selling tool and know designers and landscapers use it to locate plants for clients and expect lots of individuals do the very same.

After the phone around we are 4 iris varieties closer to our target, slightly wiser about where to source from and a little surprised that this blog is being read!

Week 2.5

These two are still residing in pots about to go in once flowering is done.

Performer is the most glorious bluey lilac colour with exceptional blue blue beards and a sweet surprising scent. It's bigger flowered than most MTB's which makes me wonder if it isn't borderline IB but it's listed MTB so who am I to argue!

Then there is Tea Saucer Hill, smaller flowered than most other MTB's and strikingly unusual clean colouring in Yellow with pale whitey falls and a bright yellow beard. It's flowers are fleeting and last not much more than a day.

The other two newbies have not flowered, Spring Blush put on a great deal of leaf and rhizome and not one single flower, Easy succumbed to terrible mealy bug and is just about surviving, the rhizome is hard and strong so am hoping it will shake off the mass attack and recover for next year.

Tuesday we have our assessor visiting from Plant Heritage which I am dreading and looking forward to in equal measure. Nice to be able to show off our lovely collection but am sure there will be things that need much attention!

Keep all your fingers x'd for us.

Week 2 MTB's

This is the 2nd week of flowering and new out this week are
Loose Valley - somewhat darker than last year

and Little Paul - also somewhat darker in hue, but it will fade in the hot sunshine to a paler lilac.

MTB's 2011 - a whole month early

This year with all the fantastic warm weather the MTB's are up and out early, a whole month early! Last year the first flowers arrived 20th may this year 22nd April.

We have lost one or two plants through the harsh winter but so far not an entire variety though Disco Jewels is looking VERY peaky.

In order of flowering this is the year so far:-
Week 1:-
Claire Doodle - first again 22nd April

Ace - sold as White Wine but it's Ace

New Idea 26th April

Apricot Drops 26th April (White Wine behind)

Enriched 26th April

Staplehurst 27th April

White Wine 27th April

Connect the Dots 27th April

Week 2

Medway Valley 1st May

Petite Monet 30th April

Bockingford 1st May

Plant Heritage is coming...at last!

We are in the middle of applying for National Collection status on our Miniature Tall Bearded Iris collection, as you all know! Its is growing at one end of my allotment atm.

Am very excited that the 'local' Plant Heritage official is finally coming to see it next week.

Nothing is in flower yet of course but we have one more winter in the ground before we should become an official collection holder....read many, many hoops jumped, not many more to go!

We added 5 more last autumn (2010) and another 8 coming this autumn (2011).

What is an MTB?

"The MTB is exactly as its name implies, a miniature version of its majestic cousin the tall bearded iris. Of a height that lies between 41-63cm (16”-25”), in most respects it parallels the TB, but in smaller proportions, being multi-branched and multi-budded, but with slim stems and making neat and floriferous clumps.
Ideal for smaller gardens and frontal planting, it has a longer flowering period than most median iris, and blooms towards the latter end of the iris season along with the TB’s. Once called “table iris” because they were dainty enough to use in flower arrangements, this class of iris has long been neglected by plant breeders, but deservedly, they are now receiving much more of the hybridizers’ attention, and more new varieties are becoming available from specialist growers."
Olga Wells

Olga is, as far as my research has shown, THE breeder of MTB's in the UK.

MTB New Idea

MTB New IDea

Enriched

MTB Enriched

Ben a Factor

MTB Ben a Factor

Lucy's Gift

MTB Lucy's Gift

Bockingford

MTB Bockingford

Petite Monet

MTB Petite Monet

MTB White Wine

MTB White Wine - not very white!

Headcorn

MTB Headcorn

MTB Apricot Drops

MTB Apricot Drops

MTB Loose Valley

MTB Loose Valley

MTB Medway Valley