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).

Claire Austin delivers

Unexpectedly Claire Austin Hardy Plants cam up trumps. Totally hassle free conversation and unbelievably fast delivery the following day. Standing back in utter amazement given previous contacts with them. so Claire Austin or who ever it was who answered the phone YOU ROCK!

We gained two more:
Iris 'White Wine'
Iris 'Yellow Flirt'

Iris 'Enriched' is in the pipeline.
Nail biting stuff, well if you're me it is.

Searching for....

We are still looking for these Miniature Tall Bearded Iris and although listed at various nurseries through the RHS plant finder they either don't list them in their catalogue or are not responding to email requests:

Kelways:
Candylane
Chickee
Evening Pond

Merriments Gardens: no mail order (!)
Carolyn Rose

Breezy Knees: no mail order(!) and their in 'the north', happily other people do both these and they're not so far away
Rosemary's Dream
Carolyn Rose

The Mead: no mail order (!)
Lucky Charm

Seagate:
Speck So
Rosemary's Dream
Reminiscence
Billie the Brownie

Being Enriched

Iris of Sissinghurst have come up with Enriched one not in our collection but recently listed, they have it for us and are asking the local Iris group if anyone has plants that we are still missing. The group includes the main breeder of MTB's Olga Wells. So fingers X'd

Registering the collection

We are oh so close, after a moment of panic when it seemed we would not be recorded as remotely interesting let alone registered as a plant collection, Plant Heritage has eased regs and allowing for over enthusiastic registration of plants by nurseries who cannot subsequently supply them, have agreed to begin the process of registration for our collection of Iris MTB's

All I need do now is write up the plant list in botanical speak.... !

Lavander and Sage

about 200 modules of a mix of Lavander (Lavandula multifidia Blue) and Clary Sage (Salvia Blue Spire) are adorning the garden table along with several seed trays of Hyssop, more lavander and some rosemary waiting for module space (small garden problem)

I'm debating whether to plant out this 'hedging' now (late autumn) or wait until spring.

Arrivals

I have been lax I'm afraid and forgot to post about our new arrivals. The first from Seagate in the form of:

Ace
Baubles & Beads
Honorabile
Oh So Cool
Welch's Reward

The rest arrived post haste from the US via Christine Lomer in Spain:

Merit
Maslon
Connect the Dots
Dancing Lilacs
Ben a Factor
Bumblebee Deelite
Poker Chips

Gulp that was some digging and preparing for them to get in the ground quickly. SO we are now sitting on 31 cultivars. They look a bit lost in their big patch of earth but the spring planted ones are romping away and showing their vigour in spades.

Next step is getting our collection registered.

They are in!

After two mornings of hard digging, leveling, raking and so on we have got them in. 2 beds about 1.5m wide and 5m long each carrying 10 cultivars.

They look a tad wind swept the following day so new plans for low hedges of lavendar (Lavandula augustifolia Rosea, Hidcote and a couple of others) rosemary (Rosmarinus officianalis) maybe winter savory (Satureja montana) and box (buxus sempervirens) are now in the planning and cutting beds.

Pic to follow soon

Planting

Finally our piece of land is ready. We plant on Saturday. Early. I will be watering all week if it carries on like this.

I have planned space for 40 MTB cultivars which we will hold eventually. About 18 will go in this week. There are some odd TB's and Sibirica also to go in. Collecting is addictive. And Expensive!

MTB Frosted Velvet

MTB Striped Pants

Finding MTB's

Iris 'Katherine Hodkin' which is a reticulata


We plan to hold a National Collection of MTB's, the first we think, and according to records we're right. There are just over 30 in the 08/09 RHS plant finder so that means about 27 minimum in the collection and 3 of each rhizome.

I have located them in the UK by luck more than anything. And furnished with the warnings of the growers that "they don't sell" I am buying as many as I can!

Once we have them I will post pictures of each one included. but for now here's my first sprouting Iris of the season (above)