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The iris growers
By Janet Fitzgerald, Correspondent
Friday, July 04, 2008 | No comments posted.
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REEDSPORT — Whatever your favorite colors and available growing conditions, there’s probably an iris you could welcome to your garden.
Reedsport residents Beth and Wayne Summit have welcomed nearly 200 varieties to their corner yard at Greenbriar Street and Regents Place. Each have been lovingly placed and labeled.
“Many are just a tiny bit different, so much so that you can hardly tell one from the other,” Beth explained. “But there are differences, which makes each one so special.”
When the couple moved to Reedsport from Tigard about four years ago, they brought many of their favorite irises with them. Additionally, Beth’s sister contributed quite a few.
Then there are the new purchases.
“There are such different varieties now, it’s hard to turn down a new type,” Beth said.
The 73-year-old professed plant lover said she is partial to a few newer bearded iris varieties with space-age names such as Meteor Shower, Air Force One and Abduhl Unknown. These 3-foot stunners have either a little spoon or a caterpillar-type horn on their petals, making them unique and distinctive.
But Beth also has a special fondness for the four types that share the names of her four children. These include the dark blue Lord Jeff; a light blue with green infusion Tammy Sue; a beautiful pink My Jodi; and a yellow-and-purple Michael’s Creation.
If she had to pick one stand out, it might be Eagles Flight, which is white with lavender edges.
“It was one of the first I got, and it’s still my favorite,” Beth said.
When the Summits purchased their home, it had a couple of shade trees and the traditional grass yard. So Wayne removed the trees and set to work replacing most of the backyard turf with iris beds.
He saved space for a good stand of roses and daylilies and also tends a small vegetable garden.
He put in substantial border beds in the front and said that while deer love the peonies, they don’t have much interest in munching the iris.
“Wayne does all the hard work,” Beth said. “I just put things in the ground and let God take care of them.”
While a bit of celestial care certainly doesn’t hurt, the couple also uses a special fertilizer mix and a lot of slug and snail bait.
The Summits said their irises have outdone themselves this year, perhaps due to the cold and wet spring. But because of the unusually wet spring weather, the Summits did not fertilize or spray for fungus as much as usual.
“It didn’t seem to matter,” said Beth. “It’s very hard to kill an iris.”
“Unless you’re really determined,” Wayne added.
Reedsport residents Beth and Wayne Summit have welcomed nearly 200 varieties to their corner yard at Greenbriar Street and Regents Place. Each have been lovingly placed and labeled.
“Many are just a tiny bit different, so much so that you can hardly tell one from the other,” Beth explained. “But there are differences, which makes each one so special.”
When the couple moved to Reedsport from Tigard about four years ago, they brought many of their favorite irises with them. Additionally, Beth’s sister contributed quite a few.
Then there are the new purchases.
“There are such different varieties now, it’s hard to turn down a new type,” Beth said.
The 73-year-old professed plant lover said she is partial to a few newer bearded iris varieties with space-age names such as Meteor Shower, Air Force One and Abduhl Unknown. These 3-foot stunners have either a little spoon or a caterpillar-type horn on their petals, making them unique and distinctive.
But Beth also has a special fondness for the four types that share the names of her four children. These include the dark blue Lord Jeff; a light blue with green infusion Tammy Sue; a beautiful pink My Jodi; and a yellow-and-purple Michael’s Creation.
If she had to pick one stand out, it might be Eagles Flight, which is white with lavender edges.
“It was one of the first I got, and it’s still my favorite,” Beth said.
When the Summits purchased their home, it had a couple of shade trees and the traditional grass yard. So Wayne removed the trees and set to work replacing most of the backyard turf with iris beds.
He saved space for a good stand of roses and daylilies and also tends a small vegetable garden.
He put in substantial border beds in the front and said that while deer love the peonies, they don’t have much interest in munching the iris.
“Wayne does all the hard work,” Beth said. “I just put things in the ground and let God take care of them.”
While a bit of celestial care certainly doesn’t hurt, the couple also uses a special fertilizer mix and a lot of slug and snail bait.
The Summits said their irises have outdone themselves this year, perhaps due to the cold and wet spring. But because of the unusually wet spring weather, the Summits did not fertilize or spray for fungus as much as usual.
“It didn’t seem to matter,” said Beth. “It’s very hard to kill an iris.”
“Unless you’re really determined,” Wayne added.
Feeding irises
Beth and Wayne Summit use the following fertilizer formula. It was given to Beth by her sister, Edith, who is a member of the American Iris Society. The "recipe" is based on a rose fertilizer formula, but changed by a chemist to better suit irises:
5 parts milorganite
2 parts cottonseed meal
2 parts ammonium sulfate
1 part Superbloom (0-10-10) or Flower 'N' Bloom (3-12-12)
1 part super phosphate
1 part sulfate of potash
A "part" is a coffee can, or whatever you would like to use as a measuring device. Use the same measuring device for each part.
When planting new rhizomes, prepare the soil and then broadcast a generous amount of fertilizer evenly over the soil and dig or rototill in well. It is best to water all of it in, wait two weeks, rototill again and then plant.
You can also broadcast the fertilizer on existing beds in the spring. Time permitting, scratch it in a bit and water. But if it’s going to rain, just get it scattered on quickly.
Roses and vegetables love it, too.
Other tips
• Do not use manure or heavy nitrogenous fertilizers (the first element of the three elements listed) because high nitrogen fertilization may promote soft rot.
• Do not place fertilizer on the rhizomes.
Beth and Wayne Summit use the following fertilizer formula. It was given to Beth by her sister, Edith, who is a member of the American Iris Society. The "recipe" is based on a rose fertilizer formula, but changed by a chemist to better suit irises:
5 parts milorganite
2 parts cottonseed meal
2 parts ammonium sulfate
1 part Superbloom (0-10-10) or Flower 'N' Bloom (3-12-12)
1 part super phosphate
1 part sulfate of potash
A "part" is a coffee can, or whatever you would like to use as a measuring device. Use the same measuring device for each part.
When planting new rhizomes, prepare the soil and then broadcast a generous amount of fertilizer evenly over the soil and dig or rototill in well. It is best to water all of it in, wait two weeks, rototill again and then plant.
You can also broadcast the fertilizer on existing beds in the spring. Time permitting, scratch it in a bit and water. But if it’s going to rain, just get it scattered on quickly.
Roses and vegetables love it, too.
Other tips
• Do not use manure or heavy nitrogenous fertilizers (the first element of the three elements listed) because high nitrogen fertilization may promote soft rot.
• Do not place fertilizer on the rhizomes.
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