South Australian Iris Society Newsletter June 2003
Editorial
Winter is here, the soursobs are blooming brilliantly and we have had the first frost. Rain is welcome (unless you live in Glenelg North), there is plenty of weeding to be done to keep the irises above the rest and the roses need pruning. At present I have a pretty apricot bitone seedling flowering and spikes showing on four other seedlings and ‘Fancy Flirting’ (a new release from Blyths) plus a Jap seedling. There’s never a dull month in the garden.
Newsletters
Members who are not to attend the meetings due to the fact that they live a long way from Adelaide are now not receiving the news until a month after the meeting reported. If you are in this category please let me know and I will post your newsletter before the meeting so that you know what is happening and can contact a committee member prior to the meeting if there is something you wish to be discussed. Committee members can be contacted at the addresses on the cover page. Future editions will not include the cover page unless there is a change of committee members or addresses.
Show preparations
The show committee has started work on this year’s show which will be held on October 25th and 26th. There is a plea from the committee for volunteers to help with setting up on Friday afternoon and clearing up on Sunday afternoon. Both these days need someone who can lift trestles and boxes of bottles. On Saturday morning there are several vacancies for stewards to assist exhibitors stage their flowers and help at the judging. Skills needed are accurate record keeping and two people who have neat handwriting to fill in the prize tickets. This is an interesting job with lots to be learnt about judging in the process.
Guest speakers
!0th July - Steve Forbes Director of the Botanical Gardens
14th August – June Taylor – Herbs and companion planting with iris
11th September – Flower arranging with iris - Julia Jacobs
9th October - Judging school - Ivar and Carol Schmidt
Minutes of the SA Iris Society meeting held on 12th June 2003 at Mullins Gallery
Apologies:- Colleen Modra, Gwen Alexandrou, Herb & Dian Mitterer, Graham Kuchel, John Turner, Doreen Churchill.
Correspondence:- WA Newsletter, Australian Garden Clubs, Bob Raabe, SA Cottage Garden Club.
Treasurer’s report:-
Income for May $289.10, Expenses $182.71, Transfer to Cash Management Account $2,000.
Cheque account at 31st May 2003:- $2,018.76. Cash Management account $7,541.91. 2005 Convention Account:- $1,490.70.
Show and Tell
Ann Pillay showed a black glass vase decorated with TB iris in relief.
Natalie Houba – a lovely winter nightgown in cream with mauve iris design purchased at Target.
Julia Jacobs – two coffee mugs with matching coasters and card. (This design is available at Hillbillies at Mt Barker)
Sue Stribley – a cut of pink flowers (possibly salvia) for identification. The bush is 5’ high and covered with trusses of pink flowers. No-one could help.
It was reported that Gwen Alexandrou is recovering well from her hip replacement operation. A Get well card will be sent to her.
Guest Speaker – Joyce Gepp - topic ‘The Pelargonium Family’
Joyce has the Powell Park pelargonium nursery at Clare in the mid north. She grows her plants in pots in a long igloo (which is open both ends) to keep the rain off the blooms
The pelargonium family is divided into three groups – Regal – the ones with large colourful blooms (like azaleas) in summer (October to March). Ivy – sprawling climbers and Zonal – the largest group and the one known in Australia as ‘geraniums’.
These plants come from South Africa and don’t like too much water in winter.True geraniums – about 500 species (known also as cranesbills) come from the Mediterranean area.
Species pelargonium echinatum from an extremely dry area of S Africa only needs watering every three weeks.
Scented leaf pelargoniums are mostly species or first cross sports of ‘gravolens’. Cactus varieties have zonal leaves and spiky flowers. Ivy pelargoniums were introduced in 1956, there are now 10,000 varieties world wide. They won’t climb by themselves but need to be tied up. Some of them grow very tall while others are more suitable for hanging pots.
A Hybrid cross between zonal and ivy doesn’t climb but will sprawl a bit.
The zonal family is the biggest. Sizes vary from miniatures 8” to 15” tall with nice compact bushes and constant blooms - Deacons (bred by a school deacon in UK with 27 varieties in the family at present) and modern varieties about 2’ tall up to the older ones which can grow to 6’. Leaves can be plain green or variegated with two or three colours.
Staphs were developed in SA by Ted Both from Flinders Park. The breeding information was never recorded and died with the breeder. After his death 500 un-named plants were sent to the Geelong Botanic Gardens and have never been released.
All pelargoniums need pruning every year. Regals do not like being pruned into old wood. Leave two nodes of new wood and use the bits cut off for striking new cuttings. This is best done in March and April after blooming is finished. If kept pruned they will make nice round bushes. Ivies just need a tip pruning.
Zonals – again leave two nodes of new wood on taller ones. The miniatures can be pruned by two thirds into new wood. Always use green wood for tip cuttings.Try October and April for cuttings.
When repotting, shake off all potting soil, trim roots to match top and repot by placing a layer of potting soil in the bottom of the pot, some Dynamic lifter (yellow bag) another layer of potting mix then the plant and fill with potting mix and Osmocote slow release in the top. Water well on planting and then once a week after that.
Plant fresh cuttings (don’t let them dry out) in sharp washed sand, water well and leave for a week before watering again. They can have roots in ten days in warm weather. Fertilize on potting up and give liquid fertilizer in autumn and spring.
These plants will grow in the garden but rain spoils the flowers and they don’t like heavy frosts.
There are two pelargoniums which are native to New South Wales which have tiny purple flowers.
Joyce then offered a selection of her plants for sale and gave away the pieces she had cut off in her pruning display.