Newsletter: July 2004
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN IRIS SOCIETY Inc.
Editorial
With typical cold July weather the garden is not such a comfortable place to be at present. There are still plenty of weeds to remove before the irises start blooming for those hardy enough to work in the cold. For the rest of us there are catalogues to restudy, wish lists to revisit and next season plantings to plan by the fire.
The early blooming irises in my garden are sending up flower stems with several blooming at present – all seedlings. To date the only named iris showing a stem is Olymparico, more will start appearing soon.
Visitors: It was lovely to see Mary Corston and Kaye Shepherd at the July meeting. Both were members of the society several years ago and will be very welcome if they wish to rejoin.
Cultural notes: With the help of some experts from the club I hope to include growing advice for various different species in the Iris family in future newsletters. For this month some general comments are:
· Keep bearded irises free of weeds and dead leaves to discourage aphids settling in the base of the leaves and prevent rhizome rot.
· Potted Louisianas and Japanese iris should have been repotted by now in acid potting mix for a good show in spring and summer.
· Watch out for snails and slugs and remove by your preferred method. I prefer to squash the beasties as I do not like using poisons which may harm my friendly wrens, magpies, blackbirds and possums. (Yes possums can help in the garden, mine eat the tops of soursobs down to ground level near their favorite trees and leave the irises in the sun. They also eat carrots, beetroot, silver beet, lettuces and peas if I don’t put cages over them but they don’t matter.)
· Keep a close watch on dwarf bearded iris as these little gems can often pop up earlier than expected and it is disappointing to find a shriveled bloom you have missed at a time when every bloom is precious.
· For those lucky enough to have the right soil and rainfall to grow Pacific Coast irises there should be buds showing soon. These self seed happily and some exciting colour variations will pop up around the parent plants. Unfortunately they do not take kindly to being transplanted.
From the club archives: Feb 1998- Trading table This is ably conducted by Rhonda Beech. Items for this do not have to be irises, though these are usually snapped up. Jams, cakes, eggs, biscuits and all types of plants are popular buys (you have to get in quickly for Rhonda’s marmalade.) Cleaning out your shed can also be helpful….. your useless space filler may be just what someone else needs.
This is now run by Ronda Burg and the same applies today. Please help the club by donating a small item to the trading table.
Minutes of Meeting July 8th 2004
Apologies: Margaret Douglass. John and Rosemary Turner, Colleen and Les Modra, Sue Stribley, Nell Tanner, Graham Kuchel, Jenni Kempe.
Minutes June Meeting: Moved Julia Jacobs that minutes as circulated be accepted as correct 2nd Rhonda carried.
Correspondence: Garden Clubs of Australia, Adelaide Zoo, New Zealand Convention, Camellia Society, West Australia Newsletter.
General Business:
Salisbury Garden Show Oct 9th
The Iris society has been invited to participate in the Salisbury Garden show by providing a stand with information about iris and plants for sale. Betty Parsons, Marlene Gibson and Darrelle Watson have offered to run the stand. Members who would like to sell rhizomes on commission can do so, please label plants with your name, Iris colour, name and price. We would also appreciate if members could donate some Irises for the Salisbury Show. Rhizomes can be left at Rhonda Burg's by Friday afternoon 8th Oct. If you have any problems or if you wish for someone to collect rhizomes please phone Marlene 8289 3759 or Betty 8289 8262. Please remember that we also need lots of rhizomes for our own show at North Adelaide two weeks later.
Judges Training School:
A reminder that the Judging Training School will be conducted Oct 9th / 10th by Helen Reid. To register please send a deposit cheque for $10 to Marg Kuchel.
Trial and Dykes Medal Garden:
As Carol and Ivar Schmidt have relinquished the Dykes Medal Garden which has been at their property for many years it has become necessary to find a new location for the bed.
Colleen Modra has already agreed to host the Dykes Medal Garden.
Members discussed at length the relocation of the gardens and decided to have both gardens at the same location, which would make the judging of both gardens easier. Moved Pam Hilton that both gardens be located at Colleen and Les Modra's Impressive Irises, with members taking care of the Irises, 2nd Rhonda Burg carried
Convention Report:
Plans are progressing nicely, the plans for the bus tour to Kangaroo Island are well on the way with the Goolwa Bus Company conducting the tour.
The committee is organizing the visits to different gardens.
2005 Convention Committee would like to hear from anyone who would like to have a stand (art, craft, collectibles etc.) at the 2005 Convention Show with an Iris Theme. Please contact a member of the 2005 committee for more information.
Show and Tell
Sandra Westbrook: A beautiful small pink vase with lovely blue Irises painted on the sides, very dainty.
Marg Kuchel: A new addition to Jenni Kempe’s family - a lovely photo of Jenny’s first Grandchild Hayley Louise. Congratulations Jenni.
Betty Parsons: A wall hanging - yellow back ground with a large two tone purple Iris and a pink cushion cover with a large Iris candlewicked in white on the front of the cushion.
Notice
We are unable to have a Guest Speaker on Camellias as planned for our August meeting instead we will have an Iris Information Evening with a panel of members to answer questions and give out information covering all areas of Irises.
September Speaker: Sandra Westbrook will talk on her recent visit to the Chelsea Flower show. A video of the event has been purchased by the club and will also be shown.
December Social meeting: As the Goodwood hall is booked for our usual meeting night it has been arranged to hold the social event in Sue Stribley’s beautiful garden at One Tree Hill. This will now be a lunch time gathering with a pooled lunch. More information will be given later in the year. Please keep December 12th free for this special lunch and wander through a lovely garden.
July Guest Speaker:
Mike Moore from the Butterfly Conservation Society spoke on the butterflies local to South Australia, gave hints on how to encourage butterflies to move into a garden and a fascinating glimpse into the life cycle of butterflies.
The aim of the Butterfly Conservation Society is to promote the well being of butterfly species by revegetating areas with their preferred food plants and then reintroducing the species to the food plants. The food plants needed are the ones the caterpillars eat not the blossoms the butterflies seek for nectar. Many butterflies need grasses and sedges to breed on.
Many local species are now endangered as their habitat has been cleared and is now urban or farm land with introduced plants. One variety which used to be common in the Adelaide area lives on Acacia victoriae and requires ants to groom the caterpillars to thrive. There are fragmented populations of this variety near Port Pirie and Port Augusta but none in Adelaide. While the trees are still common the ants seem to have disappeared.
One species which was known for 110 years has not been seen since 1950.
Butterfly collecting is now restricted to collecting eggs and raising the caterpillars in captivity to keep the species from dying out.
The talk was illustrated with some excellent slides showing eggs, larvae, pupae and butterflies in close up detail. Drawers of mounted butterflies were also shown with the majority of them South Australian species. A large number of them are blue, some very small and others quite large butterflies.
Trevor Hilton thanked Mike and Marilyn for giving such an interesting talk and presented them with a small gift from the Iris club.
