Irises: Who is this AB-Med?, 1 by hespiris

hespiris wrote:
pajaritomt, JOG does look a lot like Byzantine Art, except it does not have "very dark red signal with red overlay extending 3/4" from signal", but maybe that is environmental - mine is reddish-brown and more diffuse. It may get to 33", and it is the right timing of intro. I have another picture with Orange Petals (to 28") and a couple of the JOG stalks are a little taller, but the bulk of the clump is mid-high 20's. It is worth buying Byzantine Art to see. I had wondered if it might be from Baumunk. Or maybe this is that unknown parent! ~ maybe it's an Unknown parent 'cause nobody knows who it is...can you tell I'm well into reading a mystery?

In looking at my oldest pictures, they are titled as Omar's Gold. I think at some early point I realized it was not as, any way you look, those standards are lavender (blue?) and thought it had a better chance of meeting the description of Jewel of Omar (sorry to get it backwards earlier) except for that lavender beard and height difference. I found pictures from the first year it bloomed, when it was paler but still lav/gold, and am posting one. I see in the picture, that was the best mulch they ever ate - would have thought darker colors…I know they 'prefer' cement - just seems counterintuitive.

irisMA, I see this JOG still on several current iris sites as Omar's Gold and I think it is in many gardens as such. It seems there's been a bit of a mix-up with this cv being sold, photographed, and possibly hybridized with as Omar's Gold, but it isn't. Anita Moran has a good picture of the real 'Omar's Gold' on her site; Laurif put a nice picture in the Plant Files of 'Jewel of Omar' - and both match the descriptions. I have been frustrated by mine's true ID for several years now.

From AIS checklist:
Omar’s Gold AB (OGB-), 18" S. yellow; F. golden yellow, black line signal; beards gold.
Jewel of Omar AB (OB-), 18" S. medium blue, purple at base; greenish yellow styles; F. medium lime yellow, maroon brown around violet beard.

So… Byzantine Art is on the buy list. To bad it will take a couple of years to see if they match. Thank you both as this process helps me keep looking at details.
hespiris

This message was edited Dec 1, 2008 3:32 AM