Chinese Treasure 1983

Chinese Treasure from Blyth was our favorite modern Iris till this year when it became an historic iris, as it is from 1983, and it is now 30 years old. We got Chinese Treasure two years ago from Greenthumbs Galore in Chattanooga, TN and every single bulb, 6 out of 6 bloomed first Spring. It looks great with other amoena's and darker purples like Helen Collingwood. Just wanted to share its gorgeousness, as im sure theres others who may not be aware of it, as i know we weren't up untill a couple years ago, and we fell in love with it when we saw it. It fully lives up to this hype and these pics on DG and then some!

now its our favorite historic mwaha..after it blooms this Spring we maybe willing to trade one or two out if it replicated and any new baby rhizomes for something good, but it should still be available from Greenthumbs Galore and a few other vendors if you need it now or more then one or two :-)

They ARE lovely! Have the 6 spread a great deal?

not a great deal, I just went out and looked, as the iris have already been starting to come up here in NC incredibly early, their still coming up so its hard to tell yet right now, even though no snow on the ground, but im pretty sure when the leaves were still green before Thanksgiving, before they went cmpletely dormant, for the winter, their were 2 that had babies big enough to divide off and the other 4 had 2 little babies each that were not quite big enough yet to seperate. :-)

When we moved here in 2005, there were irises on the side of the house that had foliage every year but no blooms. Two years ago I moved them to the front of the house. This is the third season for them, and they have spread beautifully. But they are no Chinese Treasure.

We still have some snow on the ground, yet there are little irises growing. I put in a number of Iris Reticulata bulbs last fall, but there is still a lot of snow on that garden. I know spring is coming. I just know it!

Ill send you one for postage or trade if you want early this summer, i created a 1983 garden for my son which is the year he was born on the side of the house as he created a 1949 garden for me 2 years ago with some 1949 iris like Rosemohr he got from Blue-j iris and Summit a yellow white amoena from bluebird haven that have not bloomed yet. Helen Collingwood is the only one from that year that blooms like clock work. we could actually maybe send you a a baby CT bulb or two along with the blooming sized one. We got a huge flat of Indian chief Iris 3 years ago in 2010, and not a single one has bloomed for us since we planted them, were hoping this will be the year, if not were going to be real disappointed. We put a bunch of bonemeal and epsoma bulb-tone fertilizer down in Nov and again a week ago to try to help them maybe bloom this year.

We'll see what comes. I might not know the IDs of the irises. And I'd be happy to send you postage. The rhizomatous irises are mostly early bloomers, so I'll have photos.
Marcia

Sorry to but into your thread but that is an amazing iris! I really love the idea of a year themed iris. Even though I'm not sure what year I would pick since I think I would want to go historical and my birth year is not yet there. I guess I could start a couple years early. I love the idea of collecting historical iris. I have some white ones from a 90 year old woman (lovely woman that we help in the yard and shovel snow and whatnot for) that was handed down to her from her mother and her mother received them from her mother. I definetly cherish those, would be willing to trade a couple for one but I do not have a name.
Michelle

Michelle, it is an open forum and the best way to learning anything. Always feel to check threads for the initiater as well as the contributors have plenty to say.

Marcia

Hi Michelle,
you should still get one from your birth year, eventually it will be a historic, try and see if you can look at some historics and find a year of one for a loved one like a parent or grandparent or relative, or it could be birthyear of someone that was special to you or meant something to you as a small child, doesnt have to be a family member or direct relative. we would be happy to try to identify your historics for you when they bloom and possibly trade or when we have to divide different historics let you know, my son actually started with the historics after he recieved an old white early blooming iris which turned out to be iris albicans 'cemetary iris' which is still his favorite. also we would not recommend the historic iris preservation society for people who love historics. we joined two years ago and have since left since the could not even be bothered to identify some cultivars of ours, they bully and ignore newer members on their website, refused to even add Rosemohr or Chinese treasure to their photo gallery and other legitmate requests, and just about all of the iris they offer in their sale each year which you can only recieve one fan of if their senior members and click friends dont scoop the best up before the non click members; are availabe through catalogs and vendors, also wiki iris is creating a large database where All of the historics and info in it can be viewed for free like here on DG too and I am doing my best to add all the historics i come across here at Daves. Daves database already puts theirs to shame in amount of cultivars, that HIPS charges for member only to have access so it is pointless to become a member in our opinion. you dont have to be part of a society to grow and love beautiful old treasures of plants or get catalogs. Sandra