Spring Dreaming? Show Me your Iris!

Watching my poor iris shiver out there in the cold makes me long for Spring. How about cheering me with your favorite iris photos? Shall I start with Tiger Honey?

Every year I look forward to seeing old friends blooming in my iris beds, but I get a special thrill out of seeing first-time bloomers I can photograph for my iris website. Here are a few of my favorite first-timers from this last bloom season.

'Snow Tree' SDB

'Ruby Wings' SDB

'Pilgrims' Choice' SDB

You really have to see this one in person to fully appreciate the subtle intricacies of its colors. It's mesmerizing.

wow those are Prudy did not have digital during bloom last year but look out this year .

'Pele' SDB

One of a kind in its color class, as far as I know.

'Ringer' SDB

'Cute or What' SDB

Laurie, as usual your pics awe me! What lovely dwarfs!!! Pepe and Ringer really stand out for me.

Here is my favorite orange: Firebreather

Now THAT's orange! I might have to get my hands on a rz of that one to see if it'll be one of those rare TBs that can survive in my garden. 'Firebreather' is certainly breathtaking!

If you like 'Ringer', you should love 'Firestorm' SDB as well.

Laurie

This one reminds me of 'Firestorm' but it's a TB. Anyone know it's name?

BTW, I am smitten with Snow Tree!!!! Where did you get it, Laurie? Here's my fav SDB photo, but again I have no name-it was here when I got here. Anyone recognize it?

Here's In the Buff. Not sure what category...too dark to see if it's on the label. It was so lovely.

And another peachy one-Sonya's Selah (I think it's a BB).

Boojum--pretty, pretty! keep the pics coming!

Laurie--Firebreather is the most vigorous orange in my garden--very strong and I don't baby it. The roots have been thru 2 really nasty winters, one drought summer & one wet summer. No special care. Remind me in the spring to dig you one. Hardened off in the wilds of Iowa--maybe it will like your garden too!

This is a beautiful orange & white that stuns visitors to my gardens. Performed very well this year despite an April 30 hard frost.
Aphrodisiac.

Boojum,

Isn't 'Snow Tree' just neat? I saw a pic of it several years ago in, I *think*, Aitken's Salmon Creek catalog and fell in love with it. Then last year some friends in KY sent me a piece. I'll see if mine has grown enough to split off a piece for you next summer. If not, check with Aitken's.

I absolutely LOVE 'Sonja's Selah' (note correct spelling), but the one time I tried it, it died before I got to see it bloom. I'd love to try it again sometime.

Wanda,

'Firebreather' definitely sounds like my kinda TB! I love that brilliant orange, and it sounds like it might just be tough enough to survive here. Tell you what. You send me 'Firebreather' next spring, and I'll send you 'Firestorm'. They should heat up our gardens nicely, don't you think? ;-)

Laurie

Sounds good to me! Remind me in April--I'm old and my brain is feeble.

Abstract Art--an unusual color combo.

Laurie - That Snow Tree is magnificent!! I've never seen such an unusual looking iris. Lovely.

This is a no-name that I got from my grandmother's gardens after she passed away 2 years ago. From the form I'm thinking it's an historic?? Wanda?

Here's an orange unknown also from Grandma's gardens.....

This one is Ensemble TB Love the richness of the color in this one.

And good ole cheery Sunray Reflection.....

uhhh.....Browse Brenda not Send...... here it is

Brenda--that looks like a lovely iris they were breeding 100 years ago. Compact bloom & great colors. I haven't the faintest idea if it has a name or not, but I'd love to trade for it next spring. (Always looking for more historics for my collection...)
And an orange unknown? That's tough! So few of them around. i'd love to meet your Granny... :)

Laurie, I'll check if I have enough Sonja and we can trade! Here's my old iris garden before I moved.

Brenda,

That first unknown you posted looks like it might possibly be 'Rameses' or 'Frank Adams'. That's an ID I'm currently struggling with in my own garden. I received an iris as 'Rameses' from a friend, but the ID might have been incorrect (as happens with so many older historics). Then a friend who grows both R and FA looked at the pic of mine and thought it looked more like FA than R. This summer I received rzs of what are supposed to be accurately identified R and FA. If R, FA, and "probably either R or FA" will all bloom in the same year, perhaps I'll get to the bottom of all this and have a positive ID for my original plant.

In the meantime, here's a pic of the plant I originally received as 'Rameses', but which might be 'Frank Adams' or possibly something else altogether.

Laurie

I was given this one by a historic iris person a couple of years ago as a "Ramses". Are there any good photography books on historics? Most of the old ones I find are in black & white.

This message was edited Nov 23, 2004 10:01 AM

Wanda,

The best source I know of for color photos of historic irises is the HIPS website:

http://www.worldiris.com/public_html/Frame_pages/QFix.html

You will see that on that site, the photo of R looks more similar to your iris, while the photo of FA looks more similar to mine. FA, btw, is a child of R.

Laurie

All these Iris are so pretty, can't wait for all my new ones to bloom next spring....I hope they all do!

Brenda, that Sunray Reflection is gorgeous! So is the one behind it...do you have a name for that one?

Well, that's a relief! I thought it was Ramses, but misidentification is rampant.
Ramses is very prolific. Maybe we can do a little extra trading come spring.

I've run across that world iris link before and forgot about it. I like the historic collection on Argle Acres site too.

http://www.argyleacres.com/gallery/view_list_historic.asp?historic_z=yes

Here is a dwarf that was a great bloomer this year "Urban Star"

Wanda,

'Urban Star' is very cute! I'm a sucker for a spot pattern.

I won't need Rameses, since a couple friends sent me starts of that one this summer, but I expect we'll have plenty of others to trade come spring. ;-)

Laurie

Mendy - that is Mountain Melody in the background of the Sunray Reflection photo.

Laurie / Wanda -

I researched my unknown quite a bit on World Iris this summer and the closest match I came up with is PICADOR (1930). What do you think?

http://www.worldiris.com/public_html/Comp_variegata/Cultivar_Pix/Picador.html

Brenda,

I'd forgotten about 'Picador', and I even grow the doggone thing!!! It hasn't bloomed for me yet, though (hasn't even increased beyond the original rz). Hmm. Now I'll have to hope that R, FA, P, *and* my "unknown R" all bloom in the same year so I can compare them! Chances are it won't happen next spring since I dug and divided almost all my TBs last summer. Ack.

'Picador' does look like a possible match for yours. You'll have to get your hands on a rz of that one for side by side growth/bloom comparisons in your garden.

Laurie

Thanks Brenda. :-)

I have so many irises but Striped Butterfly is my favorite. It's a historic oldie from 1958.....I guess that makes me a prehistoric oldie! LOL

Merlie--you've been holding out on me! I love the drooping falls & color variations on the old ones.

Inspiration

Merlie - that's a pretty one! Love the striping on the falls. (what's that part of the iris called around the beard??)

One of my favorite rebloomers: Clarence!

Wanda.... Where did you get Urban Star , please. That one is really cute. I managed to get Bumble Bee Delight. I hope it blooms next year. Not sure how long it will take itself to adjust.

starlight1153, I'll be very interested to hear how 'Bumblebee Deelite' does for you. MTBs are generally known to perform best in cold winter areas. In fact, a friend in SC sent me most of her MTBs because she just couldn't get them to bloom in her warm climate. There are a few, though, that do bloom for her.

'Bumblebee Deelite' happens to be one of those rare MTBs that hates it in my northern garden, so perhaps it's one that prefers warmer temps.

Good luck!

Laurie

I can't remeber where I found "Urban Star", but I see Schreiners has it. I'm adding more dwarf and Intermdediates to my garden this year since they bloom earlier than the tall beardeds plus have some wonderful color combos.



I found alot of my Intermediates & Dwarfs at a Carolinas garden--Quail Hill Garden. He has some lovely Tall Beardeds too at prices you'll like. His catalog always has some " two for one " listings for an extra value.

http://www.gardeneureka.com/QUAIL/default.htm

"Peachy Face" is a sweet Intermediate from Quail Hill.