I asked about this iris in the past and got a couple definite maybes as to what the name is. I have a better camera now and there are more DGers now, so I'll try again. I won't bias anyone by saying just yet what the definite maybes were. We'll start with a clean slate.
Here it is. I call it the burgundy iris.
Well I'm no expert, but here are my ideas:
Col. Candelot
Dauntless
Don Juan
You can find them here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/119364712BMqeMl
:-)
Great detective work. Boy are the last two close. Dauntless has a longer beard than Don Juan - And 'The Burgundy Iris' has longer beards too. Col. Candelot seems narrower. It seems that the best indication would be the beards since flower substance and color can depend so much on different conditions. That big fuzzy yellow beard can't be missed. By the way Kelli, that's a great photo.
If it is Dauntless, It was introduced in 1929 by Connell and it won the Dykes medal!!! in 1929.
Thanks for trying to find out what it might be Kelli. This is such a pretty iris.
I just bought a couple of this Arilbred Enegizer. I've never had an Arilbred before. Should be fun.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/119353760/119359657uMNBnJ.
If you want to order from them, you have to get their catalog and get the prices there. This one is going for $4.00 - not that you need anymore :-).
Bitone and bicolor blends of this vintage are legion. Positive identification may be very difficult, Kelli.
You're looking in the right places--Superstition's photo website and the HIPS site both have a lot of the better known--and some not so well known--varieties from the period of the early tetraploid explosion.
The *caveat* often repeated is that the only way to be sure is order a plant of the one you suspect is a match and grow them side by side, comparing fine data such as beard shape and pigmentation, and the exact pattern of haft markings--about as unique and useful as fingerprints are in humans.
It's wonderful seeing people enjoy and preserving the older historics. So many have been lost to oblivion that were irises people loved, enjoyed and used in breeding. That is rather sad.
Neil Mogensen
Neil - thanks, that makes total sense. Kelli, Superstition Iris Garden's address is:
2536 Old Highway, Cathey's Valley, CA 95306. Their email address is: randscv@sierratel.com
The Catalog is $1.50 I believe. Don Juan is a Cayeux 1928 Iris that is "Rare in the US" and it's $6.00.
And Col. Candelot is $3.00 - also from france. Its hybridizer is Millet 1907. It has an "orangish-white beard".
Niel, does the fact that the last two are French cultivars have any impact on ID? I'd guess that Don Juan isn't likely now.
Don Juan also has very large flowers Kelli if that helps.
Yours looks alot like mine, mines a little darker though. so many of them look so close in looks, this one was unnamed too, someone called it perfection.
after looking up perfection this one doesn't look anything like perfection LOL
Looks exactly like perfection, even if that's not it's name. :-)
Show me your picture of deception, mine came from a google image search. that one didn't look like it at all
Doss, a lot of the French-bred varieties circulated in the US.
Prior to WW's I and II the French iris growing and breeding were really in their stride. In the California-to-Oregon-like climate, bearded irises grow extemely well (right along with wine grapes--shades of Napa Valley!). The wars snuffed the industries out, destroyed many plantings, and it has taken some time for them to recover. By the time they did, American breeders dominated the market.
You will notice that the Cayeux family, a multi-generational iris enterprise, has kept on going through it all, and the current introductions are right up there with the best. There are a number of other French iris breeders also currently at work, with a few of their varieties getting into the U. S. market as well.
In the years around the time of Kelli's unknown, British, French and American breeders were all being quite aggressive in pursuing the rich potential of the new tetraploids, with few barriers other than time of transit slowing down international commerce. The unknown could just as easily be French as American-bred in origin.
Let me add a caveat--I am expressing an impression of iris history of the time, not one grounded in careful study or research, so I could be wrong.
If I were trying to identify the unknown, I would pick up a selection of those that more-or-less match the description of the unknown and grow them. I think I would be tempted also to e-mail someone like Phil Edinger or the fellows at Superstition with a jpeg file of the unknown with enough size details are clear, especially around the beard area. Now is not a good time to do this, as these folks are hitting their stride with the early irises well into bloom. This is winter work, not bloom season, matter.
I'm tempted to suggest it may well be one of the early DOMINION descendents, but how that might be helpful in locating the correct name I have no suggestion. Until the 1939 and 1949 Alphabetical Check Lists from the American Iris Society are fully incorporated into the database on-line (which requires a small annual fee to access, incidentally), there is no help there with tracing such a suggestion.
I don't think I'm being very helpful (and no, Kathy Ann, it isn't PERFECTION. That one is a small-flowered diploid neglecta with a lot of *I. variegata* butterfly-wing veins showing in the upper falls. It is charming, and one I loved years ago. I kept it for a couple decades and enjoyed it greatly.)
Neil Mogensen
Thanks Neil - I always appreciate what you have to say. It was Superstition that said Don Juan was rare. My grandmother grew fuschias and I think of all the beautiful cultivars she had. They are working like crazy to create mite proof cultivars - but we've lost so many of them. I hope that they've been kept well somewhere else. Just like Kelli's that "came with the house". It's nice to make a discovery no matter what it's name is.
The flowers of "the burgundy iris" are not any larger than what I consider to be normal, so I doubt it is Don Juan. Also, it seems very unlikely that an iris as prolific as this one would be rare. I can't tell you how many dozens or even hundreds of rhizomes I have given away or put in the compost pile. As it is, I still have clumps of this plant all over the yard. (I will give rhizomes of this plant to whoever wants this summer or fall - whatever is the right time for you - in exchange for the cost of postage.)
My house was built in 1964 and there was nothing here before that. (Even if there was something here before, the lot had been heavily graded and anything that would have been here would have been lost.) So whatever the iris is, it would have to be something reasonably available after 1964. I noticed a house up on the next street also has this iris.
Here is another picture that shows that the falls do not have much tendency to be droopy. The flowers look almost like they want to fly away.
This one may have to remain a mystery. My space is very limited and if I get any new irises, I will have to first get rid of something else and I would only do that to put in something different from what I have.
Kelli,
I would love to have some for postage. Whenever you want to send it is fine with me.
Thanks,
Mendy
kelli, i think it is beautiful. i would love some for postage. thanks, belinda
Or Kelli - It could have been growing in Grandmother's garden, or a gift from a neighbor. As you're saying, it's prolific. A lot of plants were, and still are shared. It does sound like it's a neighborhood iris. :-)
I would sent a photo to Superstition. They might be interested in selling such a good grower might be worth selling - thereby keeping it alive. But then so are you by sending it to us.
What about Pagan Princess?
Winni
I would love some for postage! LMK
JanetS
KELLI .........
re: your unknown Burgundy Iris.
I am newly addicted to historic irises. I love the shape and vigor.
If you have divisions of this one ever , PLMK and I will be forever in your debt.
I would offer you my first born too, but she would come along with her DH and 3 grown sons that can empty a fridge in less than a day. ...... lol
Shirley
edited to correct spelling
This message was edited May 14, 2005 9:00 AM
Kelli,
I saw your post this morning. I have this iris also. It was given to me by my sister who received it from the garden of her husband's great aunt who had the iris in her garden all of her adult life. She lived around the Wichita Falls area close to the Red River. This is a tough area for gardeners. Lots of high heat and sandy soil. My sister and I are in our sixties so this will give you some time frame on how old this variety is.
It appears in a book, "Neil's Sperry's Complete Guide to Texas Gardening," pp 257. There's a caption under the photo saying, "Old iris grows alongside rural fence."
It's the first perennial that blooms in my garden in the spring.
Sorry I don't have a name for you, but at least you have an additional bit of history about your burgundy iris.
I'll be happy to share this iris for postage. I have a small clump that needs to be moved.
Jane Bray
Gardening in Austin, Texas
zone 8
This message was edited May 14, 2005 3:27 PM
This message was edited May 14, 2005 6:41 PM
