Purple based foliage (pbf) picture?

Does anyone have a picture of Purple based foliage (pbf)? I have a TB that is suppose to have it but I don't have a clue what I am looking for. I have read that Wabash has pbf but that Bright Hour, which does not have pbf, is often passed around as Wabash. So I want to look for the pbf to see if it is really Wabash. Can anyone help?

I don't know if I have any pics of PBF, but I can tell you that it varies quite a lot from cultivar to cultivar, climate to climate, and according to timing. Some irises display very obvious, dark purple coloration at the bottom of the leaf fan that extends up the leaves several inches. Others have only slight hints of purple shadings at the very bottom of the fan. Most fall somewhere in between these two extremes.

Some irises display strong PBF before bloom which then fades away after bloom, but some irises have PBF that intensifies after bloom. In most PBF irises, the purple coloration will be strongest and most obvious just prior to bloom. In some irises, PBF appears as soon as the fans start to grow in spring, but in most the PBF doesn't become apparent until the foliage has reached bloom height. So you have to keep checking your foliage throughout the growing season to confirm whether or not a particular iris displays PBF at any time.

The same PBF iris can look quite different in different climates, as well. When I grew Thornbird, it never displayed any PBF in my garden, but I have a friend in Canada for whom Thornbird displayed very strong PBF.

Like everything else relating to living entities, variables are the rule. It does make identification tricky, knowing the same iris can behave and look so differently in different gardens.

Chances are that in your climate, any existing PBF may already have faded on your iris fans, but do look carefully. You may still be able to spy some purple coloration at the very bottoms of your leaf fans.

Good luck,

Laurie

Hi Texas~ here are a several examples of purple based foliage (pbf). As you can see the pigment, amount and intensity varies from plant to plant.

Another

This last one is on 'Zebra Blush'. You can see that, because of the white in the variegated foliage, the "purple" appears almost hot pink.

That's a gorgeous effect on Zebra Blush. I'm going to have to run out RIGHT NOW and see if mine looks like that!

Laurie thanks for your explanation. It helped me to understand why some irises on Shadowood's website lists pbf for certain irises that I grow but missing the pbf. I'm probably just not looking at the right time OR my climate is different.

Roni

Thanks for all of the help Ladies. I appreciate the information and the pictures. At least now I know it can look different and that I need to be looking for it all of the time, not just before the bloom.
;-)

Roni,

Over the years lots of folks have submitted names to me for inclusion in my Shadowood PBF list, and I haven't had the opportunity to confirm most of them. The list is more of a guideline than gospel, so take it for whatever it's worth.

Laurie