Okay, this is just the wierdest thing. I was hoping that someone could help me by giving me an explanation of a phenomenon that I'm experiencing in my garden this year.
The saturation of blue and/or purple pigmentation on my blooms has changed and I can't figure out why. The first set of blooms were the normal color that I see year to year. However, the second and third sets have gotten progressively darker.
Here are some examples:
Spouting Horn-normal first set of blooms:
Spouting Horn-second and third set of blooms:
Here Be Dragons-normal coloration:
Here Be Dragons-second set of blooms:
Shaker's Prayer-normal coloration:
Shaker's Prayer-third set of blooms:
On the last picture, you can see that SP has changed from yellow and blue to yellow and purple. This is not a trick of my camera. The colors represented are accurate.
All 3 examples are growing in different parts of my garden, so I know it's not limited to just one area.
Any ideas?
When in doubt, blame it on the weather. ;-)
Laurie
I was going to, but I thought maybe someone had a more detailed explanation. Inquiring minds want to know! LOL!
It's been raining here a whole bunch (not unusual, though) and I was wondering if there wasn't something in the rain that's causing this. It always rains here, but this is the first time something like this has happened.
Any scientists out there?
Hi flowerfrenzy,
I had something similar happen to me last year. My Gentle Grace SDB iris changed color on me. They're supposed to be white, with some blue on the falls. And they all bloomed before, so I knew what color they were, lol. The two by the garage were the normal color, but the one in the back had green standards and white falls with green on them. It looked so weird! So, I called Schreiner's and got into a debate with the woman about it, lol. She said iris can't change colors and I said, "I'm looking at it and it's green." LOL! Then she said certain things in the soil (minerals, etc.) can influence the color. So, since it's uniform in your garden and you had a lot of rain, maybe the rain washed some new minerals, etc. into your soil or something. Ya know, like how hydrangeas change color if you add something (acid?) to the soil.
I know Louisiana's do vary and change a like your Shaker's Prayer as the blooms both age and on subsequent blooms down the same scape. I notice it some of mine (SLI catalogs of cultivars also even address that issue with introduction descriptions).
Now I don't know if that applies to all the different classes of Iris or not. I quite readily admit I don't know anything about any of the Iris except Louisiana's. That's because I can't grow them here! Since my favorite plant is the Louisiana's; I'm just ever so thankful that they like our climate. It does make it "challenging" to say the least--as I'm asked a lot to help identify LA cultivars from pictures in Houston and I'm pretty active in the SLI.
I sure wish I could grow your Shaker's Prayer--that is one beautiful Iris and you take a fantastic picture!
Debbie
=)
Thanks for the input everyone. I appreciate it. :0)
