New Irises

Dad's a Pirate - can you say DRAMATIC... curious name, too.
Rarer than Rubies - looks velvety - can't even begin to name the colors.
Thundery - for some reason, this makes me think of hot chocolate - and it looks different because the standards are darker than the falls

Second tier:
Glamazon
Mandarin Music
Painted Flutes
Truly Wicked

HMM, did I mention I had trouble picking just three.

My soil is very alkaline - layers of limestone outcropping with bits of soil here and there. I don't notice any difference between the Blyth iris and others that I grow. He must have ideal growing conditions and possibly the right combination of soil, minerals, water, etc.

My soil is neutral and has most nutrients except nitrogen and phosphorus in abundance, but I haven't grown enough Blyth cultivars to know how they behave in general. All but one of the ones I have are new this summer and haven't bloomed yet. So, I will have to wait and see. I have seen Gaelic Jig in Oklahoma City. It was quite small, but very subtle and beautiful. Same with Crimson Snow. I also saw Decadence there and it was tall. Perhaps some of Blyth's cultivars are just genetically small. I don't consider that a problem, but perhaps some do.

My soil is acidic. And most of Blyth's irises will grow short for me (lovely, but short) .....................even in fresh new virgin soil. SPICE LORD is suppose to grow to 36 inches tall; for me in new virgin soil it only managed to get 31 inches tall. I may try to add lime in a small test area and plant one of Blyth's irises in it just to see if it makes a difference.

~Margie

It all depends on how acid your soil is and whether you have enough magnesium and calcium. Have you had it tested?

People might note that the current Blyth catalog is the last large one he is putting out. Drought in Australia is quite harsh at the moment.Remember the medians--favorites SDBs, Chanted, Fusspot & IB Brickle. People in our club have been putting in a joint order but many of his plants as you all know are available in the US.

Hi IrisMA,
I hadn't heard that. :-( It's sad to hear. Will he have another type of catalog he'll be putting out? Is he cutting back on his varieties?

I hadn't realized that the drought situations have increased and encompassed more of the earth, rather than just here in the US. I did hear that the sun spots we've been experiencing these last couple of years could be playing a part in this.

~Margie

I don't know what Barry is doing about a new type catalog. We were just told for the club order so if we really wanted something to order it now. The order comes in April and we pot up the plants until summer planting. I have been working on pink SDBs and Barry's plants are a wonderful help. He has a long line of them much better form than the oldies. I do like his TBs, so different in color, but we don't have much TB room and really should start cutting back on plants as we are both in our seventies. In Australia they have trouble gettin gpermission to water at the moment and growers of fruit trees are in really tough shape. I see that their has been some rain in Georgia, sure that they are hoarding every drop.

I might add that the information on the Blyth catalog came from a US source, decision might have been made after the catalogue was mailed. Certainly he has sources here that can bring some of his plants in. I sent for one of his plants from the Schreiner sale catalog. It has a color that I am working on for SDBs. I am hoping that a bit of pumila pollen crossed onto it will give the plants I need.

you might just email and ask Barry, he was really nice in a very recent email and is sending me a catalog, you can also go to his website and it talks about the upcoming season, sad to see another great iris person retire, I certainly can understand it but none the less, a loss in the iris world.
Marie

makj,

Possibly some of us who do some iris hybridizing can get a-hold of and use some of those Blyth iris genes and keep those great colors and patterns going. :-)

~Margie

I am with you there, I would love to get some and do just that, maybe we can let each other know "whos got what" it would be a shame for some of line to stop:(

It will not stop for awhile yet, because the catalog will come out but just his and a few select ones that he believes are worthy. I know I have ordered every year from him and Keith (who carries his) for years now as using as much of his pollen as possible for crosses.

Denise

someone needs to start a thread to list their Blyth irises and maybe we can trade amongst ourselves. I have a few first year Blyth's. Ruling Lord, Wearing Rubies, Spice Lord, Decadence, Chinese Treasure, I feel the only way I will be able to have more is through the trades

You can buy a lot of Blythe's irises from Fred Kerr's Rainbow Acres Iris Farm:

http://www.homestead.com/rainbowacres2/iris1.html

He carries quite a few of them -- enough to keep you going for a little while. But, yes, we should all try to trade what we have as well. When I first bought Chinese Treasure I didn't know a thing about iris breeders, I just saw it in bloom at the nursery and thought it was lovely. That's the nice thing about Blythe. His cultivars speak for themselves. It turned out t also be a good grower and to multiply fast. it is not tall, but it is far from insignificant.

What a treat for the eyes! I really enjoyed the link to Homestead. Thanks.

I like Jackies idea ...lets start listing our Blyth Iris that we have, so come spring we can trade away.

I have over 150 varieties.

Too many to list

D

irislover dee Maybe list 10 favorites?

Pirates Ahoy
Sweet Geisha
Astrobubbles
Candy Clouds
Coffee Trader
Decandence
Enchanter
Fancy Flutter
Louisia's Song
Copatonic
Misty Ridge
Popstar
Rarer than Rubies
Reckless in Denium
Sorry more than 10 I know...but it is hard to narrow it down

D

I would love to trade, but I divided Chinese Treasure this year and all of my others were new to me this year. I haven't even seen their first bloom. Alas, I can't contribute Blyth irises. Maybe I will have something else to trade, though.

Size on Blyth irises. My Chinese Treasure is a little smaller than my other tall beardeds, which doesn't detract from my enjoyment of it. When I attended the AIS convention this year I saw Gaelic Jig which is lovely but was notably smaller than most tall beardeds there. Margiempv has remarked on Blyth irises being shorter than she expected, also. Are Blyth irises generally shorter than other tall beardeds or is the shortness a function of soil or of my inexperience? I love them, one way or the other, but was just curious.

The first year, they will be shorter for me...after that close to what Barry states, but never as tall. It is due to the difference in his climate and latitude and longitune than we have here.

D

This is what Barry and Keith Keppel have both told me.

Thanks. I guess they are used to more southerly latitudes.

Yup! That is why the difference in height.

D

irisloverdee WOW you have a lot of Blyth iris, I would have to go out and look but I have several too, not too many newer ones however.

We bought Pirates Ahoy from Keith this summer. It was a very interesting zonal. Since it has been more acclimated to a more northern latitude should bloom in '08. We got icy snow before all the pine needles were put on all the beds. I worry about the new plants,only 2" of snow so maybe it will melt and give time to finish the job. Sometimes the plants from Australia will need and extra yr. of adjustment. Sometimes we get summer bloom instead and then they need an extra season to become normal..

I wonder if I should try and get the majority of iris here, so that the "shock" is limited, I have gotten iris from Keith before and he has been very good to me, so I don't mind spending $ with him. that catalog form tempo is like eye candy, incredible stuff

"It was a very interesting zonal."
Okay, true confessions. What is a zonal? I know what a zone is as in a school zone, but what is a zonal iris? I have heard this word quite a bit and finally got the nerve to ask.
I also have a geranium that I bought locally that is labeled zonal geranium. It looks pretty much like a regular geranium to me, so apparently the word can be applied to various plants.

This message was edited Dec 11, 2007 12:32 PM

Can some one tell me where to buy some of the Blythe iris here? I just got a catalouge in the mail and I am smitten with many of them. I am new to iris though so I have no clue where to purchase them. I got some from Louise last year that hopefully will make it as the dog has ripped them out several times.

Zonal is sort of like a school zone. It is a lighter color around the beards than the rest of the falls. I'm trying to think of one off the top of my head and came up with TB 'Clarence' which has a white area in that spot compared to the purple falls.
Keith Keppel sells some of Barry's plants, otherwise look for them in catalog listings under TBs if the catalog gives the hybridizers, not all do. If you obtained some slready keeps an eye out for new listings in that place. When people have ordered from Australia here in MA we do it as a group order, one person collecting requests and ten sending it in.

No I do not have any of the Blythes. I will look up Keith Keppel

I do not see a website for Keith Keppel. Is there another place that sells them that I can look at a website?

Marie,
You can email Keith Keppel at plicataman@earthlink.net and ask him to send you a catalog.
Laura

Margie,
Will we see any new introductions from you next year? (Hope, hope, hope)
Laura

Thank you Laura

You're welcome. Have a nice evening and fun ordering!
Laura

Marie, I have bought some from these U.S.growers

irissisters @www.homesteadiris.com has some of the Blyth iris
Stoneycreekiris.com, Malevilirisgardens.com and Stoneycreek

edited to say iris sisters is irises.homestead.com

This message was edited Dec 11, 2007 4:45 PM

Marie ~ Another that I would recommend is snowpeakiris.com! Judy

any of you that ordered from Keith in the past can support me in saying Keith's iris are huge and in great shape, not mention he is a generous man, all the iris I have received in the past has been excellant:)