My irises have started

Flavescens (De Candolle, 1813) 30", EM TB

Gold Galore ( Schreiner, 1978) 35", M, TB.

Helen Collingwood (K. Smith, 1949) 40",M-L TB.

Honky Tonk Blues next to Sable.

Oh what a picture Honky Tonk Blues and Sable make together! My first Honky Tonk Blues bloomed today so our bloom periods aren't so different!

Hoky Tonk Blues and Sable are in the sheltered East side of the house. Golly 129 irises have already bloomed there. Only about 70 more to go. The Nothern Side is mostly IB's and two TB's are blooming.

Jaquesiana by Lemon, 1840 L, TB. Maiden bloom is quite tattered but will show it because have no other shot of it.

Honorabile is also by Lemon MTB 1840 now blooming.

Now Honorabile has mutated or sported off several types. One that bloomed today is called Joseph's Coat Katkamier recognized by Katkamier in 1930 but not officially. Official Intro was not until 1989. It is an MTB about 24" and looks quite different from Honorabile.

No two blooms have the same patterning but all have very little yellow in them.






This message was edited Jun 7, 2008 1:29 AM

Lady Friend (Ghio, 1981) 36", E, TB. Maiden bloom.

Loreley by Goos & Koeneman abt 1909 is now classified as BB or sometimes MTB. Mine was short so possibly next year It will get big enough to produce a real stalk to measure.

Lullaby Of Spring modern TB.

MMe Henri Cayeux by Cayeux 1924, 40" TB.

You have a wonderful collection of Iris! Loreley is one that always catches my eye.

Susan

Lovely. Great collection.

I am enjoying your MTB's Mainer. I had never grown them until this year and hardly knew they existed. I got a few at the local AIS rhizome sale -- not really even knowing what they were and now 3 of them have buds. My tall bearded are nearing the end of their bloom season so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the MTBs will extend my bloom season a bit. I have Kalidoscope, Joseph's Coat, and Persona with buds on them.
For the last 2 years Loreley has won Queen of Show at our local AIS Iris Show.

When listing 'Joseph's Coat' always add Katkamier at the end. It was registered by that name in 1989. It could not be registered at plain 'J---C---' because there was a LA by that name. The new name is long, but the correct one.

Your pictures are so lovely Julianna. Thank you so much for sharing them with all of us. They give us a chance to see firsthand pictures of some of the old historicals along with some of the newer varieties.

Linda

Thanks Linda. Not been able to post for a few days.

Today am sunburned for we had grooming class for the show coming up Saturday. Grooming class was held in Ted and John White's Garden. It was ninety degrees in the shade which is too early for us Mainers to be getting this sort of weather. Frying the blooms and making them bloom all at once in my garden after the rain tattered lots of the blooms.

One thing judges look for most important in a show is how the bloom stalk fits the description of the type of iris. If it has the proper height or leaning instead of standing straight. One terminal perfect bloom is not tossed out when other blooms like five on a stalk are not perfect. Such things like white spots from rain and natural tears and if it looks like you picked a bloom off without smoothing the area around the bloom or if you wipe off your fingerprints on the stalk or do not wipe them off can cost you points if you are going for Queen of Show. Oh, no cheating like placing needles in the plants to straighten them but you may make your stalk look taller if it is too short for correct height by wedging in the container you place the stalk in. No bruising must show on the stalks. Higher points for leave natural unless there is prints on the stalk. Then wipe of the prints gets you more points.

I am not ready for that type of competing and will be content if I enter one not perfect iris just to learn how to fill out the stuff you need to and the process of entering. Not thinking I will do that this year.

I got shown how to pollinate german irises and a neat pair of tweezers and tags and a couple of anther holders to start me off.

Grooming was interesting. Poking the standards with a pen to make them touch edge to edge makes them look much neater and easier for the judges to look into the bloom itself. Learned about what the judges expect in a bloom and what not to do.

I do not think my bloom time is matching show time, I only have one rhizome of most of my stuff so choosing a perfect stalk and perfect height is out of the question this year. I will go take pics, buy some irises and not worry about entering. It was fun hearing the stories from the now judges who were newbies once or hearing hybridizers saying their first intros are now historics.

I think one daylily crossed sucessfully is great, they have fields of both iris and day lily seedlings which just amaze me. Getting iris seed this year from a few will be great, germinating them will be another matter.

Labeling was discussed like I was surprised in pollinating an iris that the hybridizers do not just brush the anthers on the female part. They shove the whole anther inside so when the temp is right it will pollinate before the bees get a chance. Big thing is getting there before the bees do.

Apparent Secret TB by Innerst 2001 maiden bloom.

Very interesting information on grooming and what the judges look for. Thanks for sharing. Apparent Secret is lovely.

Susan

Mainer, Your collection & pix are awesome. It will be a couple of years before all my new iris put on any kind of show.

It's fun to share and most of these are only planted last year, one rhizome so I do not have show clumps of six rhizomes to pick for shows. Some are recovering from a bad winter in 2003 with no snow, lots of sleet and only bloomed this spring. Next year will be better clump shots I hope but the singles are great for id purposes I think. That is what I aim for when taking photos anyway. Other times I like the effects like raindrops on the iris or butterflies. Have a neat shot of a spider web and spider on one of my photos.

Okay Laurie, this is the day SDLG Loomis V20 finally bloomed. I will take more photos for the HIPS gallery in it's full cycle of bud color to bloom so will not be posted right away except for first bloom shot. This was one of the early pinks that Loomis got accused for chemically treating and he did not. This was used in Britain more than the US because the hybridizers did not take him seriously. If they had the pinks would be more hardy here.

My last arilbred I think that will bloom this year is Rain Maiden.

Elsa Sass historic maiden bloom.

Decadense modern maiden bloom.

My Aura Light has a problem. One half the rhizomes have purple in the white and a different pattern and then there is one looking like Aura Light. Think in the trade I got something with Aura Light and I do not know what it is.

First Aura Light.

Now my not Aura Light.

Bermuda Triangle modern maiden bloom.

Blowtorch modern maiden bloom.

Dance Hall Dolly modern maiden bloom.

Most likely my last SDB to bloom this year Gingerbread Man an historic I picked up last year in the Maine Iris Society sale at their show. Maiden bloom.

What an amazing collection of iris, Mainer. I love Blowtorch and also the not Aura Light -- as well as Aura Light.

Linda, thanks for Immortality! Three bloom stalks on it and one blooming today.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 6:30 PM

I like the horns or blowtorch myself. Notice my bags of sand for when I can garden again in the background of that pic?

Here is Lightshine modern maiden bloom.

Malaysia recent historic, maiden bloom.

Minnesota Mixed Up Kid an historic with modern reg because is was being saved after being introduced for over thirty years but not reg.

Huntsman by Sass an historic maiden bloom.

Ovation an historic and one of the deepest pinks I think. Maiden bloom.

Painted Doll an historic. Maiden bloom.

Now this is a noid. It is not Madame Chereau as it was titled and I wonder if anyone that has grown or seen Parisiana could say if this might possibly be it?