please ID

Hi Everyone, this place was a nursery in the 1930's(?), so this iris may be left from that time period. Can anyone id it? This plot is at least 30 years old. In SW Michigan.

Honoriable, maybe

Last year as a newbie I got Honorabile from Wanda. It bloomed for me this year, here's a picture so you can compare.

yes Mittsy, thanks for the proper spelling, I always get it wrong.....

I only have it because it's engraved on my marker. Finally, the score is Mittsy 1, squirels 0! Now to engrave tags for every one of my irises.

Hi Mittsy and Jackieshar, parts of that look similar, thanks. This has no brown at all on it, just purple. A very vivid purple - not sure if the picture shows that clearly enough. I have a side photo, if that would help. The colors are about the same in the second photo, though. I wish the people here had tagged stuff. I agree squirrels are the archenemy, but with black walnuts around, I can never get rid of them completely.

Forgot to mention the height. It is about 3 ft tall in bloom.

That is tall for Honorable--is it in shade which can give plant the urge to look for sun. It is obviously some decendant of I. variegata.

Yes, it is in dappled shade. I ran out and measured it. The leaves average at 25 inches, and the top of the empty stalk is 33 inches. I'm really stuck on this one.

still looking for more id, if anyone has more ideas.

Honorabile is yellow and red but yours could be a "sport" of honorabile. The form and pattern does look like it but not the color purple. Honorabile: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/33172/
http://www.worldiris.com/public_html/ROOTS_Articles/Honorabile.html
Having been a nursery in the 1930's it may have been crossed by bees with only god knows what. Someone who has alot of "historic's" could probably "shed more light on it" like "Laurief".
"Honorabile" also has Purple Based Foliage.
Mittsy great tags but "Honorabile" is a MTB not a TB, probably why the squirels left it alone. LOL
My photo of "Honorabile".

This message was edited Aug 1, 2008 8:00 PM

Honorabile is a diploid and placed into the MTB class by the Median Iris Society when it was formed in the 1950s.

Thanks for the picture and info. That helps a lot, Irisma and daloverat. I'm down to a strange sport of Honorible that grew extra tall because of shade, or W.J. Fryer. I found that second one here - http://www.hips-roots.com/visitors/v-photos/vp-topframe.html after following some of the links you sent. I must have looked through 100 heritage iris - wouldn't you know the most likely candidate would be at the bottom of the list. Sigh. Thanks so much for helping me out. If you get a chance, could you check out the fryer and tell me if you think it is more like that one or Honorible? I don't know what fine details to look for.
Thank you again!
Lisa