Ok, keep in mind that this bloom is only slightly over 2 inches wide and about the same in length. It's tiny compared to all my other irises. I have a feeling this is something I dug up at an old homesite that is over 100 years old. I could be wrong, any one ever seen this tiny iris before???? Do you have a name for it? It's pretty up VERY CLOSE, but ugly from a few feet away.
I dont have a name but I do love it!!!!
Gloria
I forgot to tell you that this iris stands 32 inches tall and the leaves look like regular iris leaves, and it makes a nice clump very quickly. Any ideals on what I have????
Happy Gardening, Marian
Hi! Marion. I love your little iris. BEV
Thanks ya'll for the kind words. It really is a strange little iris. It's only pretty if your up close and personal. LOL and I mean only a few inches from your face/eyes. I have 3 different clumps of it growing in different areas of my yard and they are all blooming the same tiny blooms.
I wouldn't want someone to share this iris with me. That is of course unless it's an old historic or some other kind of old iris. My first thought was that it's probably a VERY OLD iris that came from this house that was torn down by me. The house was over 100 years old. But I really have no proof of that or as far as that goes it could have come from several other old homesteads. ???
My wishes are that someone how knows something about "Old Historic Irises" would look at it and be able to tell me something about it.
Thanks for your kind words. Hope your iris beds are full of blooms very soon.
Happy Gardening, Marian
Marion try going to the HIPS webpage and look thru there it might help
D
Dee I'm lucky if I can get the computer turned on and then it's a real challenge to even post the photos of my irises. Unfortunately I was hoping that someone could tell me more about this iris.
Thanks maybe someone else will know something about it.
Marian
It has been a long day and I am recuperating with a couple of cold beers but the general
form and design are dead on with the HIPS pic of 'Swerti' (1612). The colors are not an
exact match but that could be camera differences. I think some of the forum members
mentioned the other day they had 'Swerti' in their gardens.
I am an oldies fan so if you decide to dig and divide send a d-mail to me.
The way the falls bend/fold at the bottom reminds me of Swertii, a VERY historic iris. Here is a photo of mine taken last May. The size is as you describe.
This message was edited Apr 16, 2009 10:27 PM
What a pretty little flower,
like fine china
Every detail painted with a steady hand.
I'd be pleased to have this baby
call my house a home.
Congratulations on a beauty!
April
Marion, I belong to Hips and AIS and if you ever divide don't forget me. HUGS BEV
I have one yellow one that is from 1813 "Flavensens"
Any over 30 yrs old are Historic.
Ok, Thanks to ya'll I now have a name for my tiny weird little Iris. It is indeed Swertii which it is said was introduced in 1612. As I have stated several times before it's not very pretty from afar. I would think that you would only be interested in this iris if you collect Old Historic Irises. As for me, I'll keep a small piece of it around but I will not plant it all over my beds like I do my other irises.
Thanks everyone for helping me out with the ID. Bev, I'll send you an email or dmail latter today. If I forget to, give me a shout, you still have my email addy don't you?
Happy Gardening everyone, I don't know how exactly how many of these I have out there but I will share this weird little thing with ya'll. Just don't blame me if you don't like it. LOL
Marian
Thanks Marian. I still have my email. BEV
dragonfly62
Can you post a picture of your 1813 "Flavensens", please? I would love to see it! I believe the Swertii is very cute!! I may just have to get one for my iris bed!! ; )
Dana
I don't have good pics from last yr but will take some better ones this yr. When I find one will post. BEV
Dana, I found the pics and went to look and have very few left. They are starting to disappear. I am going to have to lift and move them so I won't lose them. BEV
Those are a very pretty yellow! Thank you for the picture! I was looking in the Winterberry catalogue and I found the Swertii, but not Flavensens. Does the Flavensens have a fragrance? Any idea who might have some for sale? I really enjoy the old irises - reminds me of my Grandmother's garden!
I'm pretty sure I havew Flavensens too Bev. I have so many old yellow irises it's unreal. I'm fairly certain the one I have all over the place is Flavensens. Most of the older ones do have a fragrance of some sort.
It's pouring rain here so I can not go out and see how many Swertii I have to share but I'm willing to share whatever I have and only keep a couple for myself.
While we're on the subject of Older Historic Irises, I have another very small blooming one that is solid light purple or violet. The bloom is about the same size as Swertii. I'll see if I can get a picture of it in the next few days.
I really do like most of the historics but I prefer them to have larger blooms than these little things. I guess what I'm trying to say is if something is going to take up the same amount of space in the flowerbeds I want as much bang out of it as I can get. These tiny blooming historics have there place I'm sure. They are very much like the white cemetery iris, they have a take over the world habit. LOL
If anyone has any ideal what the purple on is I'd appreciate a little help IDing it too. I know it would be better if I have a picture but unfortunately for me I have not photographed it because I don't think it's that pretty. LOL
I guess I have alot to learn when it comes to HISTORIC IRISES...or let's just say I need to be better educated about them. I know someone needs to preserve them. Maybe I should start a bed that is nothing but historics.....
Surely I didn't just say that......Another bed when I have a difficult time as it is keeping up with what I already have and the rolling hillside I'm trying to cover in Irises. I MUST BE CRAZY!
Happy Gardening,
Marian
I don't know about smell till they bloom again but they are only 3ft tall and small flowers. All mine except my reblooming ones are over 30 yrs old which makes them Historic. Here is one I think is Pallida. BEV
Aw, Marian, how could you call that little cutie "ugly?" LOL Glad you got an ID on it, anyway. I have ID's on very few of mine--they were rescues from the elderly mother of a retired friend, who was tearing them all out to simplify her landscaping, when the garden just got to be too much for her. I know very little about iris identification, and wouldn't know if I had a historic if it bit me! I sure enjoy them, names or no.
Angie
Lovelyiris, forgive me if this has already been said - having the spins and hard to read much above other than your post.
this iris does not have the form of an old fashioned iris - too darn many frills. it is very like in color to several others, like Swerti, but that's just too darn many frills. it's modern, recent.
having said that, another similar iris in coloring and size is Mme. Chereau, but, again the form is all wrong.
Hi Bonjon,
I must say that I have gone and looked at all the photos of Swertii and it is indeed that plant. It may very well be that it looks different from my photo because of the position. I do have others on the same plant that look just like the one SJSG posted and I will link it to this post if I can find one of those pictures. Thanks for your input.
Best Regards and Happy Gardening, Marian....
Here's another photo that may or may not be of help!
Another view of this weird little baby. Not a good shot of it but a different one non the less.
one more just to show it's size.
BTW the measuring tape is up against the stalk.
I would say it is Historic just because of the paper thin covering on the buds. BEV
Don't want to pretend to be an expert which obviously I am not but 'Mme. Chereau' does
not have the curled, tucked in fold as identified by HIPS as 'Swerti'. True, as Bonjon says,
it does not have the traditional appearance of the old heirloom irises. I look for narrow
droopy falls with a lot of veining at the hafts (new term I just learned) and strong "meaty"
standards when I search for the old antiques.
I have raised irises all my life and I'm not a young chicken. As a matter of fact I'm a pretty old HEN. I'm not a betting person but I'd put $100 on it that the above iris is Swertii. After all I have several clumps of it and they all look like the same one SJSG posted. Do any of you have Swertii growing in your beds that you can compare this one to? I know that one does not just go out and stick a name on any plant just because it looks like such and such. However I know where every iris at my place came from because I'm the one that bought them, or dug them up, or traded for them. So if they didn't come from a vendor, and are in my formal beds I dug them up at old homesteads that are no longer standing or nearly completely gone. I know in my heart of hearts that it is Swertii. I will take more photos of the entire clump and so forth. But right now it's raining and it will be several days after I take it them until I can post more of them.
Thanks again for all the input and I look forward to correctly IDing this tiny weird looking iris. Another thing I noted is that the other photo of Swertii (not mine) was taken in bright light. Mine was taken in shade, therefore a brighter looking shade of purple. In reality the true color appears a little lighter. I must tell you folks all these pictures are being taken with an old Sony digital camera that is about 8 years old and it's only 1.2 megapixels. Wish I could afford a new Canon, I already have a bunch of zoom lens for one. LOL
Happy Gardening and discussing our irises!
Marian
no matter what it is I think its just darling I love it thank you for posting it ;0)
Gloria
I dug my Swertii from my grandfather's garden in New Jersey around 1970. I can remember seeing it growing there as far back as about 1950. He had that house built in 1928/29. I don't know if he always had irises or not, but his flower beds were well established by 1950 with a long bushy hedge of peonies, a very nice grape arbor, lots of beautiful rose bushes, a large asparagus bed, a number of fruit trees, a vegetable garden about 20 feet by 60 feet, and a large compost pile about six feet tall and twelve feet in diameter!
Here's my Swerti.
Great story about how and where you got your Swertii from SJSG. All I can say about mine is that I had to have dug it up at an old homesite around here somewhere. I wish I had a lovely story behind mine like you do. (grin)
Mshadow that looks exactly like mine so I'm 100% sure that's what mine is. I don't know why the first picture looks so ruffled, full and so forth. The only thing I can figure out is I was up real close, and from a different angle and the standards were overlapping or something. It may also have been after we had a thurnderstorm.
Thank you to everyone who has posted their photos and helped me identify my weird little iris.
Happy Gardening,
Marian
Could it possibly be 2 blooms? This shot of Telepathy has 2 blooms, one behind the other one, just to give you an idea of what I mean.
Hi Mshadow, you have a good point, it could have been two blooms and I'm so blind I didn't notice the other bloom.
I just love the above shot of Telepathy its beautiful. Now I'm going to be adding so many irises to my want list it's unreal. I think I'm like everyone else, I want a start of all of them I see and some of the ones that I've just heard about. LOL
Happy Gardening and thank you for sharing your lovely photo of Telepathy with us so we can drool a little.
Marian
