Iris 2013

Iris hybrid - This is a twice blooming one, hardy and twice blooming even in zone 3.  But, rather than the second bloom occurring in late summer/fall, these buds are held over the winter to bloom in the very early spring.  Then the normal blooming comes later when other tall bearded Iris bloom, and is normal height.
   

Iris lutescens 'Campbellii'
   

Iris reichenbachii
   

Fine show of Irises there Rick.

Rick, I'll second that motion, really fine Iris, particularly love the unnamed twice-blooming hybrid with extra wide falcate leaves, mmmMMM good! Iris lutescens 'Campbellii' and in particular Iris reichenbachii, are stunning, and so are the photos.  The last photo of I reichenbachii is so special, I would want to use it as my computer screen "wallpaper".

I have already "stolen" this pic from Dave Toole for my desktop:

RickR wrote:

I have already "stolen" this pic from Dave Toole for my desktop:

 

My 'charge out' rate has just gone up Rick  ;D
Account coming to you in due course ....... ;)

Cheers Dave.

Beautiful, Rick!
I don't have many Iris anymore at all.  Of the few, this Iris chamaeiris (syn. Iris lutescens) is in bloom:

We had our Chapter plant sale this past Saturday, and due to the very late spring, many of my Iris reichenbachii were blooming.  Consequently, many more sold than would have otherwise.  These all came from seed from the very nice yellow one above, but there was a range of colors from purple to light purple bicolors to yellowish, but no true yellows.  Sorry, I meant to photograph all the variations, but in my haste I guess I didn't.  I am the Plant Sales Chair and a major donator, and only had one day for most of the preparations. 
       

Iris lacustris
         

Iris humilis
             

Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae in the garden.
             

Thanks Rick. I have the Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae but only got the name after seeing your picture.

Rick very lovely Iris reichenbachii,i have seen it in the wild several times but always in blue. Here is a picture I took three weeks ago above Prespa Lake in Greece on the border with Albania. It was growing with a lot of others in the footpath.

Always most interesting to see (I. reichenbachii) plants in the wild, Tony.  I've been surprised at how deep the rhizomes sit when given a deep root run.

Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae seems to like some shade.  I see you have an empimedium growing near yours, too, Krish.  Behind mine, one can see the leaves of Colchicum x agrippinum and there is the tentatively named Epimedium pauciflorum there, also.  The hosta is Mr. Isami Improved.
                 

RickR wrote:

We had our Chapter plant sale this past Saturday.....
  I am the Plant Sales Chair and a major donator
.........

And as such, Rick, to be thanked and congratulated for your support of the chapter - such efforts make our  world go round!

RickR wrote:

Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae seems to like some shade.  I see you have an empimedium growing near yours, too, Krish.  Behind mine, one can see the leaves of Colchicum x agrippinum and there is the tentatively named Epimedium pauciflorum there, also.  The hosta is Mr. Isami Improved.
         

What a charming plant grouping, Rick.

( Am  I jealous of the unchomped Hosta ?  Heck, yes!)

RickR wrote:

Iris sintenisii ssp. brandzae seems to like some shade.  I see you have an empimedium growing near yours, too, Krish.  Behind mine, one can see the leaves of Colchicum x agrippinum and there is the tentatively named Epimedium pauciflorum there, also.  The hosta is Mr. Isami Improved.
         [attachthumb=1]     [attachthumb=2]     [attachthumb=3]

Rick on the one time I found I. sintenisii in the wild it was growing in dense pine forest in complete shade. my collection of it which I have had for many years has only flowered once.

Thanks, Maggi.  Volunteering, even at this busy time for gardeners is a joy.    And I actually have a couple eager Chapter members now having fun trying their hand at seed starting, who enjoy my and another member's mentoring.  Our Chapter's continuing participation in seed packaging for our seed ex really helps quell the "fear" factor that hampers new seed starters, and builds curiosity, too.

Tony wrote:

Rick on the one time I found I. sintenisii in the wild it was growing in dense pine forest in complete shade. my collection of it which I have had for many years has only flowered once.

This one grows in dappled shade all day except in early morning and very late afternoon.  I had two others growing in morning sun to about noon, than shade the rest of the day; though they both flowered equally well, but they only lasted 3-4 years.

Iris tectorum and Iris tectorum album.  The crested irises seem to have taller crests this year here.  Our late spring and early summer has been very wet.  I am thinking this is the reason (?).

Iris sanguinea and Iris typhifolia.

Two Iris sibirca x I. sanguinea crosses.  The first is the "normal" result, and the second is quite spectacular for a primary cross.  I am wondering if it is not really what it claims to be....

Iris setosa x I. ensata

From a handful of seed from a very dried up plant, growing in the mountains North of Arzignano, Italy, this has flowered for me for the second year. I think it must be a very pale I. sibirica.

[quote=Longma]

From a handful of seed from a very dried up plant, growing in the mountains North of Arzignano, Italy, this has flowered for me for the second year. I think it must be a very pale I. sibirica.

[/quote]

Nice Ron.

Here's the first flowering from seed sown back in July 2006 of Iris histrioides 'Major'.

Cheers Dave.

The dwarf bulbous iris are in full flight here!

Retic Iris Pauline

Retic Iris Cantab

Retic Iris Harmony

"Retic" iris George

cheers

fermi

Here's the first flower on Iris aucheri grown from NARGS Seedex 2005 - donated by Erich Pasche, ex Turkey KPPZ  90158.

cheers

fermi

Wow, that's a distinctive dark color form, congratulations on raising such a beauty.  How many years from seed to flowering?

I am equally impressed with the deep saturated color!

I don't know much about these iris, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of foliage there.  Will it still bloom next season?

I grew a form of Iris aucheri outside, one of the Junos, for about 5-6 years, until it faded away, I think from being overgrown and lacking sun and space.

Hi Mark,

it was your pics of Juno Iris which encouraged me to grow them outside in the ground!

This one took awhile to get to flowering size as it had been cooped-up in a pot for ages; sown in 2005 with one germination that year, kept potted then planted out last year into a sand-bed in full sun. Pat Toolan in South Australia has posted a pic of a similar plant which appears to be even deeper in colour: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9956.135

Rick,

there is more foliage than what appears in the pic, so I'm hopeful it'll flower next year, though I might try to get seed set.

I'm attaching a pic of it when it was in bud a couple of weeks ago.

cheers

fermi

Here's another "Retic" iris,

Iris histrio ssp aintabensis (MT4501) collected by Mathew and Tomlinson in Turkey.

It doesn't match the usual form of the subspecies but I'm assured by the collector that it still sits within that name!

cheers

fermi

Boy, if that doesn't visually draw something to the place of pollination, nothing will!

It's like a vortex!

I've never noticed the signal spot on a fall of an onco mimicked by the style arm crest before.  Perhaps it's just me.

But this one is quite extraordinary!

That's funny, 'cause it's the other one that temporarily through me for a loop.

PCI= Pacific Coast Iris

Americans use MDB(=miniature dwarf bearded) and SDB(=standard dwarf bearded), so DBI garnered a second look from me.

Both Hussy and Riveting are classified as SDBs here.

http://www.irises.org/About_Irises/Classifications.html

Nice examples, Fermi!

Hi Lori,

sorry for resorting to acronyms!

Rick,

thanks for pointing out about the MDB and SDB rating. 

Here's another PCI - we got it as 'Big Money' and the seedlings from it are quite similar,

cheers

fermi

Beautiful PCI Fermi. It is my goal to one day conquer the challenge of growing Pacific Coast Iris on the East Coast; there isn't an ECI acronym for Iris yet (that I know about), but maybe I could change that

Here's a pic of some of the seedlings from 'Big Money' - i think I should call them the "Small Change" Group

cheers

fermi

Some more iris:

SDB 'Cat's Eye'

SDB 'Kiwi Slices'

cheers

fermi

It's only the start of the season for the bearded iris but the Dutch iris are at their peak;

I don't have names for these anymore - I think the blue is called "Professor Blauw' but I'd need to check out my records for the others; I'm pretty sure they're all commercially available clones, though i have raised a few from seed in the past,

cheers

fermi

Some more PCI seedlings

cheers

fermi

Another SDB, this is a Blyth introduction 'Acid Test'

cheers

fermi

I found some US nursery sources for these beautiful PCI Iris, I think this coming spring I shall indeed order a few.

Not sure if members are reading their Rock Garden Quarterly editions online, but not only is the interface awesome, at the end of the Quarterly, with all of the nursery advertisers, the links to those nurseries are live, so you can read the latest Fall 2013 edition, then happily click-and-launch new browser windows to various nurseries. There's a fabulous nursery called Keeping It Green Nursery, slick and flawless web interface, and so many goodies, they offer some fine looking Iris.  I notice they call the hybrids PCH versus PCI, to indicate hybrids, just guessing.

http://www.keepingitgreennursery.com/collections/prennials-g-l?page=2

A couple of Medians now, Aqua Taj and Arianna,

and one I've forgotten!

Next, a "Tall" bearded which has mini flowers! It's an Old variety called Manon which I got from Iris enthusiast, Pat Toolan, in South Australia,

And lastly one I grew from seed from SRGC Seedex 2009 as Iris schachti, though there is some question about that! It's nonetheless an exquisite iris,

cheers

fermi

Those big ruffly type iris seem not very interesting in photos to many of the purists, but I have to say, I accidentally grew one large plain orange ruffly type, and was quite impressed.

What about this one for a tall 4ft bearded with small flowers.  Maybe it was bred from yours!

Creative Stitchery

Mark, The Society for Pacific Coast Native Iris has an excellent seed exchange each year.Most seed is open pollinated, so you only get to know what the pod parent is. The seeds are reasonably easy to germinate- especially after scarification and soaking for several weeks (water changes recommended). I moved my first plant into the garden this past spring, and it has thrived. It will be interesting to see how this 'Canyon Snow' seedling fares through a Nova Scotian winter. The variation in the seedlings is interesting- some with shorter foliage than others from the same seed lot. I hope to see first bloom next spring.

Thanks Tingley, I signed up for a three year "online" membership, very inexpensive, now waiting for the 2013-2014 seed list to be put out, the 2012-2103 list looks exciting!

It has been fun to try these plants. After doing a bit of research, I am now trying to assemble a few of the hardier Pacific Coast species, or hybrids I know include their genetics- Iris chrysophylla, I. innominata and I. tenax. I think my Canyon Snow seedling may have a tough time with northeastern winters (apparently it is a pure cultivar of I. douglasiana). Sadly my earliest seed choices were made by sight alone. Harland Hand is also a  douglasiana cultivar- a coastal species, likely to be a bit on the tender side. A few of the other species may prove worthwhile hunting down- especially if they are from higher elevations( I hartwegii, I. purdyi, I. tenuissima, and possibly I. macrosiphon).

It is also good to know that Pacific Coast Iris can hybridize with iris of the sino-siberian section (I. bulleyana, chrysographes, clarkei, delavayi, dykesii, forrestii, wilsonii) if their chromosome count is identical (2n=40). The resulting hybrids are known as Cal-Sibs, and are likely a lot hardier than most PCN iris.

Some nice Irises, Fermi- your 'schachti' is stunning!

I belong to a 'cold zone' email list, and those folks grow a ton of Irises (as well as lilies and days) -mostly hybrids, and I don't even try to keep up with the photos in prime season...  I definitely tend to prefer species over some of the really far-out flowers, but there are some very beautiful colour combinations for sure.There are a lot of acronyms flying there too, which I also cannot keep up with...lol

One of my favorite of the "Dutch iris" is 'Thunderbolt' - the first really brown one that I've ever grown!

cheers

fermi

That's a real beauty.  I have only tried "Dutch Iris" one year, planted the corms in the autumn, and had a wonderful display in spring, but they didn't come back for a second spring.  I haven't bothered trying again since.

I would think brown coloring is unusual in the reticulata clan.  Very nice, Fermi!

Same experience here as Mark's.  But that was when I was in my teens, so maybe I ought to try again, to b e fair.

Nice colour, Fermi.. They sell 'Dutch Iris' here, as perennials, but plants sold here are often packed in other places, and not actually hardy, I wonder about these?... I thought this was what I'd grown as  a teen that needed lifting in fall, but notice the packages here suggested they were perennial... (I didn't look closely enough to see any zone rating)

Hi Cohan, Rick and Mark,

I hope you do give them another try! I love all sorts of iris and fortunately for me these ones tend to grow quite easily in our conditions.

Being an inveterate seed-sower I'm trying some of these from seed as well - when I was much younger I did some hybridizing with the the ones I had on hand but didn't have the patience to follow through with the care of the seedlings. When I was moving house I found the foam box in which I'd sown the seeds and though there was hardly any soil left in it, there were amazingly a few sound bulbs which flowered a couple of years later - and one was an actually improvement on what we had available when I made the cross (about 12 years earlier) but was outclassed by newer varieties since! Probably wouldn't have made my fortune but I'm disappointed that I'd slipped up in growing on the seedlings. It hasn't taught me much though as I'm still hopeless at getting my seedlings organized - they usually surprise me by flowering without any help from me!!

cheers

fermi

The first couple of Louisiana Iris for the season; no labels obvious!

cheers

fermi

Another interesting group of Iris - I've heard the name, but haven't really grasped/remembered what they are...lol

Cohan,

as I lived for a short time in Louisiana I guess I was always going to grow them!

They do need a lot more water than most of the others we grow - apart from this one - a variegated Iris laevigata which we just got in September and it's now living in a water-pot,

cheers

fermi

The Spuria Hybrids are starting to flower!

These came from our previous garden and I'm not exactly sure which is which, but i think this one is called 'Fergie's Poetry'

This is what I think is 'Buttered Chocolate' - had to buy it for the name alone!

These 2 are soon to open - one of them is 'Intensity'

cheers

fermi

The yellow Spuria Iris Hybrid has opened a couple of blooms

and a white Louisiana is also open

cheers

fermi

Fermi, some lovely Iris there, the white Louisiana with green markings is beautiful and elegant.

If there are any others interested in trying out Pacific Coast Native Iris (or hybrids of them), the Society for Pacific Coast Native Iris is a great resource, and their 2013-2014 seed exchange went live today. You can check out their site at

 http://www.pacificcoastiris.org/

Thanks so much Gordon, for letting me know about Society for Pacific Coast Native Iris, signing up was easy and inexpensive, just sent in an online order for seed of 15 Iris varieties, hard to restrain myself from ordering quadruple that amount.  Seed is inexpensive too, and easy to order and pay online with PayPal, and I received the latest newsletter, so packed with mouth-watering color photos of incredible PCI hybrids that it makes one swoon.

Thanks also from me Gordon --I couldn't quite match Marks effort  however if i get all 14 packets of PC Iris hybrid seed I requested I'll be really happy .

Cheers Dave.

Another Spuria Hybrid has opened, this one is called 'Barleycorn' and is quite dramatic

cheers

fermi

Wonderful irises, Fermi.

You seem to be growing a lot of moisture living iris .... and dryland penstemon.  Is your climate dry and then are you watering you iris "all the time"?

Thanks, Dave, and Mark,

I first got to know the Pacific Iris when I lived in Vancouver BC, and spent time in Seattle WA. I am now trying to se if any of them will thrive in southern Nova Scotia's zone 6 to zone 7 climate. While hunting for photos of the seed exchange plants missing pictures, I came across a site that really had me in an uproar. The photo galleries cover more than just Pacific Coast Iris, and are well worth taking a look.

Here is the link to the Pacific Coast Iris Gallery.

http://www.leonineiris.com/l9i_photogallery/l9i_photogallery.php?dir=Iris.Pacific Coast&page=all

I'd love to find out what you two decided to order from the exchange, perhaps I'll PM you both with my choices if you are interested.

Cheers, from southwestern Nova Scotia

Fermi- moisture for the Louisiana Iris does sound familiar  for the little I knew...

Spurias are nice too, Some of the folks in Manitoba and Saskatchewan I mentioned before are trying a lot of different iris, hybrids and species, and think they were doing well with spurias.. I've got a couple Irises checked off on my preliminary Holubec list, but not sure what I'll get in the end.. leaning mostly towards small things that flower in spring and have nice leaves..lol- maybe pumila types..

[quote=Tingley]

Thanks, Dave, and Mark,

I first got to know the Pacific Iris when I lived in Vancouver BC, and spent time in Seattle WA. I am now trying to se if any of them will thrive in southern Nova Scotia's zone 6 to zone 7 climate. While hunting for photos of the seed exchange plants missing pictures, I came across a site that really had me in an uproar. The photo galleries cover more than just Pacific Coast Iris, and are well worth taking a look.

Here is the link to the Pacific Coast Iris Gallery.

http://www.leonineiris.com/l9i_photogallery/l9i_photogallery.php?dir=Iri... Coast&page=all

I'd love to find out what you two decided to order from the exchange, perhaps I'll PM you both with my choices if you are interested.

Cheers, from southwestern Nova Scotia

[/quote]

Hello Gordon

I'd be keen to see what you have ordered so please send a PM .I only have 3 plants in total  below which are currently in bloom so I'm just happy to get seed of anything different so I can a play around with some crossing.

Lovely Iris pics by the way Fermi.

Cheers Dave.

[quote=RickR]

Wonderful irises, Fermi.

You seem to be growing a lot of moisture living iris .... and dryland penstemon.  Is your climate dry and then are you watering you iris "all the time"?

[/quote]

Hi Rick,

yes, we have a mostly dry climate and can water parts of the garden for the plants that require more than what falls from the sky. We just can't provide the coolth that some plants want! Hepaticas and such have to be kept as best we can in the Shade-house.

cheers

fermi

[quote=RickR]

Wonderful irises, Fermi.

You seem to be growing a lot of moisture living iris .... and dryland penstemon.  Is your climate dry and then are you watering you iris "all the time"?

[/quote]

Hi Rick,

yes, we have a mostly dry climate and can water parts of the garden for the plants that require more than what falls from the sky. We just can't provide the coolth that some plants want! Hepaticas and such have to be kept as best we can in the Shade-house.

cheers

fermi

Here's the 3rd pic from my posting above.

Hi Dave,

nice PCIs! The pic didn't appear in your earlier post when I logged on the desk-top computer this afternoon but it appears now on the iPad - twice! Very nice coloring,

cheers

fermi

Another Spuria iris has flowered - 'Clara Ellen'

cheers

fermi

Another great colour combination, I can see the attraction to the spurias...

[quote=cohan]

Another great colour combination, I can see the attraction to the spurias...

[/quote]

Hi cohan,

to me all iris are attractive and I love the spuria iris because they are so indestructible in our climate, once they are established. The species though should not be neglected because they have a grace which is lost in many hybrids which are grown for vigor and size and color.

This is Iris halophila - few flowers these year, the clump must need to be divided and the soil replenished I guess,

cheers

fermi

Just added Iris halophila to my list, love those whirligig flowers.

I'll let you know if it sets seed this year,

cheers

fermi

A couple of "out of season" blooms on  Medium (Border) Bearded Iris 'Silent Strings'

cheers

fermi

Another water iris,this is 'Kimboshi', a sterile hybrid between Iris pseudoacorus and Iris ensata,

cheers

fermi