Growing Pacifica Iris for Foliage

By Kathleen Sayce 

Among the dozen or so species of Pacifica Iris, foliage is outstanding in only a few. By outstanding, I mean not simply green, but evergreen, and more, a luscious green color--dark, medium or light green, golden to blue-gray in tone. Leaves should also be shiny, substantial in feel, and durable. This creates a lovely dark anchor to other plants in the garden. 

Iris's shiny dark green fans are a good foil for dying fringecup foliage, and give the ground cover at a time when taller plants are flowering. 

Some Pacifica Iris foliage is lustrous and green year round. Use it in the garden to balance other plants even when it is not in flower.

One of the oft-repeated statements made about Pacific Iris is that leaf fibers were used by Native Americans to weave nets to trap, among other animals, elk. Hefty fiber levels in leaves means durability, and durability plus evergreen elevates foliage from one season to four. Take time to search out those sturdy-leaved species' selections and hybrids--they have year round presence in the garden.

I. innominata during flowering:  leaves are dark green, shiny and durable.

Iris innominata and its close cousin Iris thompsonii have narrow, dark green, evergreen leaves less than fifteen inches long. These species grow in dense tufts to slowly increasing circles, and then rings, if you are slow to divide and replant. They are useful as foliage accents in small scale spots or along border edges, planted with other low growing plants, including primroses and small bulbs. 

For larger plants with a bigger garden presence, look at Iris douglasiana. Many hybrids and selections of this species have light to medium green leaves, which may or may not look good fall through spring. A few have striking dark green foliage, which gives these irises a strong garden presence year round. 

Leaves range from less than twelve inches to more than thirty inches long. I mentioned the lack of tall Iris douglasiana in current hybrid and species offerings a few months ago. Another reason to seek those tall vigorous Iris douglasiana selections is to have foliage for the mid to back borders. 

Iris douglasiana, wild form, has great year round foliage, here it grows with fringecups, Tellima grandiflora (Saxifragaceae) and a rhododendron. 

This wild-collected Iris douglasiana is from Cape Blanco, Oregon; it has medium lavender flowers of basic species appearance, but the foliage is outstanding. With leaves around twenty inches long, foliage on this iris is striking dark green on a medium sized plant. I grow this one for its luscious foliage; the flowers are an added benefit for a few weeks each year. 

I. douglasiana x I. chrysophylla is taller, vigorous, with foliage that looks good year round. 

Another good foliage iris is an Iris douglasiana x I. chrysophylla cross. Flowers are purple and small, but the foliage is outstanding, medium green, shiny and lovely year round. With leaves more than twenty five inches long, this plant makes vigorous fountains of green all year—a good plant for mid border locations. It is especially nice interplanted with lilies: Summer-flowering Lilium ‘Cascablanca’ is short enough to be balanced nicely by the dark green fountains after this iris is done flowering in spring. 

Iris 'Burnt Sugar' is an unregistered Pacifica Iris, probably an I. douglaisana x I. innominata hybrid. Flowers are species-like, and the evergreen foliage is excellent. 

Look for outstanding light green to yellow-green foliage, short to tall, and for good foliage irises taller than thirty inches, also for any sign of white striping on dark green leaves, and other color variations on green, including red to purple. 

Readers:  tell us about Pacifica Iris selections that have great foliage, and please post here if you have plant suggestions to share. 

The Diversity of Color in Louisiana Irises - Yellow Irises

by Ron Killingsworth

In previous "blogs" we looked at other colors found in Louisiana irises.  This time we will continue our discussion of the diversity of color to be found in Louisiana irises by examining some examples of yellow Louisiana irises.  People see color in different ways, so you may not see all of these as being "yellow". To learn more about the official wildflower of the State of Louisiana, please visit the website for the Society for Louisiana Irises.

'Amber River' by Richard Sloan 1984

This is a cross between 'Clara Goula' (Charles Arny 1975), a famous white iris, and 'President Hedley' (Joseph Mertzweiller 1979), a dark yellow in the dropping form.

'Brazos Gold' (K. Strawn 1993)

Not a very good picture of a very pretty iris that is registered as "yellow-orange".  'President Hedley' is the pollen parent.

'Butterick' (Jeff Weeks 2010)

This is a recent iris but in the older open form.  Plenty of us still love the old open form.

'Candlelight Supper' (Kevin Vaughn 2001)

The registration picture looks a little lighter than this picture.  If the name is wrong, then it is still a very pretty yellow iris.

'Charjoy's Jewel' (Charles Arny 1977)

This iris is registered as "maize yellow self, yellow line signal, stands slightly fluted' but mentions nothing about the beautiful green style arms.  I really like this flower form.

'Dixie Deb' by Frank Chowning 1950

Folks, this is a golden oldie (there is an iris by that name!) that will still win you awards on the show tables.  Registered as "sulfur yellow self".

'Creole Canary' (Marvin Granger 1976

If you have access to the registration data bank, or a copy of the Society for Louisiana Irises checklist, look up the pod and pollen parents of this beauty.  It is one of the many cartwheel forms that Marvin hybridized.  Notice the petaloids on the ends of the style arms.  There is a difference between a "cartwheel" iris and a "double" but it is beyond my comprehension.  Notice the flower has all falls and no stands -- isn't that what a double is?

'Edna Claunch' by Harry Wolford 2004

This is an outstanding iris that won the Mary Swords DeBaillon Medal in 2014.  An interesting cross between 'Atchafalaya'  (Farron Campbell 1998), a dark red violet cartwheel form, and 'Dural White Butterfly' (John Taylor 1989), a famous white iris with green style arms.  Atchafalaya is the basin in south Louisiana and is pronounced ahg chaf a lie ya, kinda like you are sneezing.  To learn more about the Atchafalaya basin, check out this website.

'Enviable' (M. D. Faith 2002)

A really beautiful iris that is registered as "stands greyed translucent white and falls Indian yellow".  Some people when registering an iris use so few words to describe it, you would think they paid by the word.  M.D. did a great job of describing this one

'Green-Eyed Love' by A. Faggard 1980

Ok, so this one is not really all yellow but the falls are yellow!  I really like this iris.  The green style arms will catch your attention from across the garden.  I am not familiar with the pod and pollen parents.  It is similar to 'Easter Tide' (Charles Arny 1979) which I also grow.

'Gulf Moon Glow' by A. Faggard 1994

This beauty was registered and not introduced until I introduced it last year.  It was often entered in an iris show and had to be entered in the "seedling" section although it is a 1994 registration.  The American Iris Society (AIS) recently changed the rules to allow named seedlings to be entered in a show as seedling or into the registered portion of the show.  This is really a beautiful iris, another of my all time favorites.

'Ila Nunn' by Charles Arny 1967

A beautiful white self with a little ruffling on the petals.  It won the Mary Swords DeBaillon Award in 1972

'Ila Nunn'

This picture shows a new bloom along side an older bloom.

'Key Lime Pie' by Kevin Vaughn 2016

This beauty came out of the pod parent of 'Edna Claunch', discussed above.  It has a very complex pollen parent genealogy. You have to love the lime-green style arms and it has quite a bit of ruffling.  It is registered as the "flat cartwheel form" and notice it has signals on all the petals.

'Kraemer Yellow' by Kraemer 1943

This is an oldie but goodie.  It is a collected iris.giganticaerulea.  It is registered as "soft sulfur yellow".  A nice example of the open form of an older Louisiana iris.

'Laura Louise' by Joseph Mertzweiller 1990

I have thousands of this iris.  It grows like a "weed".  Very pretty yellow irises, registered as "yellow orange" and the picture in the registration shows it with more of an orange shade of yellow.  A great garden iris that for some reason never won any of the AIS awards.

'Lightening Quick' by Mary Dunn 1998

Registered as "medium yellow self" and a really nice iris.

'Rigolets' by Patrick O'Connor 2004

Once again this picture is not exactly like the one in the registration; however, the age of the bloom will certainly affect the color in the bloom.  A very pretty iris with the nice green style arms.

'Rokki Rockwell' by Dormon Haymon 1992

Registered as a medium yellow, this iris agrees with the time of registration, a more open form that newer yellow irises.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1995.

'Seminole Autumn' by Harry Wolford 2004

This iris is registered as "caramel yellow with fine rose veining" but there is a lot happening in this iris.  Another favorite iris and an eye catcher.

'Sunny Episode' by Henry Rowlan 1983

An older iris but a beauty.  The registration shows green style arms and that is certainly possible, this could be an older bloom and the style arms faded to pleasing yellow.

'Te Aroha' by Heather Pryor 1997

A very nice iris with lime green signals, quite ruffled, registered as "soft lemon white".

'Yeloponie' by W. B. MacMillan 1975

Registered as "light yellow self, green line crest" fails to even mention the beautiful green style arms. Another example of an open form older iris.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1979

As you can tell by the registration dates, we grow a lot of the older Louisiana irises, "historical irises".

To learn more about Louisiana irises, visit their website.

Stay tuned for purple, dark and "odd colored" Louisiana irises in parts that follow.

The World of Irises is the official blog of The American Iris Society. Now in its 99^th year, The American Iris Society exists to promote all types of irises. If you wish to comment on a post, you can do so at the end of the page and the author or the editors will reply. If you wish to learn more about The American Iris Society, follow the link.

Lloyd Austin - Pioneering Iris Hybridizer: Part 3

by Jean Richter

                                          Black Hope (Austin 1963)

Lloyd Austin is no longer with us, but we have a rich legacy in the things he left behind: the treasure trove of information in his catalogs, and the beauty of his iris. Austin’s catalogs were unique in the iris world – jam-packed with text and filled with pictures, they were equal parts encyclopedic knowledge and corny hucksterism. Some of his claims were a bit grandiose (some of those supposedly flat iris never managed to bloom as flat in the garden as they did in the pictures), but one can forgive a bit of exaggeration given the sheer volume of information he provided.

He gave detailed descriptions, printed accurate pictures, gave extensive information about culture and bloom seasons, and put in a delightful array of “secret variety games” to enable sharp-eyed customers to get additional discounts. The addition of color to his catalogs in 1952 added another dimension to the information available. For many aril enthusiasts, the pictures in his catalogs were the best indicators of what these rare iris should look like. In fact, even today some of his catalog pictures are the best available images of varieties long vanished from commerce. The color reproduction in these catalogs was for the most part quite accurate, with the notable exception of green iris. Many a budding iris enthusiast got a bit of a letdown when ‘Green Pastures’ bloomed with a color considerably more drab than the gaudy bright green it’s portrayed as in Austin’s catalogs.

Austin’s catalogs were particularly helpful to hybridizers. He was very encouraging to would-be hybridizers, giving parentage and fertility information (particularly for arils and arilbreds), selling hybridizing kits, hybridizing manuals, and even iris seed.

In the end, however, it is Lloyd Austin’s iris introductions themselves that provide his most enduring legacy. Sadly, many of the aril and arilbred iris he collected or hybridized for introduction are no longer available. Many of the extant varieties require the usual amount of careful culture common to this group of iris, though ‘Turkish Topaz’ (1962) is a happy exception to this general rule. A collected regelia hybrid, it grows and blooms for me with no special care, and grows so well for Superstition Iris Gardens that it practically naturalizes there.

                                       Turkish Topaz (Austin 1962)

More of his reblooming varieties remain in commerce, and I have had very good growth and rebloom from a number of them, including ‘Winter Flame,’ ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ and ‘Dark Mystery’ (1962). Those space age iris that so entranced me that day at Bluebird Haven have a somewhat undeserved reputation for poor growth. While some of his introductions do require a bit of coddling to succeed, I have had very good growth and bloom from ‘Unicorn’  (the one that started it all), ‘Horned Flamingo’  (1963), ‘Pink Unicorn,’ ‘Horned Rosyred,’ ‘Horned Rubyfalls,’ and ‘Flounced Premiere’ (1961).

                                           Horned Flamingo (Austin 1963)

Lest we forget, Lloyd Austin also introduced a large number of regular old tall bearded iris. I have had very good success with a number of these as well, including one of his best known introductions, ‘Tangerine Carnival’ (1957), the impressive ‘Black Sultan’ (1966), and the free-blooming, large-flowered ‘Crimson Colossus’ (1963).

                                              Black Sultan (Austin 1966)

                                     Crimson Colossus (Austin 1963)

Even if you’re a staunch space-ager-hater, there are many Lloyd Austin introductions you might enjoy growing – give some a try!

                                     Spooned Lace (Austin 1963)

If you would like a PDF of a scanned Lloyd Austin catalog, email me at jeanmarierichter@gmail.com -- we've scanned a number of his catalogs, and several of his manuals.

[This article appeared in somewhat different form in Roots -- The Journal of the Historic Iris Preservation Society, Spring 2008, and the American Iris Society Region 14 Bulletin, Summer 2016]

How Green is My Iris?

By J. Griffin Crump

Photography, soil conditions, and climate can all have an effect on how green an iris appears.  In the last post, we asked what the greenest of the green irises were, and we saw quite a bit of variety.   Actually, there are more irises in the green range than I could include in the prior post-- and one or two that I have to confess I overlooked -- so here are more, some with pronounced differences in the coloration of  the individual specimens, seemingly reflecting the conditions in which they are grown.

Veins

This striking seedling of Bob Van Liere tops the Veins category.  We certainly hope to see this one in commercial production.

 

Van Liere sdlg 24EM5

It was hard to decide into which category to place Mike Sutton's 'Return to Bayberry', but Colleen Modra's photo from Australia tipped the balance to Veins.

'Return to Bayberry' Michael Sutton  Photo by Colleen Modra

'Return to Bayberry' Michael Sutton

Chartreuse

Richard Ernst's 'Envy' leads the list in this category --  and a wide category it is, stretching from almost entirely yellow to almost green.

'Envy' Richard Ernst  Photo by Blue J Iris

Here's an early entry in the green class  --  Rex Brown's 'Green Quest', R. 1959.

'Green Quest' Rex Brown

And another early one, suggested by many, is L. Noyd's 'Pride of Ireland', looking just as it used to in my garden.  Registered as a border bearded iris in 1970, it was reclassified as a Tall Bearded iris in 1973 after receiving an HM in 1972 as a BB.

'Pride of Ireland'  L. Noyd

Still in the chartreuse category, but challenging the decision, is Keith Keppel's 'Secret Partner'.  And have a look at its varied appearance in different gardens!  It makes 'Thornbird''s variations look mild by comparison.

'Secret Partner' Keppel Photo by Mid-America Garden


'Secret Partner' Keppel Photo by Betty Jacobs


'Secret Partner'  Keppel

Barry Blyth describes his 'Devil's Own' as "brassy, greenish gold", and I'd agree, based on its appearance in France. 

'Devil's Own'  Blyth in Sologne, France

But in Oregon . . .

'Devil's Own' Blyth   Photo by Snowpeak Iris

The same goes for Monty Byers' 'Lichen' in Nebraska . . .

'Lichen' Monty Byers  Photo by Blue J Iris

vs. in the Loire Valley, France:

'Lichen'  Monty Byers  Photo by Sylvain Rouad in the Loire Valley, France

Here is Barry Blyth's 'Tuscana', as photographed by Chuck Chapman.

'Tuscana' Blyth  Photo by Chapman

And by Aurora Borealis Garden:

 'Tuscana' Blyth  Photo by Aurora Borealis Garden, zone 5a

Could some of these differences be ascribed to film or camera work?  Perhaps.


Olive

We arrive now at the olive category, and C. DeForest's 'Bayberry Candle', a justly famous historic iris.  

'Bayberry Candle'  C. DeForest

 followed by Bob Van Liere's 23GS24 which is to be introduced this year as Celtic Dancer:

Celtic Dancer  Van Liere  Iris4U

 'Ameila Bedeila' by Sterling Innerst has interesting olive hafts:

'Amelia Bedeila'  Innerst

And last in the Olive category, Anton Mego's 'Going Green'.  I'm an admirer of Mego's work, but I think that this one does still have a way to go before it can be called green.

 
'Going Green'  Mego

Blue/Green

Chuck Chapman's 'Ruth's Choice' is my choice for this category;

 
 'Ruth's Choice' Chapman

followed by Paul Black's seductive 'Green Oasis'.

'Green Oasis' Paul Black, 2013

and Bob Van Liere's colorful 24EM1

24EM1  Van Liere

Finally (and yes, yes, I know it's a Louisiana, but it's so green) is a new introduction called 'Reverchon Snowfall'.

According to Mary Swann-Young, on the Reblooming Iris Society page, Melody Wilhoit says Red Bud Lane will be introducing Hooker Nichols' reblooming Louisiana (LAB-5) as 'Reverchon Snowfall' this year. It has rebloomed in July for the Wilhoits, in central Illinois.  

'Reverchon Snowfall'  Hooker Nichols

So, there they are, their lovely colors at the mercy of the soil, the weather, and the camera.

Of one thing I'm confident:  They're gonna get greener.