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.