Some of my “favorite” Louisiana Irises

by Ron Killingsworth

'Bayou Tiger'

‘Bayou Tiger’ (Strawn, K 1993) has to be a favorite for any LSU fan!  I have given away more rhizomes of this iris than any other.  Every LSU fan wants this iris.  Although it is not exactly LSU colors, it is as close as any iris I have grown.

'Bit of Blue'

‘Bit of Blue’ (Arny, Charles 1975) is registered as “wisteria blue self” and 36” in height but grows a little shorter for me.  It has smaller blossoms and is what I would call “dainty”. It is one of my favorite blue irises along with ‘Clyde Redmond’ (Arny, Charles 1970) which is registered as “cornflower blue self”.

'Boiled Crawfish'

‘Boiled Crawfish’ (Guidry, R 2016) is a “newcomer” and an “eye-catcher”.  I can only assume the name comes from the color of crawfish that have been boiled.  Great name for a Louisiana iris as Louisiana is certainly the home of boiled crawfish, spicy and hot.

'Creole Rhapsody'

'Creole Rhapsody'

‘Creole Rhapsody’ (Mertzweiller, J 1998) is registered as 30-34” in height but grows much taller for me.  It is one of the prettiest bit-ones in my opinion and while the ploidy level is blank, it come from a tetraploid seeding crossed with

'Dancing Vogue'

‘Dancing Vogue’ (Taylor, J.C. 1991) is a pretty pink iris from Australia.  Mr. Taylor has produced a lot of nice Louisiana irises.  I like the color and I guess “pink” is close enough.

'Dark Dude'

‘Dark Dude’ (Betzer, Ron 2010) is, to my opinion, the darkest Louisiana iris.  The second darkest is 

‘Bout Midnight’ (Dunn, Mary 1988) and is the pod parent of ‘Dark Dude’. 'Dark Dude' is one of the Mary Swords Debaillon Medal winners in 2019.

'Extra Dazzle'

   ‘Extra Dazzle’ (Pryor, Heather 2003) is certainly properly named.  There is so much dazzling about this iris I do not know where to begin.  The green style arms are so striking.  The signal on all petals give the middle of the iris an eye-catching beauty.  Heather and Bernard Pryor, of Australia, have hybridized some amazing irises.

'Flareout'

‘Flareout’ (Granger, M 1988) is often misspelled as “Flare Out” so if you search for it, be sure you spell it correctly.  Marvin Granger found a “cartwheel” form growing in the wild and collected it.  He hybridized it into several other doubles or cartwheel form and I enjoy all of them.  ‘Flareout is a beautiful blue and the blooms are as flat as a plate.  If you like this flower form, look up ‘Rose Cartwheel’ (Granger, M 1980) for the rose colored one. Granger registered 43 Louisiana irises.

'Good Doctor'

‘Good Doctor’ (Mertzweiller, J) is a nice white self with a greenish yellow signal.  There is not an excess of white Louisiana irises and I hope someone is working on producing more pure white irises.  Dr. Mertzweiller is more noted for his work with tetraploid LA irises.

'Gulf Moon Glow'

‘Gulf Moon Glow’ (Faggard, A 1994) has been around a long time and is grow in many gardens.  Mr. Faggard failed to introduce this iris and it caused confusion in many iris shows, “is it a seedling or should it be in the registered section?”.  I finally introduced it for him in 2017 to end the confusion. It is one of my top 10 favorite LA irises.

'Hush Money'

If you read my “blog” from time to time, you know that ‘Hush Money’ (Dunn, Mary 1998) is probably in the top 5 for me.  I love the name and the iris.  It is a smaller flower with shorter foliage.  It has an impressive genealogy.  I simply love the colors and the form of this beautiful iris.

'Longue Vue'

‘Longue Vue’ (Haymon, Dormon 1999) is another well known and beautiful white iris.  It was named in honor of the Longue Vue Home and Gardens in New Orleans, a wonderful place you should visit if ever in New Orleans.

'Mighty Rich'

‘Mighty Rich’ (Arny, Charles 1982) is properly named!  You can see it from far away.  It stands out!  Registered as “ruby red”, the bright yellow signal is striking.

'Our Parris'

‘Our Parris’ (Carroll, C 1987) also has a tricky name.  Usually one thinks of Paris, the city, but I assume this was named for a person.  The colors are very different, and it is registered as “cream ground with peach to dusty pink overtones”.  Some irises are just simply hard to describe.

'Pointe Aux Chenes'

‘Pointe Aux Chenes’ (Musacchia, Joe 2005) is registered as “golden peach self”.  It is an interesting color with darker veining.  Pointe Aux Chenes is a city in Louisiana that is know for being a wonder location for red fishing and is just south of Houma, the area in which Joe lives.  He, along with Patrick O’Connor, love to name irises for places and things in south Louisiana.

'Praline Festival'

‘Praline Festival’ (Haymon, Dormon 1992) is a color that is hard to describe.  Registered as “cream, heavily veined and dusted rose-tan” might do the job.  The name raises another question. Does it connect to the Praline Festival held in Houma, LA, where there is a contest on the best and biggest pralines, or is it about the famous candy of south Louisiana, pralines?  Pralines are described as “a confection of nuts (make that pecans or pe cans depending on where you live) and sugar.  Wikidiff proclaims that pralines are made from almonds, but I beg to disagree. Real pralines are made with pecans.

'Royal Velour'

‘Royal Velour’ (Conger, Sidney 1953) is certainly velvety.  Check out the difference in meaning between velour and velvet.   I love this iris because I knew Sidney, lived in the same town (Arcadia, LA) and it is a great example of an “oldie but goodie”.

'Seminole Moon'

‘Seminole Moon’ (Wolford, Harry 2009) is a color you do not see often in irises.  Registered as “yellow” but certainly has more colors than just yellow.  And you must love those green style arms.  Harry registered quite a few “Seminole ____” (fill in the blank) and that is not surprising, since he lives in Seminole country, Florida, home of the Seminoles, FL State University as well as the native Americans.

'Splitter Splatter'

‘Splitter Splatter’ (Grieves, D. R. 2004) is probably loved by members of the Novelty Iris Society (https://www.facebook.com/groups/168887036782669/).  I could not find the address of their website, but this is their Facebook group. I love this iris because it is different.  The bleeding pattern on each petal differs from bloom to bloom but is always there in one form or another.

If you often read my blogs, you probably noticed I repeat myself.  I can not help it, I have favorites and although I like just about every iris I see, some stand out for me.  If you love something, share it with others.  Who knows, they may learn to love it also.

To learn more about Louisiana irises, visit their website here.

Hybridizing with Iris reichenbachii

by Tom Waters

Four years ago, I wrote a blog post here titled “The Untapped Potential of Iris reichenbachii”. At that time, I could comment on the use of I. reichenbachii in median breeding only as a promising theoretical possibility. Now, however, I have some solid results from my own hybridizing work to share.

As mentioned in the earlier post, I. reichenbachii exists in both diploid and tetraploid forms. The diploid forms can be used with diploid MTBs, while the tetraploid forms are compatible with TBs, BBs, and tetraploid MTBs. It was the tetraploid grouping that I was interested in, so my first priority was to acquire tetraploid forms of I. reichenbachii. Alas, none of the plants or seeds available commercially or through seed exchanges have been identified as either diploid or tetraploid, so I had to make this determination myself. Not being equipped to make chromosome counts, this meant making test crosses and patiently waiting for the results.

Happily, it turns out that the tetraploid forms are not uncommon. The first two reichenbachii forms I started crossing with both turned out to be tetraploid. One is a yellow form, a collection from Mt. Vikos in Greece. The second is actually a group of plants of unknown origin I raised from seed obtained from a collector in Czechia. Most of these are violet.

I. reichenbachii ex Mt. Vikos, Greece

Waters T009-02, purple tetraploid I. reichenbachii

Waters T051-01,
I. aphylla X I. reichenbachii ex Mt. Vikos

I have three fertile tetraploid seedlings now. The yellow Mt. Vikos form gave me seedlings with I. aphylla and with the tetraploid median plicata ‘Saucy’ (Craig, 1998, IB). One of the violet forms gave me a seedling with the tetraploid median ‘Night Mood’ (L. Markham, 2003, SPEC-X). All three of the seedlings fall in the SDB height range and have the slender stems of I. reichenbachii. None are any competition for the modern, ruffled, dramatically colored median hybrids being produced these days; rather, their value is in further breeding. Because these plants are so small and dainty, they can be used to add these qualities to tetraploid MTB or BB breeding programs. So the next step is to cross these seedlings with the best modern BBs and tetraploid MTBs. It would be nice to have all the color patterns, form, and substance the modern BBs have to offer, but in a line of plants that was consistently small and delicate. This project is already well underway, as I have hundreds of seeds from using these seedlings over the past two years.

Waters T059-02,
Saucy X I. reichenbachii ex Mt. Vikos

Waters T060-01,
Night Mood X T009-02

A second project using I. reichenbachii is directed toward producing dainty MDBs. Most modern MDBs are produced by accident - they are just seedlings from SDB crosses that fall below the 8-inch height limit. These MDBs can be very lovely in terms of flower form and color pattern, but they can easily grow out of class, and often lack the daintiness and early bloom that one hopes for in a true miniature dwarf.

SDBs are the result of crossing TBs with the dwarf species I. pumila. What if one used I. reichenbachii instead of TBs? The result should plants fully fertile with SDBs and modern MDBs, but much smaller. I have three seedlings so far (more on the way) from crossing the Mt. Vikos reichenbachii with the I. pumila cultivar ‘Royal Wonder’ (Coleman, 2013, MDB). One is purple, the other two are yellow. All our about 5 inches tall, with one or two terminal buds. They bloom earlier, overlapping the pumilas and the first MDBs. They are indeed fertile with SDBs and with MDBs from SDB breeding. Once again, the value of these seedlings is not in competing with the showiest modern hybrids, but in further breeding, where they can be expected to produce a line of consistently dainty and early-blooming MDBs. Again, this project is on its way forward, with many seeds from using these seedlings with modern MDBs and SDBs.

Waters S026-01,
I. reichenbachii ex Mt. Vikos X Royal Wonder

Waters S026-02,
I. reichenbachii ex Mt. Vikos X Royal Wonder

These projects using I. reichenbachii are not for the impatient; they are multi-generation endeavors. Yet, there is something uniquely satisfying in breaking new ground.

Photo Essay: Historic varieties from 1959

By Mike Unser

A collection of historic iris varieties from 1959 that I have grown and loved.

On the Road Again: Schreiner’s

By Bryce Williamson

After a good night’s sleep, I started my first full day in Oregon with an early morning visit to Schreiner’s Gardens. Everyone was just waking up and setting up the garden for the arrival of visitors and I had the gardens mainly to myself for much of the early morning. I have combined images in this post from my visits to Schreiner's during the springs of 2018 and 2019.

After hearing much about him, I finally met Ray’s son, Ben. Ben is the fourth generation to be involved in the iris business and is bring a fresh prospective as Schreiner’s have now expanded into daylilies and other plants.

I find it sort of sad that Schreiner’s is really the last old fashion garden with irises integrated into the landscape with other plant materials.

Schreiner 3231-E

Schreiner A-278-2

I'm always on the outlook for selfs and we have too few good blues these days.

'Baja Blues'

'But Darling'

After a whirlwind visit here, I was on the road again to Mid America.