Tall Bearded Iris Color Terms

By Renee Fraser

For those of us still new to the world of irises, there is much vocabulary to master. The parts of the iris flower, the different species of irises, the parts of the plant itself, and of course, the specialized terms categorizing irises into color types. Here is a quick reference, with photographic examples, of some of the major color terms you will encounter while reading about your favorite flower.

SELF

The falls and the standards of a self are the same color. These irises really stand out in a garden setting and are wonderful companions to other plants.

'Adriatic Waves' with Allium.  Photo c. Brad Collins

'Beverly Sills' with Paludosum Daisies

'Fine Wine'

PLICATA

Plicatas have stippled, dotted or stitched edges on a white or yellow ground.  I love the white ones with the pretty picotee edging the best.  

The Plicataman himself, hybridizer Keith Keppel, contacted us to remind us that the definition of a plicata as having a white or yellow ground needs to amended, "as hybridizers have worked hard and we now have lots of plicatas with pink or apricot ground, and we're working to intensify the depth of color so you can really say 'orange, and mean it!"

For more on plicatas, click here.

'Paprika Fonos' 

'Rare Treat'

'Spice Lord' Photo c. Margie Valenzuela

AMOENA

Amoenas have colored falls and white standards.  The most famous is probably, and justifiably, 'Wabash', pictured below.  To see another post on amoenas, click here.

'Wabash' Photo c. Mike Unser

'Venetian Queen'

'Dreaming of Rio' Photo c. Betty Jacobs

VARIEGATA

An iris with red falls and yellow standards.  My very favorite photo of this color, below, shows the cultivar 'Supreme Sultan' with its earliest progenitor, the original iris variegata. Can you believe what modern hybridizing has accomplished?

'Supreme Sultan' compared to the original species variegata!  Photo c. Chuck Chapman

'Decadence' at Schreiner's Iris Gardens. Photo c. Betty Jacobs

'Rogue Trader' Photo c. Betty Jacobs

NEGLECTA

A blue or purple-blue bitone iris with lighter standards.  Click here for more photos of neglectas.

'World Premier' Photo c.TBGDN @All Things Plants

'Northwest Progress' with Julia Child rose

GLACIATA

An iris with no purple anthocyanin pigment.  These irises often seem to glow.  The colors remind me of that wonderful "polychrome" daylily color.

'Glacier Blush' Photo c. Blue J Iris

'Snow Lion' Photo c. Jan Lauritzen

'If Not For You' Photo c. Stout Gardens at Dancingtree

LUMINATA

Another glowing iris type, the luminata, is an iris with a white or yellow base washed over with color so that it appears to glow from within.  More luminatas can be found here.

'Pretty Pansy'

'Wise Woman' Photo c. Brad Collins

BITONE...

This is an iris which has standards and falls of the same color,  but the standards are a lighter shade than the falls.

'Bayberry Candle' 

'Smoky Shadows' Photo c. Rick Tasco

AND 

REVERSE BITONE

A bitone, REVERSED!

'Missouri Mist'

BICOLOR

An iris of two colors.

'Adoree' Photo c. Betty Jacobs

'Smoke and Thunder' Photo c. Brad Collins

'Sweet Musette'

BROKEN COLOR

These flowers have splotches, blotches, and streaks in random patterns.  For more broken color irises, click here.

'Maria Tormena'

'Batik' Photo c. Andi Rivarola

EMMA COOK PATTERN

A darker ring of color around the falls of the flower is referred to as the Emma Cook Pattern, which is named after this famous ground-breaking cultivar.

'Conjuration' Photo c. Dan Holt

'Alsea' Photo c. Brad Collins

'Rare Coin' Photo c. Brad Collins

Many new and exciting color combinations and patterns are emerging in the world of iris hybridizing, so many that it's hard to figure out if they fit into an existing category or if new ones should be created.  I am partial to amoenas. Which is your favorite?

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.