Iris Classics: 'Mady Carriere'

Today's classic iris is one of surpassing charm and sweetness. A very cheerful flower of soft colors that still manages to light up in the garden. It is, of course, the lovely 'Mady Carriere', one of the 150 magnificent creations of the classic French firm of Millet et Fils, introduced in 1905. This distinct variety was remarked upon by Robert S Sturtevant in The Flower Grower magazine, from 1920. He said

"Mady Carriere interested me greatly as it is clearly of the same parentage as Afterglow (Sturtevant) though soft blue not yellow through the center - if your taste is educated to this delicate blend they will prove worthwhile."

He was right! I believe that anyone who enjoys the old diploids would instantly take a fancy to 'Mady Carriere'. What is not to love? It is a very tall variety for its age, easily reaching 3 feet and higher. The stalks are sturdy, the growth hardy and vigorous. Its main attraction, the blooms, are glowing in soft lilac and yellow, the petals are narrow, flared yet dog-eared - and quite graceful. They have a rather unique attribute not often seen - the feather-like style arms reach well out of the standards ending in widely flaring style crests which give the form an uplifted aspect, as if the flowers are reaching for the heavens. I think it is a fantastic feature and adds alot to the charm of this beautiful heirloom.


From Bonnewitz Irises catalog for 1926:

"An excellent variety which is almost exactly the same color as Afterglow. We sometimes thought it superior to Afterglow, which has colors seen in the western sky after the sun has disappeared."

From Treholme Gardens catalog for 1928:

"S. plumbago blue, washed yellowish-white; F. ageratum blue, throat and beard bronzy-gold. A free flowering variety, producing flowers of good size and form. On the lines of Afterglow and Memory but not as reliable. A pleasing pastel effect."

Often described as having a glowing effect, it does seem to capture light in a way only the most special can match. It also is fantastic for massing and a well established clump in full bloom is a sight to behold (but then, aren't they all?).


Millet et Fils thrived in the early 20th century but did not survive the second World War. However they have left us with a marvelous legacy in irises that will carry on their memory for as long as there are collectors of old irises. 'Mady Carriere' is one of their best and a real iris classic. This is one to treasure.

Why do you grow irises?

          By Jim Murrain

        Why do I grow irises? I garden because I need to connect with the earth. I grow flowers to enjoy their beauty in my own garden. But why do I grow so many iris? Is there special allure of the Iris?

        As a child I always planted a few flowers at the border of the vegetable garden. I  divided and replanted bearded iris by the time I was ten years old, before I really knew what Iris were. I took my cues from gardening neighbors as my parents didn't care about flowers and concentrated on growing vegetables for the dinner table. My favorite next door mentor was Cora Bell Miller. She grew miniature dwarf iris with other exotics such as red hot pokers, balloon flowers and many other mysterious plants.

        Years later, when I finally bought a house that had enough space for a garden, I planted half of the garden space with vegetables and half with flowers. These included a variety of annuals, perennials and, yes, various irises, even a few flowering shrubs.  Soon however the floral half expanded into the vegetable portion and eventually took over completely. I could always visit farmers' markets for in season vegetables in greater variety than my small space could ever match.

        I still didn't have the iris bug, but became interested in ornamental grasses. After a while I thought they could be even nicer if they had showy flowers instead of just grass plumes. I saw a listing for irises that included a few species and decided to try growing some. I purchased Iris ensata and a few others. It turned out that I. ensata was an old name for I. lactea and this is the plant I received. I was of course expecting a Japanese iris, but I really liked the foliage of the plant I did get.

        The next spring I saw the first flowers on I. lactea (I still was not sure of its real name) and loved the shy flowers partly hidden by the foliage. By the second year it flowered much better and made a perfect bouquet with a few leaves still above the flowers. But what really got me was that after flowering the leaves extended to over two feet and made a near perfect sphere. It looked as fine as any grass I had ever grown.

        This led me to look for other iris species and I 'discovered'  beardless iris such as Siberian and Spuria Irises. The bug finally bit deep when I discovered the explosion of Louisiana Irises. All these proved relatively easy to grow and rewarded me with  flowers in a variety of colors, forms and plant habits.  I'm not really a very good gardener and I usually kill more then my share, but I enjoy trying to grow some new iris that I can't easily visit in nearby gardens.

        All these photos are of Iris lactea, the iris that piqued my interest in the possibilities of iris and 'infected' me with the iris bug.

        Now, why do you grow irises?

Iris Classics: 'Unicorn'

It is not every day that an iris is introduced that offers a radical change in form to our favorite garden flower, but Lloyd Austin's magnificent 'Unicorn' has such a distinction. It is the parent of the Space Age race of irises; varieties featuring beards ending in horns, spoons or flounces.


Mr. Austin describes it in his 1957 catalog thus:

"This is the original, the world's first horned iris. Represents greatest break in development of an entirely new and highly decorative iris form that has occurred in the last half century of intensive Iris breeding. Customary beards, instead of reposing quietly on the falls in the normal position, are raised and separated from the falls, projecting as striking plumed horns. Coloring is bold and contrasting, brilliant mulberry standards, and snow white falls, prominently edged to match the standards. Beard is orange yellow, changing to white and mulberry. Sets seed readily and has abundant fertile pollen."

If I remember the story correctly, Mr. Austin was visiting the garden of Sydney Mitchell and looking over the seedlings. He spotted a white and purple plicata that had a small bit of flesh raising off the petal at the tip of the beard. Mr. Mitchell told him such monstrosities appeared once in awhile and were discarded to discourage the effect from persisting. Mr. Austin had different visions and using this variety (later introduced as 'Advance Guard') went on to create hundreds of Space Age irises over a short span of time, of which 'Unicorn' was the first. His catalogs were a delightful treasure hunt of games and special offers hidden thruout their overly packed pages and are treasured by collectors today. He was a huge proponent of hybridizing and encouraged everyone to try their hand at it.


Mr. Austin's life was sadly cut short before he could see the true legacy of his creations. The initial derision and dismissal of what was considered ugly by many finally won converts and eventually reached the peak of iris fame when the purple horned 'Thornbird' (Byers, 1989) won the Dykes Medal in 1997.

What a beautiful addition to iris history we have from this lovely horned plicata in its bright carnival colors. But not only does it have beauty and history going for it, it is a wonderful garden plant as well. Vigorous of growth, very hardy everywhere and a reliable and profuse bloomer too. 'Unicorn' really merits the designation as an iris classic.

Why did you do that?

Garden visitors viewing a seedling and then its two parents sometimes ask, why did you cross those two? Assuming that the hybridizer has goals, he/she should be able to answer that question. Just for fun, I'm going to post some seedlings, then discuss either (1) why I crossed the parents or (2) what plans I have for the seedlings in the future.

Flower form
The first pair are Sdlg 05I1, a plant that took "best seedling" at the Fredericksburg Area Iris Society's spring show last year, and Keith Keppel's 'Fiery Temper'. Why make the cross? Well, even though I really like 05I1, I could wish its falls were a bit broader.


'Fiery Temper' has broader falls. It's also a bicolor, which I felt would work with 05I1 being an amoena (I prefer bicolors, neglectas, variegatas and amoenas over solids), and its red-orange beard was a plus. I wanted to keep 05I1's good branching, so made it the pod parent.


As luck would have it, 2010 was a disastrous year for germination throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Less than 5% germination overall here. Of 87 seeds from two pods of 05I1 X Fiery Temper, only 3 germinated. Two of those bloomed in 2011. And one of them was 10L2:


I'll take it. But, still wanting to broaden 05I1's falls and keep its amoena appearance, I'll be trying this year to cross 05I1 with 01S2

or its sibling, O1S3



Stalk and branching
Shooting for the latest in flower form isn't everything. There are other considerations. For instance, I found that the late Sterling Innerst's 'Lynsy Alexandra'


and my Sdlg 20Q5

were very similar not only in coloration, but in height and, most importantly, in the slenderness and shape of their branching and their proportionately small blossoms. I thought the two of them might produce a colorful, slender, well-branched offspring. In fact, the cross produced several such seedlings, more than one of which will be introduced. 07U8, below, took "best seedling" at the Fredericksburg Area Iris Society's spring show a couple of years ago, and may be introduced yet this year. It sports up to 12 buds on excellent branching.

On the show bench

and in the garden . . . and a cousin, 07S9

The best-laid plans . . .
Of course, not everything works. I was hoping to get Sdlg 01J14's red beard


on Prince IgorBoth of them have 'Romantic Evening' in their backgrounds. Nine of 49 seeds germinated and were planted out in 2009. I held the pots over, and 16 more germinated in 2010. None of the 2009 seedlings is remarkable, so far, and only two of the 16 planted in 2010 have bloomed, so far, which isn't unusual. The better of the two is 10A3, which didn't get the red beard or anything else to commend it other than good branching.
So, I'll still be watching for the siblings that haven't yet bloomed. Don't we, as irisarians, know that "hope springs eternal"?

Who's your great-grandma?
Pursuing my line of 'Wabash' derivatives, I had produced Sdlg 962N1, which involved 'Champagne Elegance', 'Wabash' (a recessive amoena) and 'Best Bet'',
and, in order to keep the pure white standards and velvety falls, was looking for a crossing candidate that also had recessive amoena genes. I found it in Barry Blyth's 'Knighted',which looked a lot like 962N1 and whose ancestry included the recessive yellow amoenas of Jean Stevens of New Zealand. The cross was successful and produced Royal Pageantry
The unexpected
Red-bearded 01J14, pictured above, was also crossed with 'Wearing Rubies'.

The cross produced seven seedlings, all of which (I think) sported red beards except 072N6

whose falls are broader than they appear here -- which I have back-crossed to 'Wearing Rubies' and which surprised the heck out of me by reblooming this past fall! How about a velvety, blackish rebloomer with a red beard?

Whimsy
Finally, not all new cultivars are the result of careful study. Sometimes, there's just an itch to make a cross. As, for instance, what if I were to cross 063C1

with 082L13?
It remains to be seen.

--- Griff Crump

Iris Classics: 'Monsignor'

Purple. Since ancient times it has been the color of royalty, due to the difficulty and labor involved in acquiring the materials for the dye. It is also the classic bearded iris color, and the one most often associated with the garden iris. Far from its traditional regal role, we are often bored with this color class because of it is so common in irises. Hence we tend to overlook some really great varieties just because they are often seen and of this typical color. Such a one is the classic French variety 'Monsignor', from Vilmorin, introduced in 1907.


A bit of a closer look and we can dispel this perception. There is nothing common or ordinary about 'Monsignor'. An excellent variety, with a special affinity for mass plantings, the soft violet with the deeper veining is really dramatic and makes a beautiful mass of color in the garden. This is listed as an Intermediate Bearded (IB) iris, and is usually around 25 to 30 inches in my garden, but, in my opinion, is more of a Border Bearded (BB) in its presence and use in the perennial border.


The Cornell Extension Bulletin 112, a definitive iris record, described it as:

"Color effect almost a deep violet self. S. hortense violet, shading darker. F. velvety raisin purple to mulberry purple, veined the same to cotinga purple on the outer haft.

The edge of the blade is blended lighter. The beard is dense and conspicuously orange tipped. The growth is vigorous, the foliage lax, slender, and yellow-green, and the flowering stalks freely produced. The heavy flowers are borne in compact heads on stiff stems, and make a good mass of color."

'Monsignor' is a fantastic garden plant in every sense. It grows beautifully, blooms reliably, is disease resistant and is hardy everywhere. Anyone who enjoys the charm of the old fashioned iris form will enjoy having this beautiful variety in their collection. It is clothed in the color of kings. Use it to bring a little classic French sophistication, and a long history of French charm, into your flower garden.

Iris Classics: 'Jungle Shadows'

Once in a while an iris variety comes along with such an unusual aspect that folks just don't know what to make of it it. When consensus settles on 'intriguing' you know you have found one you're liable to either love or hate - no middle ground here. Such is the case with the ever popular 'Jungle Shadows'. One of the very last introductions to bear the name Sass, it was posthumously introduced by Helen Graham.

From Melrose Gardens catalog for 1967: "Knowlton Award 1962. Strangest of iris colors play subtly in this unique little critter. Dusky grey with over-blending of lavender purple and brown lightening toward the edge. Dark brown purple beard."

From Fleur de Lis Gardens catalog for 1965: "An odd blend of grey, with a flush of bluish purple and bamboo yellow which gives the flower a grey-olive color. Made further intriguing by a dark beard and violet-tinged hafts."

Classed as a BB (Border Bearded) this variety reaches about 24 inches in my garden. It is an excellent grower and reliable bloomer too. The color tones of the blossoms are particularly lovely in partial shade. It is not very often that a variety of such distinction as 'Jungle Shadows' comes along. Not only is its flower a garden asset, its foliage has beautiful PBF giving a longer season of interest in the border. A classic iris for the gardener that desires the subtle over the flashy, quality over the flash in the pan.

A Capital Idea

This has been an enjoyably mild winter for the northern tier of states so far, but, as winter oh so slowly releases its grip, the days are still short, and here in Michigan there is still plenty of time for snow, ice and freezing weather with only basketball and plant catalogs to keep us sane. So let’s close our eyes and imagine the scene four months from now. The days of June 7-9^th, we know will be warm, sunny ones, and of course the irises will be in boisterous bloom. As many of you may know, those are the dates of the Siberian and Species Convention – arriving on schedule every third year. This year it returns to southern Michigan, the location of the first of these events in 1993. Since the Convention is being hosted in Lansing, the capital city of Michigan, we have called it A Capital Idea.  The greater Lansing area is the home to the state government, a couple of very modern (and thankfully, quite busy) General Motors plants, and Michigan State University. None of these are on our tour.

What will be on tour are four gardens (five if you count our own two locations separately). Two are in the Lansing area and two are near Kalamazoo, about 90 minutes away. In Lansing you will visit our garden(s) (Bob and Judy Hollingworth) – we have the guests in one place and seedlings and Siberian display beds in another nearby - and John and Jean Kaufmanns’ garden. The Kaufmanns are fairly new to the national iris scene but it is not beginner’s luck that they have grown the guests better than any other place I can remember. John is by profession an agronomist and herbicide specialist and he took growing the iris guests as a challenge to his professional abilities.  He also has been running trials of newer herbicides with the intention of finding ones that are safe to use on irises. This work was funded by the AIS Foundation and John will be giving a tour of the plots and reviewing the results as part of the tour. 

The two gardens near Kalamazoo are probably familiar to many readers, particularly from past Japanese iris conventions. Bob Bauer and John Coble at Ensata Gardens indeed need no introduction. Lots of iris interest there of course, and a large Victorian house that they have restored to museum quality standards. Jim and Jill Copeland with hybridizing projects in Species, Siberians and Japanese are the final hosts. For many people, the excellent gardens aside, the lasting memory of a visit here is Jim’s Famous Fish Fry. This is Jim’s excuse to indulge his first passion, fishing, and once again you can be sure he will have caught his limit of walleye and we shall all benefit at lunch.

So much for the stages for this performance, but who will be the stars? That’s not so easy to say. We have well over 150 different guests – mostly Siberians but also some interesting species crosses – laevigatas, and x typhifolia,  pseudacorus, versicolor and virginica crosses. Here are a few photos to tempt you to come, but they aren’t meant to predict the front runners. More to come in the next blog. On view, there are many newer colors, forms and patterns from virtually all the US hybridizers and a scattering from overseas, as well as advances in more traditional form and colors.

So, here’s a formal invitation to join us for the weekend. To find a registration form you can go to the website of the Society for Siberian Irises, or look inside the coming Spring issue of The Siberian Iris, or contact Deb Diget, the convention registrar.

We hope you will indeed think this would be a capital idea.

2011 Tall Bearded Symposium

For anybody new to The American Iris Society, here's something I personally look forward to every year: the 2011 Tall Bearded Iris Symposium -- 100 Most Popular Tall Bearded Irises.

The symposium is an annual popularity poll of Tall Bearded (TB) iris conducted by the American Iris Society (AIS). All AIS members may vote in this symposium. The top 100 Tall Bearded iris are then ranked and the results of the symposium each year are published in a PDF format and available via the AIS website at the end of January each year. All AIS members receive this quarterly publication as part of their AIS membership. More information about membership here.

Here are a few interesting details about the 2011 Symposium:

• This is the Seventy-first Official Tall Bearded Iris Symposium of the American Iris Society
• This year the list of iris eligible for the Tall Bearded Symposium was only available online

The list of candidates was completed by combining the following lists of outstanding varieties:

• The 100 top varieties in last year’s Symposium
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Dykes Medal
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Wister Medal
• The tall bearded irises eligible for 2011 Awards of Merit
• The tall bearded irises that won 2010 Awards of Merit
• The tall bearded irises that won 2010 Honorable Mentions

Also noteworthy, NEW TBs added to the list this year are featured below:

'Montmartre' by Keith Keppel (2007)

'Absolute Treasure' by Rick Tasco (2006)

'Black Magic Woman' by Rick Tasco (2008)

'Celestial Explotion' by Rick Tasco (2004)

'Chief John Jolly' by T. Parkhill (2003)

'Duncan's Smiling Eyes' by Larry Lauer (2003)

'Juke Box Hero' by Larry Lauer (2003)

Stop by the AIS website to check the 2011 Tall Bearded Iris Symposium complete list (it will be available soon), and also check the AIS Encyclopedia's website where you can find the same top-100 list accompanied by full-color pictures of each iris. Who knows, you may actually have some of them in your garden? Have fun!

Note: The above pictures first appeared in January's issue of IRISES, the Bulletin of the American Iris Society. IRISES is a quarterly publication available to members of the AIS in print or digital formats.