Favorite Photos & Varieties from the 2013 Season

By Mike Unser

Here in the Pacific Northwest we had near perfect conditions for the iris season - warm early with plenty of rain and generally mild conditions. No late freezes to mar the blooms, no days on end of rain to wash them all out. It was too bad other factors (weeds, lack of fertilizer, recent division) kept us from having a really spectacular show in the garden. That said, many varieties did show off for us we welcomed them with plenty of admiration and fascination. They are truly marvelous in their variation. Today I'd like to show you some of the many photos I took this year of the many beautiful irises I grow. Hope you enjoy them!

First, a shot of a bed of intermediate varieties, some named, most not. The light yellow variety in this photo is 'Primavera' (Mohr-Mitchell, 1926). The a cool yellow flower with the color of fresh lemonade. It was spectacular in a three year clump bursting with bloomstalks.

Next a pretty little seedling of Siberian iris 'Flight Of Butterflies' (Witt, 1972). I liked it with the grays, yellows and greens of the pond area in the background.

Grace Sturtevant's lovely little creation, 'Afterglow', is not much for form, but the color tones are so lovely as the sun plays thru them across the day.

'Barbara Walther' (Casselman, 1959) sent up four very tall stalks bearing large, pristine white blooms. A real eye-catcher in the garden.

Next is Lloyd Zurbrigg's 'Chimera', an intermediate variety from 1961. It's metallic sheen glitters with diamond dusting, enhanced by the rain droplets it appears covered in jewels.

Violet Insole's 'classic, 'Dogrose' (1930), is a reliable bloomer and was showing off as pretty as ever this year.

The bewitching Border Bearded variety, 'Jungle Shadows', cast it's spell on us. Such a rich and subtle iris.

'Lovila' (Crandall, 1959) was glorious even after having been divided last year. Four stalks sent up a profusion of pale blue blooms over several weeks. I'm surprised this one is not more well known among lovers of historics.

Another IB that really took my breath away and had me coming back again and again is 'Maygold' (Nicholls, 1931). The color was just lovely - a creamy yellow bitone, but the standards were shot thru with golden threads giving it a gilded aspect. What a profuse bloomer too! And with its rounded, jaunty form it was a real standout - the 3 year clump had 21 bloomstalks!

These varieties were excellent garden plants this year and really made the season enjoyable. I look forward to seeing them blooming for me for years to come. There's more photos coming up, so check back later this week!

Hi Desert Iris Society Best Artistic Design Winner 2013

By Andi Rivarola

Last month I had the good fortune to be a judge at the Hi Desert Iris Society's Spring Show in Lancaster, California. The show was fantastic with lots of bloom, and a fair amount of participants made the show a great success in my eyes. Nevertheless, many of the members mentioned strong winds in the days leading up to the show, but I did not see any signs of it. Stalks were well groomed and there was a nice variety of iris specimens.

I went home with a very uplifting feeling due to what I'm about to recount.

The young lady on the picture below, a teen and youth member, won Best Artistic Design beating all other entries -- all adults included -- in the advanced, novice and intermediate categories. The other two judges and I were completely fascinated by the design's completeness and utter commitment to the theme, which was Andy Warhol. (All the themes were named after real artists in history). Well, Warhol's pop art theme was masterfully recreated to the teeth. Her arrangement included a pot that represented Warhol's Campbell Soup can, and the irises included four different colors to also match the four-color creations by the master.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Katherine Shannon, Hi Desert Iris Society Artistic Design Winner for 2013.

Freely Blooming Irises, Spring '13

By Bryce Williamson

Iris gardeners like to talk about two things—irises and the weather, but this year the weather came first. In Northern California, our rainy season started normally, with promise, and December was very wet with localized flooding. Then Tlaloc turned off the faucet and we went dry. I did water, realizing that plants need to be hydrated, but the amount of frost damage to flowers this spring suggests that I did not get enough water on them during the critical time they were forming buds.

Two weeks of high winds followed by two weeks of heat into the 80's and then mid 90's at the peak of bloom season came next- but I can't complain.  Late frosts happened all across the US and Europe, and I  have seen pictures of irises in bloom that were covered with snow!

In a year like this, it is hard not to focus on the negative, but I decided to write about those irises that bloomed freely despite the weather. If a variety only bloomed on one of four plants, even if it was glamorous, that variety did not make this list.  

"Augustine" (Schick '05). This salmon-colored pink grows and blooms so well. I like the laced edges and the long bloom season it provided this year.  It blooms so heavily that I have some concerns that it might bloom out in warmer climate areas.

"Absolute Treasure" (Tasco '06). Tall stalks hold up large ruffled flowers of a smooth tint of light blue without any violet in the coloring. I've seen it blooming on newly reset plants and 2 and 3 year clumps and it always looks the same. Tall stalks are not necessarily a good thing, however, in our windy spring, but this one stood up without problems. Wonderful blues are one of the great reasons to grow bearded irises.

"Adriatic Waves" (Keppel '09).  This was my favorite iris when touring gardens two years ago and it continues to impress me.  A very large flower with deep ruffling on the falls and so much ruffling in the standards that they appear to be froth.  In a season when many varieties bloomed short and with poor branching, this one was as good as it gets.

"All About Spring" (Kerr '06). So well named with Easter colors, and very different. The only question about this one seems to be whether or not it will grow and bloom in colder climates.

"Beauty Becomes Her" (Black '10). Yellow is such an important color in the garden and this ruffled iris brings a spot of sunshine into the yard even with overcast or rain.

"Big Bang Theory"  (Jedlicka '09).  I have mixed emotions about the Space Age irises--they tend to be erratic in the formation of horns, spoons, and flounces, but I also understand their great appeal to the general gardening public.  This one is fun since the flounces are so huge that they end in pom-poms.  The pom-poms, however, can get caught up when opening in the standards.

  

"Catch A Star" (Schreiner '10). A very wide and laced flower with red beards. White is so valuable in the garden since it goes with everything and provides a light spot of color even on gloomy days.

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"Cheshire Smile" (Filari '10).  This one has taken two years to settle down here and to bloom, but it is very distinctive—basically a pink bitone with cream pink standards flushed deeper pink and medium orchid-pink falls. Now the next goal is to get it to bloom on a taller stalk.

"Haute Couture" (Gatty '95). This did not get as much attention as some of the other Gatty pinks of the time, but I always thought that the way the ruffling on the falls extends deep into the petals was a hint of a different and attractive direction in form. It has been a useful parent for other hybridizers.

"Magherlain" (Richardson '09). As far as I am concerned, just about as perfect a flower as there can be—wide, touching hafts and flowers that hold up well in inclement weather. Lest we forget, these wonderful blue-violet colors are found in few other plants.

"Milan" (T. Johnson '07). I would quibble over the name not fitting the iris, but I really like the form on this variety; well enough to acquire it for my own garden this year.

"Mountain Sunrise" (M. Sutton '07).  It took me two years to find plants of this variety to add to the yard.  I saw it growing and blooming in several different gardens and had to have it.  It is a child of the much underrated Schreiner's iris 'Seakist'.   'Mountain Sunrise' is one of the sources of the fascinating patterns Mike Sutton is getting in his seedlings.  It can rebloom, though I am not holding my breath for that to happen in this garden.

"Mother Marshmallow" (McWhirter '97). I'm a great believer in the value of white in the garden—white works with all colors and it brings a spot of purity to the landscape. This is a ruffled, pure white even to the beards and it did not get a lot of attention when it was introduced. Still as good as it gets and I keep good, solid, well performing varieties until I can find something much better to replace them.

"Ozark Rebounder" (Nicodemus '03). Two weeks of high winds in the early season resulted in lots of damage both in wind bruising and water spotting (I have to water overhead) with the dark and rich colors, but this variety blooms without blemishes. 'Ozark Rebounder' can rebloom, so that is the next goal to get it to rebloom here in this micro climate that doesn't seem especially conductive to reblooming irises.

"Red Skies" (Ghio '07). I really like the richness of this color, though it is not a traditional “red” iris as seen in the past, but much more a wine-burgundy affair. Like so many of the rich colors, it did not like overhead watering and it did not like the high winds, but once the weather settled down towards normal, the flowers were breathtaking.

Photo by Evan Underwood

 "Rosy Forecast" (Williamson '10). The colors can vary on this one and many times it is far pinker in the plicata markings than it was this year, but it was one of the first things to bloom in the spring and did not have frost damage. Four reset plants produced 14 increases even after each plant had two bloom stalks. It was covered in flowers from very early through midseason, providing 3 full weeks of bloom, and that, in my opinion, makes for a good garden iris.

"Silk Run" (Blyth '04).  When it started to bloom this year and had frost damage, 'Silk Run' went on my list of irises to not replant, but then it continued to bloom and bloom.  If anything, it might bloom too well for a really mild climate, but great performance after a weak start has earned it a spot in the garden next year.

"Spice Trader" (J. Painter '10).  Brown seems to have fallen out of favor as a color right now, but there is everything to favor in this bright golden brown blend that bloomed long and well in the early garden.  It provides a bright spot of color and grows with ease.

Although these varieties are not the newest on the market, they have the wonderful advantage that they can be found for less than $10.00 per plant.  Considering the delightful color that they will provide in the spring garden, that is a bargain.  Which irises were the most freely blooming in your garden this year despite weather challenges?

    

"Talking Irises" TALL BEARDED IRIS HYBRIDIZER RANDY BROWN AND A VISIT TO HIS PHENOMENAL GARDEN

By Susanne Holland Spicker

A trip to Randy Brown's iris garden proved to be one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in recent memory.  Although there were high winds the day I visited, his 300+ irises were at their peak and standing tall in the garden.  Randy says that due to freezes earlier in the year, his seedlings and other new irises were adversely affected, either not blooming or having shorter stalks and smaller blooms. However, I found his garden of lavishly ruffled and laced irises a thing to behold!  

A member and past judge of the Utah Iris Society, Randy has taken first place in the Utah iris shows several times.  This year he took two 1st Places for "Best Arrangement," and also won "Best Seedling" for this nice seedling:

What do you think Randy should name this "Best Seedling" winning iris? 

Randy's iris garden consists of a good mix of his seedlings and newer varieties from a myriad of hybridizers.  Along with the hundreds of irises, he has peonies, daylilies, bleeding heart, lupine, hellebores, poppies, and the biggest rhubarb plants I've ever seen!  He is a beekeeper as well. He uses 16-16-16 to fertilize, and it was evident by the size and vigor of the iris and perennials that it agrees with them. Randy has been raising irises for about 30 years, hybridizing off and on for 20 of those years. He states he has never bothered to introduce one of his seedlings, but that he may some time. Of his thousands of seedlings, he's kept hundreds.The seedlings I saw were remarkable,  with excellent substance and form, and lots  of buds--even in a bad year!  Here are some of his beautiful seedlings:

Which one of Randy's seedlings is your favorite? His rows of TB's are also filled with   many beautiful blooms from various hybridizers. I'm sharing a few of my favorites:

"Parisian Dawn" Keppel 06

"Bewitchment"  Ghio 04

"Out To Lunch" Blyth 07

"Lovely Senorita" Schreiner 02

"Cardinal Rule" Ghio 07

"Gitano" Keppel 07

"Dark Drama" Keppel 05

"Honor Flight" Kerr 09

"Dinner Talk" Blyth 05

"Bubbling Waves" Ghio 06

"Rio Rojo" Schreiner 09

"Engagement Ring" Ghio 2011

Randy says the Utah Iris Society will have their next event Saturday, August 3rd. It is their annual iris sale and auction, held at the Sugarhouse Park Garden Center, 1602 E 2100 S., Salt Lake City, Utah. Table sales begin at 10 am, with rhizomes selling for only $3--what a deal!  At 1 pm new introductions from Keppel, Ghio and others will be auctioned off. 

Looking over the colorful rows of irises, many in showy clumps, was spectacular! Seeing them would make an iris lover even out of the most ardent critic.  I'd like to thank Randy for his hospitality and willingness to spend time with a fellow iris lover.  He's an inspiration to me.