Rennovating a Summer/Fall Iris Garden!

by Bob Pries

Yes, I did say Summer/Fall! While working on the Iris Encyclopedia I see a great deficit and relatively undeveloped area in the Gardens Web. I have been trying to find great images showing beautiful garden scenes and vignettes featuring irises. Perhaps the most difficult images to find are those of Summer or Fall iris gardens. But even Spring lacks numbers of images. If anyone still doesn’t know two groups of irises bloom in Summer or Fall: Iris dichotoma hybrids (Iris x norrissii) and reblooming bearded irises. I would love to be able to capture these irises in garden settings with other Summer flowers. So, when disaster struck my garden over the last couple of years, I saw an opportunity to create a new garden that could create these little pictures.

One would think there would be lots of pictures of Spring garden settings. Not! I found only one from my garden, which I offer as an example. Iris pallida ‘Argentea’ growing with pink dianthus in my former rock garden shows what I mean. The wiki would welcome many of these garden scenes. If you have images of “Iris Garden Scenes” you can share them by attaching them to this page: https://wiki.irises.org/Gdn/PhotoGalleryVariousIrisGardenScenes. Even though we judge irises for their merit as “Garden” plants, we seldom see images of garden scenes. I do not wish to disparage the Iris collector’s gardens with specimens growing in rows like corn. After all I am a collector myself! Growing irises in rows is easiest way to maintain a large collection. However, I suggest there are more gardeners who want irises as part of a perennial border than those who crave a monoculture dedicated to one flowering genus.

Iris pallida 'Zebra' with dianthus (left) and Iris norrissii in container (right)

Unfortunately, I do not have a blank palette to work with. My former summer garden which used to contain about a hundred sun coleus and a few choice perennials was decimated over the last couple of years by large trees falling on it. The first tree to fall, was quite charming. It pulled partly out of the ground and “lay” suspended at a forty-degree angle over the back of the flowerbed. It was a pine tree that did not die, but continued to grow sideways such that it appeared as a giant bonsai. It was very picturesque. The root ball half out of the ground made this large mound that became covered with moss and it looked like a three-foot hobbit’s house. Overall, the effect was quite magical. This fairytale-like setting lasted perhaps a year but then other trees began to fall from different directions. Soon this crisscrossed pile was a mess stacking a good 10 feet tall. Unfortunately, my health declined such that I could not start a chainsaw. The tree pile would have to wait until I felt better. Immediately Scuppernong Grapevine took hold and tied the branches all together. Through this incredible structure, blackberries and Japanese honeysuckle rose up. The blackberries made it nasty with their thorns and the crowning touch was a Smilax rotundifolia (common name: Greenbrier).

"Hobbit House" of moss from roots of fallen three. Since tree is now cut the house is sinking.

If you do not live in the South, you may not know the potential of Smilax rotundifolia. It is an edible asparagus relative. If you have read the “Uncle Remus Tales” with Briar Rabbit and Briar Fox you may have a clue as to how nasty this plant can be. The mature stems are a bright green but quite woody, sometimes with inch-long thorns. It is said to develop large tubers deep underground from which it can send up stalks that may rise several feet in a week. When we first moved here, we tackled a large briar patch with a large piece of equipment that could grind up trees to create roads through the forest. But unfortunately, I did not want to create a road to and through my flowerbed. Because of the risk of copperheads, I did not want to attack this tangle until winter. Late this winter I began removing big tubs of plant material each day. Now only a small corner of “The pile” still exists. But it is time to plant so work on the bed has shifted.

Greenbrier coming through hosta

The corner of the tree pile remains about one third of its original height

I plant everything in my garden in large pots (usually 5 gallon). This allows me …in theory… to move things around. Filled with moist soil, each potted plant can weigh up to 45 pounds wet. Thus, moving plants around rarely happens. I also plant in pots because many locations in my yard have less than an inch of soil before hitting rock. They do not call the town Roxboro for nothing! As the plants grow, they hide the pots and the bed looks like a normal flowerbed. Well almost! Plants are less hardy above ground in a pot, but placing many together improves hardiness. Irises and many perennials have little trouble overwintering. I think a few perennials may actually do better because they are well-drained during the winter.

I also use annuals for an early summer punch of color. The collector in me comes through because I strive for over a hundred varieties of sun coleus. I love the tapestry many varieties create much like a Persian carpet. But in years past, I grew them in one-gallon pots. If not reliably pinched back, by the end of summer, they can become too tall for the best effect and it will be a challenge to get them to look just right when the Iris norrissii is in bloom.

Sun coleus last year making colorful tapestry

More Sun coleus

Another ongoing challenge I face is rabbits. I try to surround the garden with rabbit fences, but it only deters them. It does not keep them out. Sadly, the fencing also makes it difficult for me to walk through the garden. My wife complains that she cannot pick up the flowers without good paths. But the paths make it easy for the rabbits and our Wolfhounds love to inspect the garden during their walks. They can easily jump over the fences. But I dare not create a dead-end path because the dogs will plow right through the plants to continue out.

Dogs are a potential garden hazard

I thought I would be clever and plant some poisonous plants so the rabbits would find the area unattractive. Milkweed Asclepias tuberosa is a beautiful plant that attracts and feeds Monarch butterflies; so of course it was first on my list. The milky sap should be distasteful and yet as it came up I found plants that the rabbit had trimmed back. This species of butterfly weed comes in bright yellow (‘Hello Yellow’) and the normal intense orange.

Asclepias tuberosa

Years ago, I met the Iris hybridizer Carl Wyatt. He hybridized an early tall bearded rebloomer ‘Corn Harvest’. I went to his garden in June because I wanted to see his butterfly weeds. He used to supply seed to Park’s Seed and had acres and acres of Asclepias in full bloom. Imagine a ten-acre plot of deep red Asclepias tuberosa. He even had flowers that were red and yellow combo resembling the Mexican tropical Asclepias curassavica. He showed me one plant which was a cross between the common milkweed A. syriaca and A. tuberosa that had large pink flowers. The mixture of red/yellow A. tuberosa seed was offered as ‘Gay Butterflies’. Unfortunately, the Dutch have corrupted the original name by adding Swamp milkweed A. incarnata to the mix. I still order ‘Gay Butterflies’ hoping to reclaim the deep red scarlet that Carl had searched long and hard for. But back to the rabbits!

'Corn Harvest'
photo by Elladan McLeester

Marigolds are supposed to smell bad. Personally, I love the odor. They provide bright color and if they don’t stop the rabbits at least they may discourage a few bugs. So, of course marigolds would be an annual I would want in the garden.

The summer garden is also my wife’s cutting garden and she loves to pick daisies. Marigolds are in the daisy family along with zinnias, tithonias, rudbeckias, echinacea, shasta daisies, coreopsis, cosmos, etc. I try to incorporate all of these into the garden. I try to include as many perennial daisies as possible. Ordering a hybrid cultivar Rudbeckia (Gloriosa Daisy) may cost $16 each. I am fortunate to live within driving distance of Big Bloomers nursery where I can find seedlings in 4 packs for $4. If I was industrious I could also sow the seeds myself but without a greenhouse it is difficult to get them started early enough.

Many new Echinacea, Rudbeckias and Coreopsis are making their ways into the “Big Box” stores. Coreopsis especially has undergone wonderful transformations at the hand of Darrell Probst. Darrell is also an Iris hybridizer all that part of his work certainly does not support him like his world-famous tickseeds. But his Iris Norrissiis I hope will be an important part of this summer garden. I have a few on order from Joe Pye Weed gardens that should arrive in July.

Coreopsis

Iris norrissii 'Butterfly Magic' (left) and 'Spooky World' (right)

Iris norrissii 'Mandarin Lady' (left) and 'Pastel Parfait' (right)

So presently I am trying to get this collection of plants into large pots for the garden. Fortunately, I was able to pick up some reblooming irises in pots at our local Iris Show. By carefully moving them into larger pots and babying them with water and fertilizer I hope to get them to bloom for this Summer/Fall.

Work has also ground to a halt in the back of the middle of the garden. A Carolina Wren has built a nest in one of the pots in from of the brush pile I want to remove. Carolina Wrens are a strange bird that likes to be in the middle of things. For several years we had them build nests in the wreath hanging on our front door. When you opened the door, they would explode out from the wreath. If you opened it too fast, they were likely to fly into the house rather than away from it. One year they kept slipping through our screen door and built a nest in a light fixture on the screened-in porch. Unfortunately, we had no clue until we turned on the light and the fixture burst into flames. Fortunately, the babies had already fledged. My present wren bursts off the nest when I get within a couple of feet so temporarily, she owns that part of the garden until her babies are grown.

Carolina Wren

I think the best part of gardening is dreaming about what could be. I hope I will be successful at creating some pretty garden pictures. Yet I can already hear another nearby tree creaking that could become another calamity for the garden. Or perhaps the rabbit will suddenly acquire a taste for another garden plant. But maybe I will win for a change, and bring forth some great images of Irises in the garden. If you would like to help me out, add some of your own images to the garden page listed above.

 Last year's Iris norrissi 'Hello Yellow'

Growing Irises Out East: Celebrating Mother's Day

 By Heather Haley

My mother Alleah Haley enjoying iris 'Saturday Night Live' in bloom
at Winterberry Gardens during Mother's Day Weekend 2023

My mother, Alleah, and I find ourselves celebrating Mother’s Day on a road trip. We are returning from Winchester, Virginia, to North Carolina after spending this weekend with about 50 other members of the American Iris Society: our “iris family.” Last month, all three of Alleah’s daughters, one son-in-law, and additional iris family members enjoyed “iris Christmas” together during the 2023 AIS national convention in Dallas, Texas. 

Alleah and her children at the
2023 AIS National Convention in Dallas, Texas

Today Alleah and I are subject to preferences of the navigation system inside her car. It did not select the highly scenic, meandering route known as the Blue Ridge Parkway. Instead, we are traveling the path of greatest efficiency. Listening to Alleah, you wouldn’t know the difference. She is soaking in the scenery all the same.

Many of the gently curved roads Alleah and I traveled looked like this. Maintenance crews
frequently use special boom-mounted tractor implements to ensure good visibility around curves.

National Park Service Photo, Public Domain 

During our drive, Alleah often exclaimed how beautiful her surroundings were. You see, Alleah loves all things living and green: including but not limited to trees, grass, ferns, and irises. Irises with rhizomes are, of course, her favorite… and she is easy to please. A sizeable clump of tall red bearded iris caught her eye, but it passed too quickly for me to get a good look. She recognized the form as historic, and we quickly chatted about possibilities etched in our memory. I ask, “Do you think it was ‘Indian Chief’?” My mother responded, “No. It was a self (pattern).” We know the proper procedure for identifying an unknown iris but enjoy conversing to pass the time.

Historic bearded iris 'Indian Chief' displays a bitone pattern.
The veined maroon standards are much lighter than the falls. 

My mother fancies any interesting combination of roots, trunk, stems, leaves, or petals. Immediately after iris activities of our weekend ended, Alleah insisted on finding a garden center for us to patronize. While visiting the Spring Valley Farm Market, she fancied a 4 in. pot containing pink petunia, purple veining, and a lime green edge. I found a hanging basket with the same and decided she needed that instead. 

Alleah and I used a seatbelt to secure her new hanging basket for the drive home.

With Alleah's Mother's Day basket now riding in the back seat, we decided to stop for some antiquing. In 2011, I found a glass vase labeled "Iris and Herringbone" in an antique store and kept it in our guest bathroom until sending it to Alleah for Christmas. My husband Chris grew fond of it, and suggested we hunt for a vase of our own. The flowers look more like lilies, but we don't mind this too much. Artist rendition aside, I still like the name. Many antique stores, auctions, and festivals later, I am pleased to report the iris and herringbone collection is ALMOST complete. Mom and I found a coaster for my collection just up the road from where we bought the hanging basket. HORRAY!

Heather's Iris and Herringbone depression glass collection in 2014

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Iris and Herringbone coaster purchased with Alleah on Mother's Day 2023

The August 2023 issue of the Region 4 Newscast will describe the iris gardens Alleah and I saw during the spring regional meeting. For now, enjoy some pictures, and I hope you found unique ways to enjoy and celebrate Mother's Day too.

Award-winning iris show entries on the Queen's Table at the 2023 Region 4 Meeting

Siberian iris 'Cesar's Brother' in bloom at the
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, Virginia

Cat greeting visitors at Iris Hills Farm in Middletown, Virginia

Irises in raised beds at Winterberry Gardens in Cross Junction, Virginia

Tall bearded irises 'That's All Folks', 'Queen's Circle', and 'Absolute Treasure'
at Meagher Gardens in Middleburg, Virginia

Santa Rosa Iris Society Rebloom Update - October 2013

by Alleah Haley

(text originally appeared in The Newsletter of The Santa Rosa Iris Society, 39th year Number 10, October 2013) 

Irises are reblooming, and they’re making quite a splash! All mentioned here are tall bearded unless otherwise noted. ‘Double Shot’ (G. Sutton, 2000) was stunning in the display garden at the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center on August 23 with two open flowers and more on the way: standards white, sanded violet blue; falls white heavily striped violet blue; beards white; slight sweet fragrance. And a Kerr TB seedling (see below) had a tall bloom stalk just showing color.

I’ve enjoyed established clumps of rebloomers in my garden. First was ‘Precious Little Pink’ (IB, Byers, 1995) with six bloomstalks: standards blue-pink; falls same, washed white; pale orange beards. Then came ‘Bonus Mama’ (Hager, 1990), a gift from Vivian Estrada several years ago: a large warm white with pale yellow in throat and on beards. It rebloomed twice, along with the old standby ‘Immortality’ (Zurbrigg, 1982). It’s pure white, including beards, and nicely ruffled. Mid to late September brought ‘Fall Rerun’ (Hager, 2001), a lightly ruffled medium blue-violet with white area around beards and 10 buds!, and SDB ‘Golden Violet’ (Weiler, 1993), golden bronze with dark violet beards. All these have sweet fragrance.

Rudy Ciuca reported that he and Joe Lawrence had two TBs in bloom at their C&L Vineyards garden in August: ‘Bonus Mama’ and ‘Betty Ford’, the Fred Kerr seedling that is scheduled for introduction in 2014 and being grown as a guest seedling for the 2014 Spring Regional. ‘Betty Ford’ has white standards and blue falls and is tall and stunning! September brought ‘Aunt Mary’ (Stanek, 2000), ‘Autumn Tryst’ (Weiler, 1993), ‘Baby Blessed’ (SDB, Zurbrigg, 1979), Bezinque Sdlg. 07-M 11, ‘Bonus Mama’ (again), ‘Bountifu lHarvest’ (Hager, 1991), ‘Coral Caper’ (MTB, Aitken, 2007), ‘Double Shot’, ‘Echo Location’ (Wilkerson, 2007), ‘Fruited Plain’ (M. Sutton, 2012), ‘Holiday InMexico’ (MTB, Probst, 2012), ‘Jennifer Rebecca’ (Zurbrigg, 1985), Kerr Sdlg. 06-039-A. ‘Pearls of Autumn’ (Hager, 1993), ‘Perpetual Indulgence’ (SDB, Aitken, 2005), 'Poignant' (SDB, G. Sutton, 2012), ‘Smell The Roses’ (SDB, Byers, 1988), ‘Sparkplug’ (SDB, Byers, 1989), ‘Summer Olympics’ (R.G. Smith, 1980). ‘Summer Pearl' (Kelway, 1963), and ‘Total Recall’ (Hager, 1992).

Juanita Breckwoldt noted that only ‘OzarkRebounder’ was in bloom in her and Bob’s garden in San Rafael in August. This TB (Nicodemus, 2003) has deep purple black standards and darker falls with a white area and purple stripes around the purple beard. Late September added ‘Autumn Wine’ (BBSA, Christopherson, 2003), a wine red with lighter rim on falls and white horn.

Marlene Freetly was enthusiastic about her rebloom. ‘Carry On’ (TB, L. Lauer, 2010) has white standards, bishop’s violet falls with white rims and white areas around orange beards, and pronounced sweet fragrance. Four stalks – two with 8 blooms/buds and one with 10! It produced another (5th!) stalk in September with 5 buds. ‘My Generation’ (TB, L. Lauer, 2009) had only one stalk but eight blooms/buds. It is white ground, lined aster violet; the falls have a white rim. Ruffled, pronounced sweet fragrance. She also rebloomed ‘Ozark Rebounder’ and ‘Royal Express’ (TB, L. Lauer, 2008), a violet purple with lighter centers and brown shoulders on falls, ruffles, lace, and pronounced sweet fragrance. September rebloom included ‘Struck Twice’ (L. Lauer, 2009), white over pink; ‘King of Light’ (Baumunk, 2007), yellow self; ‘Peggy Sue' (L. Lauer, 2006), pink; and ‘My Generation (L. Lauer, 2009), reddish purple streaks over white.

Jim Begley has a bed dedicated to rebloomers that was winding down in late September. He rebloomed ‘All Revved Up’ (Wilkerson, 2006), a red purple on cream plic.; ‘Bountiful Harvest’, a white dotted violet-purple plic.; ‘Bonus Mama’; ‘Check It Out’ (L. Lauer, 2007), yellow; ‘Double Shot’; ‘Echo Location’, pale yellow; ‘Fall Rerun’; ‘Forever Ginny’ (Schick, R. 2005), light lavender self; ‘Mariposa Autumn’ (Tasco, 1999), rosy violet on white plic.; ‘Mother Earth’ (Hager, 1988), cream S. and lavender F.; ‘Ozark Rebounder’; ‘Peggy Sue’; ‘Pure as Gold’ (Maryott, 1993), deep gold; ‘Renascent’ (Hager, 2005), light blue self; ‘Sea of Love’ (L. Lauer, 2005), light blue; ‘Speeding Again’ (L Lauer, 1998), light purple; ‘Theme Master’ (Wilkerson, 2004), dark purple; ‘Time and Again’ (Hager, 1991), white self; ‘Jane Troutman’ (Kerr, 2007), S. amber orange, F ivory edged amber orange; and ‘Carry On’. Jim’s own seedling WW-BW-5 was in full rebloom: a dark blue with wide falls and a white splash around the beards, with 20 buds! Watch for this to be introduced!

The spring (March) 2013 issue of Country Gardens magazine featured a ten-page pictorial spread “Encore! Encore!” on the Winterberry Iris Gardens of Dr. Don and Ginny Spoon in Cross Junction, Virginia. The article focused on reblooming irises and the couple’s hybridizing efforts toward these. Pictured were 24 rebloomers identified by name including the Spoons’ ‘Lady Baltimore’ and ‘My Ginny’ and Dr. Richard Richards’ ‘Easy Being Green’ which won the President’s Cup at the 2012 AIS National Convention in Ontario, California. Winterberry Gardens grows more than 1200 varieties of irises that rebloom somewhere, about 1/3 of which rebloom for them in Virginia. Their website (www.winterberryirises.com) lists 254 varieties of rebloomers for sale.

Also see “Rebloom’s Past is Its Future”, an article by Mike Lockatell of Virginia published in the April/May 2013 Irises, the Bulletin of the American Iris Society*. The author outlines the breeding history of reblooming irises, a recessive trait, starting with Jim Gibson’s ‘Gibson Girl’, through the work of Lloyd Zurbrigg, Schreiner’s ‘Victoria Falls’ (which won the Dykes Medal in 1984), the Spoons, Ghio’s 1999 ‘Double Vision’, the work of Sterling Innerst, and finally Lockatell’s own breeding work. It’s an interesting read.

*If  you’re an AIS Emember, you can read the AIS Bulletin online. See the eMembers page for more information.

Siberian/Species Iris Convention 2022

 by Jeff Bennett

A clump of irises at the Siberian/Species Iris Convention in May 2022

Every year, local societies, regions, and national societies have shows, conventions, meetings, and treks. As we found out with Covid, you don’t always know how long it will be to attend the next one. Your local show is the easiest to attend as you can generally drive to it and be home the same day. A regional meeting may require one overnight stay while a national convention will require a flight and at least three nights stay for most attendees. Since I had not been able to attend a national convention yet (due to Covid) and this year I was busy getting my own beds ready for a local regional meeting three weeks after this year’s national convention in New Mexico, I decided to attend the 2022 Siberian/Species Iris Convention. The convention was held May 27-29, 2022 near Seattle, Washington. The King County Iris Society was the host of this event and they did a wonderful job planning years in advance for us to visit three display gardens with guest irises to view and evaluate and vote on.

On our first evening, we had a presentation from Ken Walker on “Iris Species Across the World”. Ken shared his superior knowledge of where species of irises come from with the attendees. His trips to these locations to visit irises in their native habitat were very informative. By showing a map, he was able to show just where certain species were from which in turn helped us understand the requirements we must provide if we are to succeed at growing them here in the USA. Elevation, precipitation, and hi-lo temperatures are all factors to consider. I enjoyed Ken’s ability to explain the growing conditions encountered while on his treks.

Saturday morning we boarded the bus to take us to our first tour location: Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden. This 11-acre garden was established to preserve two gardens that were slated for demolition to expand runways of the airport. Both gardens were physically moved to this new location starting in 1996. Elda Behm’s Paradise Garden was moved to the location in 1999-2000 after a master plan was developed. In 2005, the Seike Japanese Gardens were also moved to this location with the help of the city and many volunteers. The Seike Japanese Gardens and Nursery were also in the airport’s path.

Photographing irises in bloom at Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden 

Rhododendrons in full bloom

Siberian iris 'Silliousness'

The garden is a lush and flowering garden that is free to the public. Ferns, rhododendrons, and lots of irises were in bloom to greet us. The group immediately started taking pictures of the mostly Siberian irises on an overcast day which was perfect for viewing and picture taking. The timing for bloom at this garden was just right in my opinion. The snack table had delicious pastries to pick from while we enjoyed the garden.

The next tour spot was the Bellevue Botanical Garden. It is in the city of Bellevue, Washington. The gardens were opened to the public in 1992. Starting out with 7.5 acres, the garden now encompasses 53 acres and has a visitor center. It also offers classes, webinars, and lectures. The garden itself is very similar to Highline SeaTac Garden in the types of plants on display: hostas, rhododendrons, grasses, dogwoods, and everything that loves the moisture that the Pacific Northwest provides from above. Everything is in meticulously manicured beds along meandering pathways that are very accessible to all abilities for viewing. Again we saw lots of irises in bloom in the public beds and the guest beds. Some of the guest irises had to be protected with wire barriers from rabbits that were nibbling on the shorter foliage of some irises. There was even a sale area with a good sampling of plants to purchase on the honor system. Varieties of Japanese and pseudata irises were offered for sale. Of course, I purchased some, like candy for a kid. Definitely, a place to visit when in the Seattle area.

Iris laevigata 'Variegata'

Siberian iris 'Juniper Leigh'

We returned to our hotel, plants in hand, to rest and refresh until dinner. By the way, the food provided for our dinners was top-notch. Great flavor and choices to please everyone. Carol Warner was our speaker this evening. She is the owner and hybridizer at Draycott Gardens in Maryland. She was able to share pictures of her gardens and how to use beardless irises in them. Her matter-of-fact presentation of her years of experience designing and planting pleasing displays of mixed plantings was inspirational. One thing that stood out for me was how great an iris 'Caesar’s Brother' is. 'Caesar’s Brother' is a Siberian iris that is over 90 years old. It has withstood the test of time and can be grown almost anywhere. I will vouch for that as it grows well in my California garden, ncreasing and flowering every year even though we don’t get long cold periods that Siberians like.

Convention irises with multiple bloom stalks

Convention attendees during judges' training conducted by Carol Warner

Siberians in bud

Sunday morning we boarded buses again for our final tour spot to Cascadia Iris Gardens in Lake Stevens, Washington. Patrick and Margaret Spence have been growing irises at this location since 2012. Situated on over five acres with approximately three acres for their plantings of irises, peonies, lilacs and almost any unusual plant Patrick can sneak in the driveway. His passion for plants was clearly evident during the tour he gave of his garden plantings. He knows the history of every plant there and is truly a connoisseur of all things green. As things would have it, we had a little bit of rain here, but not enough to fluster these visitors. Beautifully grown Siberians and species irises were just about a week away from full bloom. The clumps of 20-30 stalks were just waiting for a sunny day to come forth. In a normal year, they would have been in full bloom; but as we know, this was not a normal year for weather. Cooler and wetter than normal conditions slowed things down just a bit. Nevertheless, we had a beautiful display of healthy irises to appreciate.

Siberian iris 'Summer Sky'

Iris species cross seedling SP13-1-1

Patrick Spence (center) conducting a tour

Iris clumps at Cascadia Iris Gardens

Carol Warner gave a judges' training on Siberian irises. I definitely learned some tips in this training. So much so that I wanted to go back to the previous gardens to look at more details, now that I know.

The convention ended that evening with another great dinner and a “redistribution”. Since a raffle is considered gambling in the state of Washington, the way to “earn” irises is to redistribute them to those that want them. I REALLY enjoyed the redistribution as those that were there can tell you why. An auction of irises was also held and many bidders were vying for many species and cultivars of hard to find irises.

The convention ended that night, but a special invitation went out to attendees to visit two open gardens. Debby Cole graciously opened her garden for viewing. It’s amazing how many Pacific Coast irises you can grow in limited space. Debby does a wonderful job in her hillside plantings.

Debby Cole's Yard

Iris clump in a garden bed

 Pacific Coast iris in bloom

Bob Seaman's Leonine Iris Gardens was also an open garden on this day. This property is filled to the edge with mainly Pacific Coast irises. Due to the cooler spring temperatures, the PCIs were blooming very well still. I’ve never seen so many varieties of PCIs in bloom in one place. Definitely, a place to visit during bloom season in May when the gardens are open for viewing.

Leonine Iris Gardens

A stone garden path with labeled irises

Pacific Coast iris 'Escalona'

Overview of Leonine Iris Gardens

So all in all, go to a convention, regional meeting, or a show and see different types of irises in bloom. Especially in a climate very different from your own. You will then understand what they are supposed to look like when well-grown. You also meet some wonderful people that share your love of irises and realize how much passion is put into creating new irises for us. Looking forward to spring and the next convention.

The American Iris Society Announces the 2022 Payne Medal Winner

'FLAMINGO WALTZ'

The Payne Medal is restricted to Japanese irises (JI). It is named in honor of W. Arlie Payne (1881-1971). W. Arlie Payne was at first especially interested in peonies, but in the late 1920s, he "discovered" Japanese irises. He started hybridizing Japanese irises in 1932. Over the next three and a half decades, he raised many thousands of seedlings. One of the most exceptional aspects of his breeding program was that it was developed in the early years using only six cultivars of the Edo type. Payne took line breeding to a new level of intensity. The American Iris Society awarded Arlie Payne its coveted Hybridizers Medal in 1964. When he died at the age of 90, in 1971, he was universally revered as the world's premier breeder of Japanese irises.

Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

'Flamingo Waltz'
Photo by Chad Harris

'Flamingo Waltz' (Chad Harris, R. 2013) Seedling 00JF1. JI (6 F.), 36 (91 cm), Early bloom. Style arms light pink (RHS 75D), crest darker pink (75B); Falls pink, signal soft lemon-yellow (7B) turning to green in throat. 'Saigyozakura' X 'Hime Kagami'. Introduced by Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm in 2014.

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including Award of Merit and Honorable Mention, will be published on the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

The American Iris Society Announces the 2022 Cook-Douglas Medal Winner

'COCONINO'

 The Cook-Douglas Medal is restricted to standard dwarf bearded (SDB) irises. It is named in honor of Paul Cook (1891-1963) and Geddes Douglas (1902-1993). Paul Cook's work with dwarf irises was truly pioneering. His early breeding of dwarf irises led to a series of I. arenaria hybrids, the most notable being 'Keepsake,' 'Tampa,' and 'Promise.' He was the first to use the true I. pumila in his breeding programs, and this resulted in the introduction of the first of the great stud irises in the standard dwarf class: 'Baria,' 'Fairy Flax,' and 'Green Spot.'

Geddes Douglas was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1902. Douglas was a chemist and businessman. In the early 1950s, he founded the Geddes Douglas Garden Center in Nashville. He became a leader in the Tennessee Nurserymen's Association, and served a term as president of the Southern Nursery Association.

Previous awards winners can be found at: https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

 

'COCONINO'
photo by Sutton's Iris Gardens

'Coconino' (Marky Smith, R. 2009). Seedling 04-11S. SDB, 13" (33 cm), Early bloom. Standards oyster cream (RHS 160D); style arms pale grey, crests oyster cream; falls blackened mulberry (slightly blacker than 79A), cream (160B) wire rim, cream feathers around beard; beards yellow orange in throat, yellow tipped cream in middle, cream at end; ruffled. P. Black seedling B279A,'Puddy Tat' sibling X seedling 02-09A: ('Ajax The Less' x ('Captive Sun' x 'Minidragon' sibling)). Introduced by Aitken's Salmon Creek Garden in 2012.

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including  Award of Merit and Honorable Mention, will be published on the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

Thinking About Historic Iris Catalogs

by Bob Pries

A few nights ago, I was lying in bed while my mind conducted its own internal argument about iris catalogs. One Part of my mind said, “Have you gone nuts! There are 4,600+ catalogs embedded in the Online Library. What good are they?" The Other Part retorted, “But they document the history of irises.”

A collection of iris catalogs

The first Part replied, “No one cares about history until they are old and see that they are now a part of it. What good does it do now?" And Other Part said, “They can help with identification of older irises surviving today.”

Original description from Goos & Koenemann Catalog, 1909 (p.30)

'Loreley'

Photo by Heather Haley

A different catalog describes this iris as having purple-based foliage 

Part said, “Okay I’ll give you that, but the descriptions they carried were often not much better than the weak historic registration information." Other-Part was now feeling rather sad. Perhaps Part was right and this is an obsessive addiction. 

I confess I love to look at all plant catalogs. Even as a 9-year-old I can remember filling out a form in Popular Gardening Magazine that listed about 100 free gardening catalogs. You could check a box and the magazine would forward your name and address to the company. I checked all the boxes and mailed the form. Soon scores of catalogs came to my door and I learned about water gardening, roses, rock gardens, and of course irises. This may have been where I first saw Lloyd Austin’s catalog and his horned irises.

An original photograph and description of the"World's First Horned Iris" is part of Lloyd Austin's 1957 Catalog.

Photo by Mike Unser

Austin’s catalog had a contest whereby if you found the 12 typos in his catalog he would send you free irises. I scoured the catalog for days but only found 11. I had my list all planned but never sent the order. At $0.50 a plant, a substantial part of my allowance would be required to meet the minimum order.

Other-Part was now thinking of reasons that a catalog archive could be useful. Each catalog is a record of what is growing in that part of the country (distributors ignored). I could envision a map with counties in green where nurseries were located. This would look like the species distribution maps I have included under USA species on the wiki.

Link to the Biota of North America Program North American Plant Maps

http://bonap.net/NAPA/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Iris

Individual cultivars could be mapped and one could see what hardiness zones a particular clone had thrived in. One could also map by time period, and one could see how iris nurseries moved across the  United States, their populations expanding and retreating through time.

Catalogs can also tell us the change in popularity of different classes of irises over time. Just having crudely paid attention I can say definitively that English irises were once very popular and today they can rarely be found. I remember in the late 1800s as many as 150 cultivars were available compared to about 50 tall bearded. Japanese irises seem to have held their own with usually up to 150 varieties available in many years and perhaps still so; but, of course, Japanese irises have been outpaced by TBs today.

The geographic distribution of at least early cultivars may be interesting if sorted by their species ancestry. I would bet that Iris aphylla relatives were distributed further North than I. pallida relatives. I think we sometimes forget that some early irises were not as cold-hardy and that many tall beardeds which grew well in the South did poorly in the North.

By this time my Parts were getting tired and my brain decided to sleep. I would be interested to hear why you feel it is worth assembling a catalog archive.