Mt. Pleasant Iris Farms, Part 2

By Bryce Williamson

While my first blog on this amazing garden focused on Siberian irises, this time I want to highlight some of the other beardless irises growing in the garden that Chad Harris grows and, in two cases, hybridizes.

Last year, on my first visit to Mt. Pleasant Iris Farms, I drove up Highway 14 and onto Marble Road to the manicured garden, where I parked in the shade by the barn.  Immediately I was drawn to one of the water features of the garden— a lovely pond with naturalized irises. A spring on the north hillside provides the gravity feed to run sprinklers.



 Little did I know at that moment that almost 25 years of hard work has gone into this paradise.

Chad is careful not to plant any water irises that are fertile and might release seeds that would get into the Columbia River Basin ecosystem.



Chad has spent the last 15 years working with Iris laevigata, a native to North East Asia, Russia, and Japan. As the Mt. Pleasant catalogue notes, “A true water iris, Iris laevigata will look its best growing in shallow water or a large pot with a deep reservoir filled with water. It can also thrive in a moist to wet setting such as a rain garden."

“Iris Laevigata will grow from 24 to 36 inches tall with 4 to 6 inch flowers." To date, Chad has introduced the two hybrids pictured below:

'Lakeland Ghost'

'Blue Rivulets' photo by Chad Harris

Recently, Chad has also been growing "Pseudata" seedlings. These are, to quote from the catalogue, “a cross between plants with iris pseudacorus backgrounds and iris ensata (Japanese, Hanashobu). The iris world is very fortunate that Hiroshi Shimizu shared many years of his work; finding a good pod parent ('Gubijin') so all hybridizers could explore the possibilities that this cross may bring to the garden."

Harris pseudata seedling in a clump

Harris 08SPCX D photo by Chad Harris

Harris HPIM9403 photo by Chad Harris

Harris 08SPCX D photo by Chad Harris

Harris 08SPCX F photo by Chad Harris

During the National Convention of The American Iris Society  in which this garden was part of the tour, one other interspecies hybrid attracted much attention. In a huge, husky clump, Jill Copeland’s 'Do the Math' was impressive.



A surprise in the garden was Phillip Ramare's PC-1.  Usually Pacific Coast Natives bloom early, but this nicely colored seedling was still in good bloom.

Chad Harris's introductions can be found at two sources: http://www.mtpleasantiris.com and http://aitken-garden.goodsie.com. Both Mt. Pleasant Iris Farms and Aitken’s Salmon Creek also carry a wide range of other types of beardless irises.

More on Mt. Pleasant Iris Farms to come!

Please respect the copyright on these images by Bryce Williamson and Chad Harris.

Understanding Louisiana Iris Part 4 I. nelsonii

Understanding Louisiana Iris Part 4 I. nelsonii

                                                                    By Joseph Musacchia

  I. nelsonii is the most recently named Louisiana iris species. It was named by Randolph in 1966 for Dr. Ira Nelson, Professor of Horticulture, Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  

  I. nelsonii was a sensation among Louisiana iris enthusiasts after it was "discovered" around 1938 by W. B. MacMillan. Restricted to a small area Southeast of Abbeville, Louisiana, they were commonly called the "Abbeville Reds," or occasionally "Super Fulvas."  Because of their size and color, they were used extensively in early hybridizing. 

I. nelsonii  'Young's Coulee'
Collected by Benny Trahan

 The comparison to I. fulva was due to color, and the superlative "super" reflected their size.  In their native swamp habitat, they grow considerably taller and have larger flowers than Iris fulva, although they resemble I. fulva with the red and yellow underlay. A few yellow forms were found in the relatively small area of its range.

‘Butead’s Gift’ collected by Benny.

A nice collected red.

  Unlike fulva,however, and much more like I. giganticaerulea, the Abbeville reds were found in shallow water in cypress swamps.  I. Fulva is more typically an inhabitant of wet sloughs and roadside ditches; wet areas to be sure, but not in the swamp per se.

Just southwest of Lafayette
Louisiana

The  I. nelsonii habitat is restricted to a few square miles of cypress/tupelo swamp.  Due to the environmental impacts on the area, it is seriously endangered.  Through the efforts of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, a population of nelsoniis have been moved to the Palmetto State Park a few miles away, where they can be protected. 

  Past research determined that I. nelsonii is a species of hybrid origin, with traces of fulva, giganticaerulea and brevicaulis in its background.   It is presumed that the I. nelsonii environment was relatively isolated and, after unknown years of inbreeding, the population stabilized to create the species. Additional research is ongoing and a fuller understanding of the origins of I. nelsonii may emerge.  Whatever I. nelsonii's origins, it was a fascinating find and was exceedingly important in developing the modern cultivars of Louisiana iris available today.

Closed loop styles

Darker center lines on the
standards and falls

 Some unique traits of I. nelsonii include the closed loop of the styles which almost encloses the anther; the darker center lines on the standards and falls; and the pendent form. It has little or no signal. It grows in standing water in the swamps and so needs lots of water in the garden. It can also handle more shade than most LA’s. 

"I. nelsonii"   Growing in 
“Young's Coulee”

   I. nelsonii  adds a lot to the gene pool for hybridizing. Characteristics it contributes include taller, stronger stalks, more color, ability to grow in shadier areas, better root structure to hold up taller stalks, and  other unique features. 

  In up coming articles I will show how the unique features of these four species of Louisiana iris make up the the modern cultivars. Hopefully, this will help you make better decisions on what will grow in different areas of your garden. Or, why some cultivars won't grow/bloom in your garden.   

Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm, Part 1

Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm:  Part 1
By Bryce Williamson

The last two years on trips to view irises in Oregon and Washington, I have had the opportunity to visit the wonderful garden of Chad Harris and Dale Grams in Washougal, Washington.  Located in the National Scenic Columbia River Gorge, the present garden was started 22 years ago when Dale and Chad retired and moved into the area.

Driving up Highway 14 , the road dwindles from 4 lanes to two, and just past Washougal, the Mt. Pleasant Iris Garden suddenly appears on the north side of the road with rows of irises descending down the south slope from the house towards the road and the Columbia River.  What now appears to be so organic and natural was actually carefully planned by Chad and Dale: strategic plantings of native Douglas Fir trees have been used to break the easterly winter winds and now shelter the house, the iris plantings, and the sweeping expanse of specimen trees and shrubs.  Since there is such a variety of irises—everything from Medians through Japanese, I am dividing these posts on Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm into several parts to better showcase the different types of irises.

For the last two years, Chad has not had much room for seedlings since the garden contained one of the master plantings for the 2015 American Iris Society National Conventions held in May.  Chad’s iris hybridizing has three foci—working with his award winning line of I. ensata (Japanese irises), I. laevigata, and most recently I. pseudata.

For the sake of making things simple, I have combined images from both the 2014 and 2015 visits to Mt. Pleasant and, in this post, will focus on Siberians.   

Since I have not visited many iris gardens in the last 10 years, the breakthroughs in Siberian iris colors has been a revelation. Gone are the days (50 years ago!) when the colors were white, lavender, blue, or violet. Today’s hybrids have a wide range of interesting and delightful color variations.  The hybrids of Hollingsworth and Schafer–Sacks are leading the exploration of new colors and patterns, and others are adding quality varieties as well in the expansion of colors and forms.  Pictured below is a close up of Bob Bauer and John Coble's Concord Crush, a variety with six to nine falls.

'Butterscotch Fizz' by Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks 2013

'How Audacious' by Robert Hollingworth 2009

"How Audacious" 

'Paprikash'

'Tranquility Base'

'Swans in Flight' by Robert Hollingworth

'Neptune's Gold'

'Honey Chic' (Image by Kelly Norris)

'Carnivalito' Image by Kelly Norris

As a retired English teacher, I drenched the page in red ink when a student veered from the main topic.  I am guilty here of doing that very thing, and the following images show the new colors of the Siberians from places other than Mt. Pleasant.  I will return to the lovely Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm with more pictures in the next post.  For now, take a look at these lovely color breaks in Siberians by Brock Heilman that illustrate the new color directions in Siberians.  Brock, a talented photographer, also sells photos, and his work can be found at Brock Heilman Photography.  

'Cape Cod Boys'

'Black Joker'

'Cherry Fling'

'Cinnamon Sugar'

'Cream of Tomato'

'Fancy Me This'

'Head Start'

'Lucky Locket'

'My Little Sunshine'

'Sweeter Still'

Chad Harris's introductions can be found at two sources: Mt. Pleasant's Iris Farm  and Aitken's Salmon Creek . Both carry a wide variety of irises including Siberians.

Images copyrighted.  

Reblooming Cross: 2611: Zone 6: Southcentral KY

by Betty Wilkerson

A few years back, my breeding program switched from rebloomers in general to trying to produce summer rebloomers.  I'd gone to bed one night and sat straight up in the bed, thinking about irises that would bloom during the summer.  I jumped out of bed and started the research, worked for a couple of hours before I got tired enough to go back to sleep.

I guess I should emphasize the word "trying."  This change in goals really slowed things down.  One of my planned crosses, in 2011, was to use 2130-01Re, a summer rebloomer, as a pod parent with another summer rebloomer, 'Over and Over'.  That cross was made but has not provided any rebloomers, yet.

2130-01Re  (Wilkerson seedling) ('Again & Again' X 'Echo Location')

2025-02Re (Wilkerson seedling) is a lovely white from 'Total Recall' X 1625-01Re ('Star Gate' x ('Violet Returns' x 'Breakers')

Since I had another stalk with blooms, I crossed it by 2025-02Re. 2025-01re, a sibling to 2025-02Re, is a summer bloomer, but, as is often the case, it wasn't blooming when I needed it.  Several of the 2011 seedlings bloomed in the spring of 2015.  All were a reddish purple, similar to the darker area in the falls of 2130-01Re, not really attractive. Only two seedlings looked different and one of those two rebloomed. 

This reblooming seedling, below, is 2611-01Re. It has perfect show bench branching, something I've been working toward for thirty years, and good form! Once branching is lost, it is hard to regain. Theoretically, most of the things I cross to this should have a very good chance of producing good branching.  In theory, many of these should rebloom.  So far, I've only seen the one.

2611-01Re (Wilkerson seedling)

2611-01Re top view (Wilkerson seedling)

My goal is to have a line of irises that start their rebloom a bit earlier. This seedling does not open until mid September. Although I'll take whatever I can get, I don't expect to see this one bloom on September 1.  It does look like we either have fall rebloomers or summer rebloomers.  Only a handful will bloom from spring through fall.