Iris and some Irids 2006-2007

[Lesley Cox]

I still prefer the other way to post pics as I can add text with each pic rather than just at the beginning. No matter though.

[Susan]

Like Lesley, I am still trying to get the photos right. Here is Iris ensata "Glamour" which is flowering for the first time.  The slightly warmer weather may see the rest open over the next day or so.  They have been sitting in bud for ages.

Susan

[Joakim B]

Lesley You can do it Your way as well It has so far looked very nice so do not change if You do not like the new way or use Dave´s long filenames.
Susan lovely pic and flower

Kind regards
Joakim

[Lesley Cox]

Susan, your `Glamour' looks exactly like my `Star at Midnight.' I wonder has one of us got a wrong name?

[KentGardener]

Hi Lesley

not sure if you read the Galanthus threads (I know Joakim does) so thought I would mention something that is written there.  The search facility on the forum works by searching the text written in posts.  With the new method of using the image file name, as the plants description, the search will not find the relevant post.  So even if one uses Dave's 'long filename' way of doing things, it is still important to put the description in the text as well so that the forum is a fully searchable resource for years to come.

'Glamour' and 'Star at Midnight' do look very similar don't they.

with my best wishes

John

[t00lie]

I hadn't realised that John.I'll go and read the Galanthus thread straight away.Thanks.

Cheers Dave.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks John, yes, of course I DO read the Galanthus pages and the only reason my name and picture aren't plastered all over them as elsewhere, is that I have no snowdrops out or up at present. That will change no doubt but we down here certainly can't compete with the likes of Mark, Paddy and yourself for variety in our snowdrops. Very few are around at all, and these only the old favourites like `Magnet' and nivalis `Atkinsii. Nothing recently selected. Some species are gradually being grown from seed but nothing commercial yet.

My main problem with attaching thumbs is that I forget to put in the square brackets so keep having to modify and start over.

The more I look at Maggi's "cute guy" in the baby pics, the more I think it must be you. Yes?

[mark smyth]

Lesley doesnt the NZ government realise there are 100s of Galanthus cultivars that have not been collected in the wild?

Here's a lovely Iris that really should be in the garden rather than the pot it's in now. Iris reticulata 'Angel's Tears'

[Maggi Young]

But, Mark, would it be looking so good if it were out in the garden inthis weather? I think not, that's the pleasure of a potful to take in and enjoy!

[Lesley Cox]

Mark, I think `Angel's Tears' is a selection of I. histrioides, not reticulata, though in the reticulata group of course.

It is not the government per se which requires a CITES certificate for Galanthus. A number of species are on our Biosecurity Index/Plants, which is the list of plants we are allowed to import. But within NZ CITES is administered by the Department of Conservation and their policy is to keep as many exotic plants as possible OUT of the country. So ALL Galanthus are covered by CITES. To be truthful, I've not yet tackled them on the subject of Galanthus but I'm not hopeful.

Two more iris pics. I showed Iris decora the other day but I can't resist another because it has so many flowers. They keep on keeping on. This one in a pot has a slight advantage in that a rabbit grazed the foliage before the buds came up so the leaves are very short, letting the flowers be seen clearly. Nice rabbit!
The second is a lovely white form of Iris ensata, though like all the modern Japanese irises, it is probably quite a long way, in form, from the species.

[Lesley Cox]

No 2 pic didn't appear so here it is now.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lovely irises, All.

I am intrigued by Susan's Iris 'Glamour' posted above. It appears to my eye that the bloom is simply floating in the air. Is it that the bloom is so big that it has hidden the pot?

Lovely colour.

Paddy

[hadacekf]

Iris histrioides flowers very early in my bulb bed this year.

[tonyg]

Are I histrioides Angels Tears and I histrioides Angels Eye the same thing?  Angels Tears is surely a name for Narcissus triandrus .... you know the story about the boy called Angel who was sent to collect some and had a fall ... but the name is bsing used (and not just by Mark) for an Iris too.

Here is a link to a pic of Angels Eye - see what you think.  Is this new cultivar just a chinese whisper that has got into general use?
http://www.thealpinegarden.com/irishistrioidesangel.htm

[John Forrest]

Some lovely Irises you guys and the photographic quality is excellent in all.