Iris and some Irids 2006-2007

[Lesley Cox]

It is actually a named variety Maggi but I suspect you are right and the "markings" are the result of a virus. The leaves too, look that way, tatty at the ends at flowering time, a trait common to many onco and arilbred irises. So yes, the bonfire is the best place.

[fermi de Sousa]

Lesley - get seed off it first!
It's now the start of the Siberian iris season (well in our garden at least!) and the first is a blue whose label I can't find (what a surprise I hear you say!). I'll search my records and label it at a later date, but it was a named variety from Tempo Two, a big grower of irises in Victoria.
cheers
fermi
P.S. I found the name: Seneca Blue Rose

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very good looking flower Fermi !
I bet it thrives in your Siberian climate 

[Paul T]

Lesley,

At our local Horticulture Society Iris, Rhododendron and Azaleas show this past weekend I was discussing Iris laevigata ssp colchestrensis with Gary Reid from Wodonga (not sure whether you know of him or not) and he reckons that mine is a seedling of that species, not true to form.  Apparently it should be spotted rather than the solid colour with white middle like mine has, although it is the correct "double" form to it.  So you might not want to give up on trying seed of it and trying for the real thing.  Just thought you'd like to know.

Current beardless iris that have started flowering over the last few days are Iris cristata, Iris tectorum and tectorum alba, laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel' (solid deep blue "double", stunning!!), Iris leavigata 'Elegantissima' (strong white variegation with deep blue flowers), x virginiana (rose pink single flowers), pseudacorus, and x 'Holden Clough'.

[Paul T]

The good old Iris pseudacorus is flowering well just now.


And it's hybrid 'Holden Clough', which I just lvoe the colouration of.


I can't for the life of me get a good photo of this one.... Iris laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel' just won't come out that wonderfully deep blue that it truly is.  Lovely form to it and good and floriferous too.


A favourite of mine is Iris laevigata 'Elegantissima' with it's great variegation to the foliage (which stays throughout the summer, unlike some other variegated plants) and blue flowers.  A striking combination.


And lastly we have Iris x virginiana which is a nice pinky-mauve colour.

[Paul T]

I finally got a decent pic of the dark blue-purple iris this morning....


Iris laevigata 'Royal Cartwheel', this time much more correct in colouration, at least on my computer.  A lovely deep bluey purple.


Also opened today is Iris laevigata 'Rose Queen'.

Enjoy.

[David Nicholson]

Some nice Iris there Paul.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great stuff Paul !!
You're right about the I. laevigata "Royal Cartwheel", it's a gloriuos blue !!!

[fermi de Sousa]

I love that laevigata, Paul!
Here are a few "new" iris in our garden at Redesdale!
Firstly a couple of Spuria hybrids:
"Golden Lady",




and "Intensity" which is supposed to be a brown, but I think of it as tan!


Next the second of the Siberian iris to open, "Mesa Pearl"




(BTW the earlier posting of a blue was "Seneca Blue Rose")

cheers
fermi

[Paul T]

Fermi,

The 'Mesa Pearl' is a wonderful colour for a siberian.  Definitely worth having that one.  Saw a plant of 'Pink Haze' recently and was quite impressed by the colour of it too.... a rather nice pinky mauve colouration and quite nice form.  Like the form of yours too.  Will have to keep an eye out for it.  The siberians are good as another that is so drought hardy.

A great dark "brown" spuria is 'Mahogany Lord', which is a fantastic deep chocolate mahogany colour with yellow signal.  I hope I still have it, as I lifted a bunch of plants from a massive clump I had at my sister's place which used ot be 7 different varieties before they all grew together.  I am hoping that at least one of them is the mahogany one... the rest of them were nice but it I really wanted to keep.

[zephirine]

Wonderful pics and species unknown to me! Thanks everyone..I'm learning so much here!!!
By the way, did any of you ever grow Iris milesii?
I received a tiny split of a rhizome two years ago.
I keep it in a large container, planted at the surface, in a way similar to TBIs.
It has grown nicely, with 3 stout rhizomes now, but no signs of flower these first two years.
Maybe I do something wrong...and there is so little information available on the net or in my books! Or is it a matter of time only?
Would you enthusiastic iriso-holics offer me some advice on how to grow it better?
Thanks in advance
Zephirine

[Lesley Cox]

I grow Iris milesii. Some people say it has too much foliage for comparatively small flowers but I don't agree. It is certainly great as a foliage plant, light green, wide, pleated leaves are very handsome but the flower stems will overtop the leaves, and at nearly a metre high can be spectacular, in shades of blue and reddish purple, with nice stippling and spotting, many to a branched stem. The flowers are wide and flattish and quite frilly. It hates lime and needs very good drainage.

[zephirine]

Thanks for the input, Lesley!
It gives me hope to see it bloom some day!
I'll test it in the garden next year, in my best drained bed, then!
Just sun and drainage, and rhizomes baking in summer, is that right?
Zeph

[Lesley Cox]

No, definitely NOT baking in summer. This iris prefers a soil which is cool all year round. It is one of the "crested" irises, such as japonica, tectorum and others.

Here is another, a NZ raised hybrid (by the late Jean Stevens Maggi, mother of Jocelyn Bell) and called `Queen's Grace.' I. tectorum is one parent but I'm not sure of the other. I have a checklist of NZ iris hybrids but can't find it at the moment. The foliage is wide and neater than many of the larger plants in the group and the flower too, is relatively large, a beautiful lavender blue shade. It flowers freely if happy.


and from the same section but hardier and tougher, (especially as you note the grass and sorrel through which it is struggling to reach the air), Iris cristata. I'm gradually lifting every plant out of this bed as it finished flowering, and will spray the grass and sorrel, both too far gone to control by regular weeding.

[fermi de Sousa]

A couple of new flowers: Iris tectorum, which is in a pot kept in the Shade-house,


And another Pacific Coast hybrid, bought recently and still in a tube (3" pot).



cheers
fermi