Iris non-bearded 2017

[WimB]

Iris laevigata 'Colchesterensis'
and Iris sibirica 'Flight of the Butterflies' (hasn't stolen its name)

[Lesley Cox]

This laevigata form is incredible. In a clump is quite spectacular! The butterflies are OK too.

[David Nicholson]

All three of these have been grown from seed sown quite a few years a go now. The labels have long been lost and in their time the plants have been moved around the garden quite a few times so I have named them from looking at my files of previous years pictures. Confirmation of their correctness would be great. I'm conscious that I have previously been asked for seed, especially from the spurias, (Lesley?) so I hope this year I might well be able to save some.

Iris clarkei
I. spuria ssp maritima
I. s. ssp musulmanica (two shots)

[Lesley Cox]

Hi David, I'm not sure at all but the last two irises could well be as you labelled them. I. clarkei may or may not be, perhaps a hybrid of it but really can't say for sure. Ideally, someone from BIS or Jim Waddick in the USA would have a look. Sorry not to be more helpful. Anyway, well worth saving the seed if you have some.

My first reticulatas are pushing through now. Usually I see this time as the beginning of the end - of winter - but this year it's hardly even the end of the beginning. Frosts and fog and generally nasty. Anthony D in Auckland is still basking in 18C.

[David Nicholson]

Lesley, I did some searching through previous postings on the Forum and I'm sure now that my Iris clarkei certainly isn't and is probably a Sibiricae hybrid. You showed a beautiful clarkei in reply 77 in the "December 2014 in the Southern Hemisphere" thread.

[Lesley Cox]

David what I usually forget to mention is that the absolute definitive ID feature of I. clarkei is that it has SOLID stems while other Sibiricae have HOLLOW stems. However, in the case of hybrids I'm not sure how that plays out. Maybe some are "a bit" hollow," i.e. partially filled in. but I don't know. I'll take a better look at the stems of all my Sibiricae this coming season. I'm pretty certain about mine but having said that the darned thing has never set seed which is often the sign of a hybrid (though not necessarily. Perhaps it just needs another clone of the same thing. )

[David Nicholson]

Lesley, just been looking at the description of Iris clarkei  in Brian Mathew's 'The Iris' and in relation to the stem he says "......... It differs from the rest of its Series in having solid stems"......... I picked a stem on mine (whatever it is!) this morning, between heavy showers, and it was hollow

[GordonT]

Pacific coast iris are starting to bloom here. A grouping of several plants of Iris tenax  were the first to get going. I am quite happy with their display.

[Lesley Cox]

Oh David, I have stuffed up again it seems. I'm certainly not going to argue with Brian Mathew! I'm sure (pretty sure ) that we have been talking about clarkei's hollow stems in recent discussions within the Otago iris Group in which case we have all got ourselves mixed up so I'll need to check that. I'll also modify my post above yours in case anyone else reads it and becomes mis-informed as a result of my mistake. I'm so, so sorry.

I made an appalling blunder a couple of days ago in the thread about the chocolate cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus, had to backtrack and correct it and then again, apologise profusely. I am now thinking my mind is in even less good shape than I thought it was, which is frightening.

Thanks for not hesitating to point out my mistake. It's important to be corrected when necessary.

[David Nicholson]

Don't worry about it Lesley, after all we're humans and not politicians 

[johnralphcarpenter]

This Louisiana iris cultivar was planted in a damp tub some fifteen years ago and has never flowered - until now. Any suggestions as to the variety?

[johnralphcarpenter]

This tall Iris spuria cultivar gives a splendid old gold glow to the border.

[Lesley Cox]

I'm entirely new to Louisianas, just one, which flowered this last summer, a glorious blue. I thought it would be too cold in the south of NZ but it seems not so I'll be looking for some more. They're not for small gardens though

Just a couple more days until the winter solstice and then it's all up hill! Yeay!

[David Nicholson]

On the "Iris clarkei, or not" discussion a couple of posts above I now have seed from mine, whatever it is and a further problem. Some of the seed is a very dark brown in colour and some of it is a much lighter shade of brown. Could the dark brown shade perhaps be fertile seed and the much lighter brown infertile seed? There was much more light brown than dark. Can anyone enlighten please?

[David Nicholson]

Have I asked an impossible question?