Reticulate Iris 2009

[udo]

Tony,
Jörg is not a friend from me, but he live also in Sachsen.

Here a other purple Iris reticulata from NO-Iran.

[Hristo]

All the plae blues flowering now, 'Katherine Hodgkin' is just coming into flower outside in the rock garden, a few now, but  by the dozen later.
I thought I had lost 'Sheila Ann Germaney' to the voles but she has appeared, about ten flowers spread around the rock garden beds.
The last iris turned up in a patch of miscallaneous bulbs rescued from a vole 'food storage' area, I'm thinking histrioides or histrioides major which I know I had!
Any help with id of last iris greatly appreciated!
Hristo

[David Nicholson]

I'm in something of a quandry with this one. Firstly it's in a part of the garden where I have never planted Iris reticula forms (or at least don't remember doing so). Secondly I would not have planted just one. Although it looks blue on the picture it is really a purpleish colour that my camera doesn't seem to pick up and I have added a picture from last year or 'JS Dijt' which best represents the colour of my quandry. The part of the garden where the quandry has appeared is where I have my Dutch Irises and I have used re-cycled bulb potting compost to improve the soil in that area . Any views folks?



 

[Hristo]

Hi David,
I had a plant in the UK with this form and the colour you describe, it was a Garden Centre purchase under the species name Iris reticulata, no cultivar name attached.
I've attached my old pic, sorry for the quality and colour drift, it was taken with an early model digital camera.

[David Nicholson]

Hi Chris, oddly enough your pic better represents the colour of my plant.

[biodiversite]

Hi Chris, oddly enough your pic better represents the colour of my plant.

'JS Dijt' is violet, isn't it ?
Moreover, I would be pleased to know : is 'JS Dijt' an hybrid, or only a selection of the "true" species I. reticulata ?

Finally, has somebody the new description of Iris zagrica ?

[Hristo]

Hi anyone,
I chuck this out here as an idea, here is a photo ID page based on the iris reticulata cultivers I have / have had and what I think they are / were!
I am aware this is probably an idea of limited use beacuse of the colour differences between cameras etc!
It might be an idea if anyone who has a few cultivars produced such a page, pages could then be compared and maybe we can thrash out what's what? ( maybe this exists somewhere and I am unaware of it - please tell me  )
I have incuded the more commonly available cultivars and have ignored the sophensis hybrids as I guess they have not been confused by years of cultivation!

From top left working right and down;

harmony - JS Dijt - cantab
gordon - purple gem - edward
george - pixie - histrioides
histrio - katherine Hodgkin - Sheila anne germany
Beatrix Stanley - marquette - kuh - e - abhr abr

Feel free to dissagree and make suggestions!

[Lesley Cox]

David and Hristo, your pics look like the "old" I reticulata, as was available many years ago before named forms became available. However, it is probably a (Dutch) nursery selection from a collection from way back as I remember reading somewhere that although it is the "true" reticulata (i.e. original reticulata of commerce,) it has never been found in the wild. That seems unlikely as someone must have found it in the first place and in numbers.

It is the same, visually, as 'Violet Beauty' but a little smaller in the bloom than that form. The leaves are very long at flowering time so that in a good clump, the flowers are not hidden, but somewhat pushed around by the foliage.

'J S Dijt' is a plummy, red/purple rather than violet, the standards quite light (puce) and the falls dark and velvety and each fall with an orangey/yellow ridge. It is a selection from I. reticulata, not a hybrid.

[Lesley Cox]

David, notice that your quandry one is a lot finer (thinner) in the flower parts than 'J S Dijt' which is a robust form with wide standards and falls, in comparison.

Chris, as far as I know them, yours are right except that I 've never seen the Kuh-e-abhr or 'Marquette' so couldn't give an opinion about those. Your 'Marquette' looks just like 'Springtime' and 'Clairette.'

[Hristo]

Lesley
Kuh - e -abhr is a fairly new cultivar, 'Marquette' is absolutely cut from the same cloth as 'Springtime' and 'Clairette', all very similar looking.

[Lvandelft]

I showed in the Weekly Flowershow Lisse this week some of Alan McMurtrie reticulata seedlings.
It's probably good to show them on these pages too (for those who missed them)

Iris 87-BB-1 a
Iris 87-BB-1 b

[Regelian]

Hristo,

thanks for the reticulata collage!  This realy helps to place the various cultivars and understand their differences.  For my computer, the colours are right on.  What camera do you use?

[Hristo]

Hi Jamie,
Glad you found it useful, I am hoping others might want to add to it as there are quite a few of the more common cultivars missing!
I use a Fuji finepix S5600 5.1 mega pixel and rarely a Yakumo ( Praktika ) 5 mega pixel camera, some of the pics were taken with an old Fuji finepix 1.2 mega pixels camera.

[David Nicholson]

You've done a fine job Chris. I haven't had time yet to look in detail but I think I have at least a couple to add.

[Hristo]

David, that would be cracking!