Reticulate Iris 2010

[Janis Ruksans]

On Thursday here was sunny, so picture of MvMurtries SEA GREEN from open garden. Yesterday started raining and it is still so. We got at present half of April ammount of water. So few pictures from greenhouse.
Iris reticulata from Turkey
Iris winogradowii
Iris kolpakowskiana from Kashka-Su in Khirghizstan and as last
3 pictures of my Iris pskemense from high mountains in mid-course of river Pskem in Uzbakistan.
Janis

[Gail]

Fascinating pictures again Janis, thank you for posting.
The 'Sea Green' is an interesting flower, presumably the 'whiskers' are modified standard petals?
I love the different Iris pskemense forms.

[Otto Fauser]

Janis , thank you for sharing with us splendid photos of so many different irises of the Reticulata section- always new ones for me to admire . How does I pskemense  differ botanically from I. kolpakowskiana ?

         Otto.

[Janis Ruksans]

Janis , thank you for sharing with us splendid photos of so many different irises of the Reticulata section- always new ones for me to admire . How does I pskemense  differ botanically from I. kolpakowskiana ?

         Otto.

I. kolpakowskiana is foothill plant, pskemense from high altitudes ~3000 m. In this aspect it is close to winkleriana, but corm tunics are of kolpakowskiana type. Bulb color in kolpakowskiana usually yellow, in pskemense and winkleri whitish. Kolpakowskiana usually forms a lot of grains, pskemense very few or none, as winkleri it rarely split. Fall in winkleri and kolpakowskiana (in both subspecies) is purple without rim, in pskemense rimmed white. Standarts are of different shape, too.
Janis

[Luc Gilgemyn]

All beautiful, but I. pskemense is my favourite in this little series !  Gorgeous !

[Ragged Robin]

I agree with Luc, just gorgeous!

[David Nicholson]

I just like 'em all

[Boyed]

Janis,

It's a pleasure to see that light sky iris reticulata form blooming in your garden. I kept only a single small daughter bulb for me, but unfortunately it died the same year during winter due to overwatering the pot. Good to see it preserved.

[Janis Ruksans]

The last of reticulatas blooming allways is Iris winkleri from very high altitudes (3000m) in Khirghizstan. Unfortunately not easy in garden although sometimes it set seeds at present I have only those two, differently colored flowering plants, crosspollinated just after taking pictures. Just recently I found the spots where it was collected and where was our tend on Google Earth. The distance in straight line is 26 km one way, but we walked through mountains, up and down and winding, so it means that during this day we (Arnis and I) covered at least 60 km distance from 2000 to 3500 m altitude and back to tend. A almost incredible distance for which we needed ~15 hours (starting at 5 o'clock in morning and finishing after 8 in evening, in full darkness).
Janis

[Gail]

Beautiful flower Janis.  I was rereading Michael Hoog's comment on I. winkleri in The Plantsman (December 1980). He wrote that "The conditions of access at the period of flowering in this remote area are practically impossible.  Only an expedition by air (helicopter) would allow one to relocate it in the mountains, as Dr Rodionenko recently told us."  So well done you for finding it the old-fashioned way! (Although it would be good if the SRGC could invest in a forum helicopter to fly members out to visit such plants.....)

[Janis Ruksans]

Beautiful flower Janis.  I was rereading Michael Hoog's comment on I. winkleri in The Plantsman (December 1980). He wrote that "The conditions of access at the period of flowering in this remote area are practically impossible.  Only an expedition by air (helicopter) would allow one to relocate it in the mountains, as Dr Rodionenko recently told us."  So well done you for finding it the old-fashioned way! (Although it would be good if the SRGC could invest in a forum helicopter to fly members out to visit such plants.....)

I think it is the single locality visitable by foot. There long ago was military road still designed on Russian military maps with two lines, ditches on sides. We hoped to use this one by our hired car but at our visit from it remained only fragments, mostly it was washed away by Kugart's stream, landslides or covered by stoneslides. Of course it helped us much to go by car as close only possible although in several spots we stepped out of car, so unstable looked road. We put our tend at farest point, where road was completely washed away. But those further fragments helped us a lot. All other possible localities by map was reachable only by narrow foot or cattle passes and distance in one way was around 70-100 km.
Janis

[Armin]

Janis,
the second photo of I. winkleri is a stunner.
It is certainly worth all the hard work and run sweat

[olegKon]

Is this Iris reticulata Harmony, Folk?

[Janis Ruksans]

Is this Iris reticulata Harmony, Folk?

Harmony or Joyce - both very similar.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Three hybrids between Iris winogradowii and I. histrioides - all quite similar, but slightly different in shade, shape of falls, position of spots etc.
Most widespread is Katharine Hodgkin, unfortunately quite often virus infected
Similar are Sheila Ann Germaney and Frank Elder.
Janis