Seeking an Iris called 'Pacific Sunrise'

[Maggi Young]

Hello Folks,
 I'm trying to help someone track down an Iris, which is likely an Iris innominata hybrid called 'Pacific Sunrise'...... we cannot find any such Iris listed anywhere but the plant was growing, though not for sale at the Scottish nursery of Elizabeth MacGregor.  Here is a photo of the plant which has apricot tones....the name was noted down at the time as being 'Pacific Sunrise'.... any of you Iris lovers out there able to shed light on this mystery.... and, if possible, tell of a source for this plant?
 

 Thanks!

[mark smyth]

oops - changing what I said - I thought it was for you. I'll ask anyway

[PeterT]

Suggest trying Alun and Jill Whitehead at Aulden farm nurseries near Leominster. They have a good web site.
I will try to check the registrations but I am away for the weekend. I do have a similar PCI Grown from seed.

[Lesley Cox]

It's not a name familiar to me but then I don't know named forms in NZ or elsewhere much, and that's the problem with naming PC hybrids. In general they are plants which don't take happily to division except occasionally into large pieces, i.e. only 2 or 3 per plant so usually they are propagated from seed which comes APPROXIMATELY true, but can't be guaranteed. Most "named" varieties should be marketed as strains.

[PeterT]

In the UK there are registerd clones which are available and sold under their registerd names Lesley. Unless one is determined to grow a specific hybred, seed is indeed usually better value though, and the breeding is going tetraploid as well as advanced generation, so unless the parents are from line breeding one may get lots of variety in the seedlings!

[Rodger Whitlock]

Your picture shows a plant not too different in coloration from some wild forms of I. innominata, but with somewhat ruffled tepals.

Many years ago I received seed of named cultivars via the Hardy Plant Society's seed exchange, and many of the seedlings were beautifully ruffled, and in a wide range of colors.  I suggest that the seeker simply acquire seed of Pacific Coast irises from as many different sources as possible, sow them, and select seedlings that approximate what is being looked for. They are very easy from seed, and the rejects will be welcomed by other gardeners in the area.

Incidentally, the various species of PC irises are all interfertile, so plants grown from garden-origin seed are quite likely to be hybrids. I have read that because logging, highway construction, and urban development have interconnected formerly isolated species of PC irises, the pure species are in danger of being replaced by hybrids even in the wild. A corollary to these developments is that cultivars of "Iris innominata" are likely themselves to be hybrids.

Diane Whitehead knows a great deal more about PC irises in the wild than I do, so perhaps she can chime in.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Maggi
if you direct your correspondent to this thread: http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=882.45 reply #57 I posted pics of seedlings from "Big Money" which look very close to his/her pic.
As Rodger W has already suggested just getting seed of a similar yellow PCI should produce something close to what they want. If you had asked earlier I could've saved some seed from mine Maybe next year.
cheers
fermi

[Tom Waters]

Hi Maggi -

The American Iris Society registration data base shows no iris registered with this name. So it is either misnamed or it is an unofficial garden name. I did find a 'Goring Sunrise' that sounds rather similar:

'Goring Sunrise' (Peter Maynard, R. 1999) Sdlg. GBS 5/97. CA, 18" (45 cm), M S. light amber yellow (RHS 18A/B); style arms amber yellow (18B); F. orange, veined, light amber yellow edge and signal. Colchicine treated sdlg. Goring Ace X self. Westonbirt 2002.

I did not find a picture though.

Best, Tom

[PeterT]

It's not Peter Maynards Goering Sunrise -that's a HUGE tetreploid flower. It looks a bit like a daylilly with overlapping petals and an orange flush on an apricote ground, plus darker veining.

[Tom Waters]

Found a photo on the BIS website: http://www.britishirissociety.org.uk/photos/goringsunrise.jpg

Looks like a possible match, although it seems darker in this photo.

[Tom Waters]

Thanks, Peter. I'll take your word for it, not being familiar with either.

[Maggi Young]

Tom, many  thanks for your help. 
From what Peter says, and the pic you found,  that Goering/Goring Sunrise is a much larger flower type.... pretty, though, isn't it?

[Tom Waters]

Yes, both are lovely, although I think I prefer the look of the mystery iris. 

[PeterT]

Your welcome Tom, I have a seedling similar to the mystery Iris and if any one wants seed from it let me know in the summer, I should have the name of its pod parent too, all the seedlings were similar but I only kept the best couple.