Iris and some Irids 2008

[Hans A.]

This is definitively a rarety , did you made a marshland between onco gravels?

They are growing in my water ditch which protect my Oncos  - yes I agree,it is a very beautiful form - with other swamp iris I supose I would have problems because of high pH-values -(it would be nice to combine it with Iris fulva  )

Joakim - I do not know if there exists a dwarf form - I have seen also very small ones flowering but I think this depends of the space and the nutrients the plants have - small plants planted in rich deep soil turned large very quickly.

[Lesley Cox]

Here's something to throw into the conversation. Iris pumila isn't a species but is an ancient hybrid probably between I. attica and I....?
Any comments?

[David Nicholson]

Here's something to throw into the conversation. Iris pumila isn't a species but is an ancient hybrid probably between I. attica and I....?
Any comments?

....... most probably Iris pseudopumila, according to Brian Mathew, following some work on chromosome structure and geography by a couple of Americans?, Mitra and Randolph. The overlap in distribution between I. atica and I. pseudopumila being in the Adriatic region of Yugoslavia.

[Yuri Pirogov]

Iris pumila is not an ordinary hybrid between I. attica and I. pseudopumila because it contains full chromosome sets of both species: attica and pseudopumila

[David Nicholson]

Iris pumila is not an ordinary hybrid between I. attica and I. pseudopumila because it contains full chromosome sets of both species: attica and pseudopumila

Yuri, I think that the research carried out by Mitra and Randolph was in 1959 so no doubt much work has been done since then.

[David Nicholson]

Lesley, I was getting rather worried about my Iris decora seedlings not showing (thought I might have dried them out too much) but today I noticed little green shoots are showing. They are in 3 inch pots, should I re-pot them?

[Lesley Cox]

That's about right David. Mine doesn't come through until early November or perhaps a week or so earlier.
If you can see roots coming out the bottom of the pots you could repot but otherwise they'll be OK for now. They're better repotted in growth - from now on - than while dormant, in my opinion. Sometimes if disturbed while dormant they give up altogether but in growth, they seem to go on OK. Their flowering time is early to late summer, around pre-Christmas time here and once a clump is big, it will go on until the end of Jan/early Feb.

[Rafa]

Iris subbiflora, this rainy day

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wonderful pictures Rafa !  Great plants too - how beautiful to see them in nature !

Thanks again ! 

[arillady]

Rafa is the white a form of subbiflora or another species. Your photos remind me of a patch of irises that are on a nearby property where there used to be a copper mining town in the 20th C. I have been trying to identify the "two-tone" iris for years now. One spring when I visited the site there was much of the two-tone and sections of the white which I took to be Iris albicans or ? But there was one bloom which was half and half - half white/half two-tone. I did dig the rhizome and it is now growing at home - still waiting on it to flower again to see if it does it again. Both these irises occur locally at a couple of sites. I don't think I have a decent photo to share at the moment. I grew Iris subbiflora years ago from seed but it was lower in height than what your photos appear to show.
Pat T

[Rafa]

Is the same species, just a white form.

You said in Spain? I suppose as it is Iberic endemic. In Spain there are about 14 places, and about 20 In Portugal (in UTM 10x10) where it is decribed as a lisbonensis variety.

I don't think Iris subbiflora could be bicolored, so if the plant you saw aslo it was near a human settlement it is probabily Iris albicans (I think Mathew sais thait it could be be coloured). Or also any garden pant.

If you think in a close species like Iris lutescens, you can see yellow, purple/blue, white...  but I never seen the standars and the fals with different colours in theses species.

Don't worry! post it

[David Nicholson]

Last September I planted a small bed with 20 Dutch Iris bulbs. Sods Law said that they would all be the same colour when they came up, well, not quite. Although the majority look as though they are going to be yellow/white there is a nice blue as well.

[Lesley Cox]

The Iris subbiflora is beautiful. One of the tragedies caused by the modern - and frequently beastly - tall bearded irises, is that so many growers regard the tall bearded species as rubbish, not conforming to the breeders' imposed and artificial standards, whereas in truth they are elegant, simple and in every way preferable, to my mind. It's a great pleasure to me to see such species in the wild, as we so rarely now, see them in gardens.

[arillady]

Here is some photos of the irises found on the copper mine site just down the road from where I live in South Australia. Certainly not Spain even though one day I would love to visit.
Any suggestions on the two different irises? - especially the blue one.

[Lesley Cox]

How wonderful Pat, to have these irises naturalized near your home.