Re: Wabash
From: "Harold Peters" <harold@directcon.net>
My sense of logic is getting me involved in a technical question I know
nothing about. Wouldn't Jan be able to easily determine in the field the
difference between an MTB (Mini Wabash) and a TB (Wabash) simply on size?
Neither Mike nor Jim have this advantage but Jan does if I understand this
thread. Photos can easily be deceiving on size unless a clearly defined
reference is placed in the photo and that was not the situation.
Harold Peters
Beautiful View Iris Garden,
El Dorado Hills, CA USDA zone 9
harold@directcon.net http://www.beautiful-view-iris.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Lowe" <mlowe@worldiris.com>
To: <iris-photos@onelist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 5:39 PM
Subject: [iris-photos] Wabash
> From: Mike Lowe <mlowe@worldiris.com>
>
> Hi Jan
>
> Iris societies, particularity the older, presumably wiser members of
> such, have a sly way of asking for a seminar, lecture, article,
> training, slide show or job-fulfillment at least a year in advance.
> (some things such as registrar for a national convention are filled
> several years in advance)
>
> It is distressingly easy to say "Sure, ya betcha, I can do that, no
> sweat!" And then, when the time to deliver rolls around, you find
> half a dozen tasks piled one on top of another. Sixteen hour days, a
> lot of heavy lifting and you swear, "I'll never be so stupid as to
> agree to ______ (fill in the blank) again!" But you find yourself
> doing it over and over.
>
> Anyway, I have looked at all and just feel impelled to say a few
> (ha!) words concerning your Wabash.
>
> First, it is easy to see why Jim suspected Mini Wabash. Here is the
> registration data of M. W.:
>
> MINI WABASH (Riley Probst, R. 1993). Sdlg. 89PQX37OP2. MTB, 22" (56
> cm), ML. S. white; F. dark violet-blue (RHS 89A) overlaid on white
> ground creating effect of purple veins radiating from the yellow
> beards and slight rim of lighter purple. Pretty Quirky X Ornate
> Pageant. Miller's Manor 1996.
>
> From the fact that your photo was taken from a high angle it would
> appear that your Wabash is very flaring. (rest easy, it is not M. W.)
> Wabash has a 'lilt' to the falls, certainly for its day (1936) you
> could say that it flared. But nothing like M. W. Still, the decided
> flare that seems to show in your photo is a bit disquieting.
>
> Also lending credence to a suspicion of M. W. or some such other
> cultivar is a lack of discernable scale and/or an 'impression' of
> your Wabash photo, of representing a smallish bloom.
>
> Wabash has probably been the most popular iris ever introduced.
> (Dykes Medalist, longest on the AIS Symposium than any other iris,
> number one on the HIPS Popularity poll, never out of catalogs, traded
> often, etc., etc.) As such, there is ample room to have 'impostors.'
>
> The real Wabash has evanescent purple bases, dark during spring
> growth, fading to almost invisibility later in the year. The falls on
> Wabash have a more rectangular 'look' than do many of the lookalikes.
> The style crests are fairly heavily tinged violet on the real Wabash,
> although Bright Hour, Gaylord and others also have this to a more or
> sometimes lesser extent and (confusing the issue!) the style crest
> and standard's midrib coloration varies somewhat, year to year.
>
> Immediately after posting this, I will upload a 640 by 480 JPEG of
> three 'Wabashs'; the 1948 and 1987 images almost certainly Wabash,
> the 1998 image most probably not. The 1948 Wabash and the 1998
> 'Wabash' are from the same large commercial firm's catalog, just
> separated by a half century. And no, 'Wabash' has not dramatically
> 'improved' its form in 50 years. And if this sort of thing can happen
> with a large, well established, extremely capable, iris firm, what
> chance the struggling amateurs?
>
> The only surefire way to render an opinion where there are subtle
> differences from the expected norm is an 'in the ground,' more than
> one season, side by side comparison of the suspect cultivar and a
> 'test cultivar' with an impeccable (as possible!) provenience.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mike
>
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[PHOTO] Wabash comparison