Re: HIST: Coronation

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Hi Linda,

 

I have very little on 'Coronation', except that I received it once under this name, and other people who have Iris under this name seem to have the same one.

 

The registration is very brief, with no good description. From the 1939 AIS Checklist:

 

The rest is citations with no real information.

 

While I would hardly call it dark yellow, it would have been considered rather dark and bright in 1927.

 

In my garden it usually barely makes TB height (but gets taller in better conditions).  The flower is rather small, and most years it tends to flower with the later TB's, old diploid "IB's", and MTB's (this year it was my last bearded Iris with a flower by three days).  However, last year it flowered with the first TB's (go figure).  Has a long bloom season.  It is rather similar in stature to most true I. x germanica clones, 'Albican's, etc., but isn't in that group and blooms way later.  I suspect that it is a diploid based on the way it looks and behaves.  Don't think I've ever seen a fruit on it, but I've never tried to pollinate it either.  Most of the old diploids set fruit rather freely on their own here.  It seems to be really common as a hand-me-down, but never gets mentioned in the literature.  Can't remember ever seeing it rebloom.

 

Another common hand-me-down that looks a bit similar is 'Golden Cataract' IB-E,M,La,Re-Y4D ((Met.-Dys. 1936).  Sort of covers the gambit in the bloom season, but it is really early with an occasional rebloom.   It took me something like 5 years of concerted effort (and some help from people on the Iris chat groups) to identify.  It is often misidentified and sold as 'Berkeley Gold'.  It looks somewhat similar, but is a bit darker and brighter, blooms early with the IB's and I. x germanicas (in fact it looks like a yellow germanica in all details).  'Golden Cataract' is registered as an IB, but it is the same size, and often reaches TB height.

 

Dave