I
know most irises will change from their first bloom to subsequent ones, but I
have never heard of one changing like this one has. It bloomed for the
first time in 2003, one perfect stalk on one weak fan, obviously a
bloom-out. I loved the blue-black satin standards over the black velvet
falls illuminated by a sunflower yellow beard. I cut the stalk, put it
on my dining table and almost cried over it, because I was so sure that first
stalk would be its last.
Later that fall I found a shoot coming up where
the plant had died. I protected it. It grew well and made a good
clump that bloomed in 2005. I felt really disappointed. It didn?t
look at all the one I remembered. The falls were dark violet with
mahogany hafts. The beards were rust. I believed it had to be a
different sibling. For three years it bloomed like that. It was a
good grower with nice stalks, so I lined it out. Some of my iris club
members chose it as their favorite of my seedlings, but I couldn?t care much
for it.
One morning this April when I went to that iris
bed, I couldn?t believe my eyes. It was bursting into bloom, and every
blossom was just like the first one. I am still amazed by it. I
didn?t know that beards could change color, but these have from brilliant
orange-yellow to dull rust and back again. The first picture shows it
this spring. The second as it looked in ?05, ?06 and ?07. I am
planning to register it, but every year I will wonder which blossoms it is
going to have this time.
Francelle Edwards Glendale,
AZ Zone 9
