Well, actually, the very first space age iris, Unicorn,
is a plicata :-) Austin introduced at least one other
plicata space ager, Horned Tracery. Both of these, by the way,
are clearly listed as plicatas in their checklist descriptions,
so it's highly unlikely he would have listed Horned Amethyst
as a self if it had a plicata pattern. Momentous Occasion
may well be the first plicata space ager with modern form,
though. It opened for me today - I'll see if I can post
a picture if the rain ever lets up.

Yes, Mary Hess at Bluebird Haven is very knowledgeable about!
historic iris, particularly Lloyd Austin varieties. Her ga! rden
is quite near to where Austin's was, and she received some of
his stock when his wife Gladys passed away. I'm betting her
picture is the correct one. By the way, the correct-looking
picture on the wiki appears to be the same picture as the
one on the Bluebird Haven web site.

Just to be sure, I'll look at my 1960 Austin catalog tonight
for the definitive answer :-)

Jean
SF bay area, zone 9
where we're getting our winter's rain in one week

On 3/16/2012 7:24 AM, iris wrote:
>
>
> Good Morning Paul,
>
> Bluebird Haven is the correct one. No plicatas that were also space age
> till much much later in the future. I am pretty certain that Sutton's
> Momentous Occasion was the first true space age plicata. I may be way
> off base. Mary from Bluebird Haven is very involved with HIPS and has
> done countless hours of research. I may be way off base about MO but
> that is what! I remember reading. Austin did much work on the space age
> iris. That is what his thing was. My mother bought iris from him many
> years ago in the 1950s.
>
> Good Luck!
> Bonnie in wet Ca.
>
>
>
> On 3/15/2012 11:47 PM, Paul wrote:
>>
>> I googled some pictures for 'Horned Amethyst'. Only one, from Bluebird
>> Haven, resembles the decription, a self. The others (4) are all plicatas.
>>
>> So which is correct?
>>
>> No virus found in this message.
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>>