Here's a picture of Momentous Occasion (somewhat battered by the rain).

I looked through my Austin catalogs, and apparently he never put a picture
of Horned Amethyst into a catalog for some reason. Here's a catalog
description:

HORNED AMETHYST (Austin '60) M-36" One of the most consistent of all
horned Iris in producing striking long horns, usually 1" to 1 1/2" long,
sometimes lightly spooned. A self in scintillating amethyst, of very novel
form, with the falls somewhat rolled in from the sides. Pollen variable; a
good seed setter. If crossed with a Flamingo Pink may well yield a
Tangerine-Bearded horned Iris. [JS-M-176B x 638) X Pink Tower].

I love Lloyd Austin's catalog descriptions :-)

Jean
SF bay area zone 9
where it's actually stopped raining

> Actually Apollo One(95) beats Momentous Occasion (99) by several years.
>
>
>
> Colleen Modra
>
> PO Box 131
>
> Mt Pleasant SA 5235
>
> Australia
>
>
>
> From: i*@yahoogroups.com [mailto:i*@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Jean Richter
> Sent: Saturday, 17 March 2012 3:39 AM
> To: i*@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [iris-photos] TB 'Horned Amethyst' ?
>
>
>
>
>
> 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 garden
> 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?
>>>