Re: bulbous irises

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I have recently been working on a section on bulbous iris (subgenus Hermodactyloides, Xiphium , and Scorpiris (Junos)) for the Encyclopedia. So some of Annerâs multiple questions I can answer fairly easily. I do not have time to really research exact numbers on everything. I have in my files 195 Dutch iris cultivars and around 60-70 reticulata type cultivars. Since AIS registered bulbous Irises up until around 1950, Many of these were originally registered by AIS. But the KAVB like AIS sometimes reuses names if a cultivar has been declared obsolete. Therefore it is necessary to check even the older names with current checklists. Amazingly many of the oldest cultivars circa 1900 are some of the most popular irises today. Somewhere under 300 irises over the last century is a rather small number when one considers the dollars spent on bulbous irises far exceed the dollars spent on all other irises including tall-bearded.

Since the Journals of the KAVB are in Flemish and I have not found a botanical library that offers them, my understanding of their procedures are mostly second hand. The bulbous Iris I have seen offered under garden names in the last 20 years probably total less then 100 and perhaps as few as fifty, I could find these numbers by going through my files. But when there is limited opportunities people often do not bother. Most of the cultivars recorded come through collectors in Eastern Europe, since in the past the Czechs, Ukrainians, and others have had better access to the countries of origin. In Canada Alan McMurtries has been doing an enormous amount of work but having little success getting reticulates into the Dutch bulb trade. Presently he offers about 10 cultivars through Janis Ruksans in Latvia.

Amazingly much of the production of Dutch Irises is produced in the Pacific Northwest but sadly I cannot even give you the names of the wholesalers off the top of my head. I am unaware of whether they have new introductions. I do not think whether or not these irises could compete for garden awards is as important as recording the names and descriptions into our databases. Since large numbers of gardeners are growing these plants, it is sad that The AIS, and for that matter SIGNA are not great sources of information about them. Indeed there is no agreement with the KAVB and AIS to not use the same cultivar names for both types of Iris. And there are TBs that have the same name as Dutch irises. There is hardly an Iris show that does not use Dutch Iris in their arrangements yet who could name the cultivars?

It would be nice to include them as much as possible into our systems so the AIS could lay claim to ALL irises as plants of interest. There is interest among the gardening community and there is lots of money surrounding that interest.