Re: CULT: Best plant in the Garden

In a message dated 4/12/05 9:05:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
irisman@comcast.net writes:
Soooo, with many folks barely into bloom season, what is your favorite
historic and why?
OH, my goodness...what day is it? I have at least one for each day of the 
week!

Gary, I think lots of folks are as pleasantly surprised as you were after 
growing a few historics.  I was amazed to find that most of the things I thought 
of as "new" color patterns, were, in fact, not.  

MOONLIT SEA  (J. Sass 1943), one of the early "fancy plicatas," or luminatas, 
just amazed me the first time I saw it, and I still enjoy it very much. Also 
in this vein are ALADDIN'S WISH (Murawska 1945),  CUBA LIBRE (Plough 1957), 
and BERTHA GERSDORFF (J. Sass 1944). Though I must admit that none of these are 
the most robust growers in my garden, they are certainly more than adequate. 

MARY E. NICHOLLS (Col. J.C. Nicholls 1939)  a beautiful, tailored white with 
yellow in the throat area and on the hafts is a special favorite because it 
was hybridized just a few miles away. It is simple elegance. 

BLUE SHIMMER (J. Sass 1941), a pale blue-violet plicata, is another goody. It 
is utterly dependable, beautiful, floriferous...just a delight to grow.  

If you like dark ones, STUDY IN BLACK (Plough 1968) is another that impresses 
with its clean, simple lines. No ruffles...but absolutely stunning. 

Someone recently mentioned PINK RUFFLES (K. Smith 1940). Amazingly ruffled 
for an iris of the day, and very dependable. 

Another "local" favorite is PINK CHEEKS (Randolph, 1961). This is not the 
most vigorous, but the green-tinted yellow color with pink flush at hafts and 
throat is delightful. And it fits into my "program" of trying to preserve oldies 
that were hybridized in my area. Now, one of Randolph's that IS completely 
reliable and floriferous is the IB, BARBI (1962),  delightful yellow. 

Ooops, I think that's enough for today. 

Dorothy Stiefel
Spencer, NY, USA
AIS Reg. 2, USDA Zone 4b

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index