Naming Iris

Carolyn wants to know 
>	how a hybridizer chooses a name for a cultivar of an iris.

This _could_ turn into a lively discussion.  There are probably at least as many
ways as there are hybridizers.   I don't always do it the same way, myself --
although the inside joke here is that the iris _tell_ me their names.  That's
often true, but I also keep  lists of  "Names in Search of an Iris" and "Iris in
Search of a Name".  
But I think more people would be interested in stories about individual names
than the general process because the question of how a particular iris got its
name often comes up when I give programs.   I can certainly field questions
about my own introductions, as well as most of the Hunt and Seligmann varieties,
and perhaps others on the list will have more stories to tell. 

In the meantime here are a couple of examples:

WORLD WIDE WEB.  The name is self-evident, and if you've seen the iris you know
why I matched that flower and that name.  It has a white ground, covered with a
network of mulberry-purple dots and veins.    

BIG COUNTRY.  Basketball fans "get" this one.  Bryant (Big Country) Reeves was
OSU's 7'2", 290 lb. center -- a big blond who could pretty much go where he
pleased on the basketball court.  This is a big "blond" flower (standards so
pale blue as to be almost white, falls mimosa yellow with reddish-brown dotting
and veining) that grows wherever it pleases in the garden.  It increased so fast
in its seedling bed that it simply lifted the wooden frame out of the ground.

Sharon McAllister (73372.1745@compuserve.com)
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