Re: Gaudy and showy?
- To: i*@Rt66.com
- Subject: Re: Gaudy and showy?
- From: i*@easynet.co.uk (Ian Black)
- Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 23:45:13 +0100
Carolyn Schaffner wrote:
>Ian Black in Alton, Hampshire, England!! Hello! I haven't heard from you
>since I've been on this LIST. Where are you located in England?
In the south, about 35 miles in from the coast. Actually, I was involved in
the enthusiastic thrash over I. uniflora early on in our history. Quite a
lot of words - maybe even some light!
>On another e-mail list, a man who was transplanted to Italy who is very
>interested in gardening and has lived in various countries reported to that
>group about what he perceived to be a sidelong glance at American Iris,
>that the English see many American cultivars as gawdy and showy. What do
>you think? Is there a grain of truth to that? What about you?
Me? I'm definitely gaudy and showy. Really, though, you raise a very
important point. It's actually been touched on at least twice since this
list started. Personally, I don't think that modern American cultivars are
any gaudier than anyone elses, but there is just so much iris breeding work
going on in the US that modern types tend to get associated with current
practice in the US. I think that the search for more definite colours and
colour combinations can only be helpful, and broaden the choice of the
palette available to gardeners.
But I believe that there is a problem. One of the unique things about
Irises is that their flowers are - er - iris-shaped. To my mind, one
of the more regrettable trends in modern breeding has been to pursue
ruffling to an obsessive degree, such that one of the unique charms of the
flower is being lost. This pursuit of form away from the original has been
a trend of florists for several hundreds of years - it's nothing new - and
happened to dianthus, violas, auriculas and others. This trend preceded the
near-extinction of these "fancy" flowers, as they were of decreasing use or
interest to non-aficionados. They now live on as pretty curiosities, like a
blown-out supernova. This criticism is by no means confined to this side of
the Atlantic.
Gardeners tend to fall into one of two groups - those who are fascinated by
individual plants, rarities etc. - the "plantsmen" (and I've left it in the
non-pc form advisedly), and those who seek to work with form and structure,
in which an individual plant forms only one element. Most of us probably
have both components to our makeup, but polarize towards one or the other.
The issue of more colour choices will be helpful to all, but if bearded
irises (these are the ones I'm talking about of course) all start to look
like "piles of used Kleenex" as I believe one early post put it, then my
guess is that these plants will have reversed themselves out of the
mainstream before too long. They simply won't appeal to those who want to
use them as part of their garden design.
Incidentally, there has been much talk about judging new irises. Judging
always involves elements of taste. The risk is that judges will
increasingly approve of tendencies that are of ephemeral interest, and that
new varieties will be bred to impress judges, and so on and so on.
Anyway, rant over. Somebody else can pick it up now.
> I see you
>have species, do you grow Bearaded, or Beardless --Japanese or Siberian?
Bearded and beardless, but little luck with sibs or the Japanese - it's too
dry here.
> We Americans look to the British as mentors in gardening
Don't do this!
> and have
>only very very recently started to think about "the American Garden" which
>means that the techniques of gardening take stock of the environment and
>microclimate before the desires for plant varieties.
>Gardeners in the Western USA generally seem to take the water problem very
>seriously and choose plants according to the ability of the grower to provide
>the needs of the plants.
I believe that this approach is more satisfying in the long term. Actually,
all the great gardens - from whatever tradition - have considered their
environment in one way or another- either to attempt to tame it, or to
create a microcosm of some of nature's more desireable things.
> What do the garden shows that we read about display in the way of
>Iris?
Yes, Irises tend to be there too. The big flower shows like Chelsea tend to
be expensive, so new bearded introductions can often be seen there. Of
course, specialist shows (Iris, Alpine etc.) can throw up exotica.
I'm exhausted -
Over and out
Ian
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Ian Black - Alton, Hampshire, England ianblack@easynet.co.uk
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