Re: SPEC:VERSICOLOR
From: Dennis Kramb <dkramb@tso.cin.ix.net>
>My question is--- Where do these different colors of
>Versicolor come from? Are there areas where only white
>Versicolors grow, and other areas of the country where only
>red Versicolors grow?
As I understand it, I. versicolor has a widespread distribution throughout
Eastern North America. From region to region the populations exhibit a
wide range of variation in color (thus the scientific name versicolor).
Whites, blues, violets, wines, and pinks seem fairly common. Hybridizers
have used it probably more than any other Eastern American species, so even
more color combinations are becoming available.
Unfortunately, I don't know enough to tell you what colors are predominant
in the wild and in which regions. I have four varieties however in my
garden:
1) Between the Lines (Marty Schafer & Jan Sacks, 1991) - white with violet
veins
2) Cat Mousam (Bee Warburton, 1985) - large flowering blue form
3) Kreighoff (Tony Huber, 1993) - deep red/purple with yellow signals,
collected by Tony Huber in the Laurentian Mountains in Canada
4) unregistered light blue form
Perhaps others can report what grow wild in their locations? If you're
interested in acquiring some of these registered varieties, Joe Pye Weed
Gardens has the biggest selection I know of. Foxbrook has some too, I
think.
By the way, the rhizomes of this iris give me dermatitis, so I advise
wearing gloves when handling them!
Dennis Kramb; dkramb@tso.cin.ix.net
Cincinnati, Ohio USA; USDA Zone 6; AIS Region 6
Member of AIS, ASI, HIPS, SIGNA, SLI, & Miami Valley Iris Society
Primary Interests: ABs, REBs, LAs, Native Ohio SPEC and SPEC-X hybrids
(Check out my web page at http://www.badbear.com/dkramb/home.html)
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