HYB: HIST: Are they really all different?

In a message dated 8/17/2007 2:36:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time,  
donnamil@yahoo.com writes:

<<I guess I'll forego planning to become an expert identifier.[.  . . ]
For now, I'll just plan on enjoying the irises and being surprised.  

A perfectly reasonable approach, and one with which many can  identify...so 
to speak. 
 
We have all kinds of folks here, Donna. Many of them enjoy their  irises by 
becoming involved in hybridizing, and some do not,  and that is entirely okay. 
 
Some people become preoccupied with the identification of "Unknown"  historic 
cultivars, but some historic iris fanciers, like myself,  have discovered 
that other approaches to the study of garden irises  are more rewarding, and, in 
the long run, more likely to  yield meaningful insights. 
 
Some folks here are growing enormous numbers of irises. Some limit  
themselves, or are limited by circumstances. I intend to get my  bearded iris 
collection down to the most beautiful 12-20 cultivars  I can find, and whereas I doubt 
I'll achieve that, I'm very pleased  with how much better the really superb 
stuff looks when  you cull out the mediocre stuff. I learned this from Alice 
Harding, a garden  writer of the 1920s. This sounds hairshirty and rigid, but 
I've got  limited space, and, once you realize you can't grow them all there is 
no  reason not to seek the best. In your garden, you get to define  what "best" 
is.
 
Photographers and artists are often drawn to irises because of the  richness 
of their forms and the complexity of their other attributes. They are  
interesting plants, as well as just beautiful ones. 
 
You are going to have a wonderful time growing  your irises.
 
Cordially,
 
Anner Whitehead
Richmond VA USA
 
 
 





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