Re: CULT:Irisquestion (was Digest Number 50)

From: mlowe@worldiris.com (Mike Lowe)

John I Jones had excellent advice for those seeking identification of
unknown iris cultivars.

I would like to add a bit from the perspective of a long time 'old iris person.'

An iris for which you seek a name is almost certainly going to be 20 or
more years old--and often far older than a mere two decades. The most
recent ID success springs to mind--Linda Mann's unknown iris, garden name:
"White Gilt"  identified as SURRENDER (Tompkins 1951). This ID occured
through a concerted effort of various members of 'The Historic Iris
Preservation Society.'

The effort to make 'certain as possible' cultivar identifications has been
underway since well before the launching of HIPS, but received a decided
boost by 'networking' fostered by the HIPS publication, 'ROOTS.' The ID
effort has since expanded in scope by having a dedicated web page,
"Unknowns" featured on the HIPS website: http://www.worldiris.com

Making a successful ID usually consists of rather more than a photo. Almost
always, prior to crawling well out on the proverbial limb, the persons
(note plural) making an ID will grow the unknown, typically for several
seasons. Anne and I started the search for a name of a cultivar, long grown
by Anne's relatives, in 1978 and published a tentative ID in the middle
nineties. Other IDs take rather less time, however, ardent 'old iris
enthusiasts' live busy, crowded, cluttered, multi-faceted lives and often
an ID can stretch to years.

And, truth be told, many times a search for a name will never come to
fruition. There must be at least a thousand 'old, two-toned, blue-purple
iris' out there. Ones that, if a gun were put to the head of the
hybridizer/originator and he/she told: "Select YOUR iris from this group of
six look-alikes", the happless wretch would be forced to stammer--"Shoot!"
A good example of this is Anne & Mike Lowes' 'COMPOST IRIS' one of many
featured on the HIPS "Unknowns" webpage.

However, the fun is in the seeking...

Cheers,

Mike



------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or
service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit
http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index