A shade-blooming, bearded iris

Hello all,

I WILL get a bio uploaded, but couldn't resist a plug for an older iris
that, in my experience, is the quintessential shade-blooming Tall Bearded.
The following excerpt from Rosemary Carlson prompted this. (Sorry it
doesn't speak to Japanese irises -- Clarence Mahan and Bill Smoot are the
guru's there!)

>I want to try other types of irises, particularly the
>Japanese varieties. Is it true those can be grown in some shade?  I'm
>interested in planting some Japanese irises on the northwest exposure of
>my house.

'Helen Collingwood' (Ken Smith 1949) is the iris I recommend when a grower
must site a TB in high to partial shade. Throughout the country,
particularly East and Midwest, if you see a neglecta (two tone violet or
lavender, light above, dark below) blooming in the shade it is a safe bet
that it is 'Helen.'

Here is Tell Muhlestein's description from his 1951 catalog: "Beautiful,
superb, neglecta. Almost an amoena--will be highly useful for hybridizing,
surely."

Schreiner's had this description in their 1957 catalog: "Brilliant and
vivid in pattern this two-toned, cheerful iris possesses light lavender
standards and bright violet-purple falls which contrast strikingly. The
standards sparkle and the bloom has great charm and freshness of coloring."

Garden usage down through the years has proven 'Helen' to be an absolutely
great iris -- no faults, a superb grower. I have never understood how she
missed the Dykes Medal when a miffy grower such as 'Kilt Lilt' can walk
with a Dykes!

At any rate, if anyone wants a shot at growing this classic and is unable
to obtain it through the "gardeners back fence" route, I can post the
commercial garden catalog listing from "ROOTS, The Journal of the Historic
Iris Preservation Society." (I hope that is not blatant hucksterism?!)

We are snowed and iced -- again! Had an interesting thing happen from the
last storm. The settling layer of ice and snow folded all our zinc name
tags down. This happened in the re-set beds where there wasn't sufficient
foliage growth to break up and support the snow crust. The two and three
year clumps did not have squashed tags.

Best regards,

Mike Lowe, mblowe@earthlink.net
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