Re: Iris popularity (was: The Commercial Nursery)

In a message dated 22/01/97  15:53:01, Ian Black said:

<< we sell three historic plants for every one
 >recent variety plant.
 
 Now there's an interesting observation.  I would be  _very_  interested in
 hearing why this is so.
 -price?
 -familiarity?
 -disenchantment with the form of the modern iris?>>

The answer to this is all three, especially the first and last. UK gardeners
(especially with the ongoing vogue for "cottage" gardening) are uncomfortable
with some of the more brightly coloured, flared and heavily ruffled newer
varieties. We also price them higher (at least #5) due to stock limitations.

Ian goes on to say:
 
<< I presume this reflects the preferences of a mixture of both irisarians
and
 non-specialising gardeners (?). >>


No, I would say that in general, the irisarians are more receptive of newer
form and colours. We have converted a few general gardeners to irisarians
over the years, and work hard on promoting the newer stuff. Varieties (esp.
IBs) like AzAp which are good growers, good bloomers, traditional colour and
not excessively flamboyant prove to be popular with everyone. Brown Lasso on
the other hand has limited appeal (just too odd for most peoples liking).
Then there is what I call the "dahlia and bedding plant" crowd who read
Garden News (for the benefit of non-UK listers, Garden News is the National
Enquirer of gardening publications - a weekly "rag"). They *love* huge gaudy
flowers and are prepared to spend good money on them, and will also care for
them, set aside a special bed for them and so on. General gardeners and many
irisarians (who are few in number) tend to put their irises amongst the
general plantings in their garden, so they must fulfil a different function.

The psychology of the gardener - an interesting subject for a thesis?


Graham
croftway@aol.com
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