Re: The commercial nursery--historic irises

In a message dated 97-01-26 09:37:42 EST, you write:

<< you say the field for historic irises is wide open,
 and others have made similar comments (Rick Tasco and Graham Spenser?).  Is
 that for all eras of historics, or just the 'important' irises, or ?  Seems
 like I remember the Iris Pond historics being really old ones, not so much
 the 50's and 60's irises. >>

There are really several different types of "demand" for historic irises.
 The most concentrated demand these days is probably from people who have or
want period gardens, e.g. Victorian, the Belle Epoque, the 20's, the 30's.
 Victorian is especially popular.  These people want irises from "their
period"---which of course means any irises introduced prior to their period.
 Ergo, the older the iris, the greater the demand.  But they want the "most
beautiful" from their period, so demand for such irises as MME CHEREAU, QUEEN
OF MAY, QUAKER LADY, "Pallida Dalmatica" or I. pallida, HONORABILE, and
PERFECTION is higher than some of the others.   

Then there is the demand from collectors of historic irises, usually members
of HIPS---this can be any period, and is not concentrated as to type.
 Another type of demand is from artists, and one might be surprised how many
artists there are who also garden.  A majority of artists I have come into
contact with prefer to draw and paint historic irises rather than modern tall
bearded irises. (Also, they tend to much prefer species irises rather than
modern Japanese, Louisianas, spurias, etc.---the one exception I would make
in saying this is in the realm of Siberian irises---artists tend to like
modern Siberian cultivars as will as the old ones.)  

My son, now a doctor but a graduate in fine arts from the Univ. of VA, tells
me that the artist's preference for older irises, species and Siberians is
because they tend to have "clean lines" and this makes sense to me.  (He also
tells me that the large, 6 fall, ruffled Japanese iris is absolutely the most
difficult type of iris to render with accuracy and beauty.)

Another great demand comes from people who have fond memories of the irises
their grandmother grew, or their mother grew, or that they remember from some
garden in their childhood. Also there is some demand for 50's and 60's
cultivars that middle age or senior people used to grow themselves, i.e.
cultivars like HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WHOLE CLOTH, CHERIE, STARSHINE, etc.  Since
this type of demand is related to each individual's memory and taste, it
tends to jump around all over the place---I never tried to stock for this
particular market because I do not have the space to grow all the cultivars I
would have to have to make a go at it.  Besides, I tend to prefer the really
older irises myself.  

Now, Linda, stop it! :) Clarence
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