Re: Hist
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Hist
- From: m*@tricities.net (Mike Lowe)
- Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 18:23:54 -0600 (MDT)
Phyl Lyons writes...
>A friend collects antiques and ordered Princess Beatrice. She placed the
>order >with Bluebird Haven - instead she got Dalmatica, with a note
>stating that the >Iris are one and the same.
>Is this correct?
No, there are two distinct cultivars, PRINCESS BEATRICE and PALLIDA
DALMATICA. P.B. is very much better in form and general appearance than
DALMATICA. P.B. is a 'select' from a field of PALLIDA DALMATICA, (possibly
sown, i.e., a hybrid)
>If so, why all the confusion?
'Doing' pallidas is tough. There is not a huge amount of difference between
one named cultivar and the next. I have been attempting to obtain PRINCESS
BEATRICE since the '70s. I have pallidas from North, South, East and West,
probably 20 orders, swaps and gifts, over a 20 year period, all received
under the guise of P.B. I have yet to obtain a 'real' P.B. I have a photo
of the authentic PRINCESS BEATRICE, taken in a garden that does not make
iris available, purchase, swap, gift, beg borrow or steal (The impulse to
accidentally find a rhizome in my camera bag was overwhelming, but there
were just too many spectators.) I have a good chance at getting P.B. from a
trusted source, but, as yet, it has not happened.
I even wrote a humorous article detailing my search, sometime in the middle
80s I think.
>Was the registration changed at some point?
No.
I have included the description of P.B from Cornell 'Bulletin 112', June
1925. (Obtainable through HIPS sales)
PRINCESS BEATRICE (Barr & Sons, 1898.) Color effect a delicate blue self.
S. a pallid blue-violet to light lavender-violet, reticulations blending
from olive to red-brown on the claw. F. pale bluish violet to
lavender-violet, veined sulphin yellow on broad, white to lavender-tinged
outer haft.
The reticulations are olive to red-brown but not showy on the outer part.
The coarse, dense, conspicuously projecting, white beard is intensely
orange tipped at the base. The style branches are broad, over-arching,
keeled white, and blended pallid blue toward the edge. The color in this
variety is lighter than that of 'Pallida australis' or 'odoratissima.'
This variety was an especially good selected form, out of 'Iris pallida
dalmatica', which Barr & Sons thought sufficiently distinct to name. The
plant is very vigorous and has stiff, broad, blue-gray foliage. The
flowering stalks are tall and angular, bearing their fine blooms well
spaced on the stem but close to it. The exceptional size, the clear,
satiny, silvery blue of the flowers, and the fine odor are points which
cause it to rank as one of the best ten. It is an excellent cut flower.
Rating 95.
I often wonder, if P.B is that much better than the admittedly VERY good
PALLIDA DALMATICA-why isn't it more widely found? It has to be a very miffy
grower and must not maintain except with the most careful gardener. And, of
course, we are used to pallidas being as tough as nails. We have a planting
of Gertrude (Peterson 1907) which has lived in the same spot for over 50
years-never divided, seldom weeded with anything except a string trimmer.
Cheers,
Mike, mikelowe@tricities.net -- http://www.tricities.net/~mikelowe/ and
http://www.worldiris.com
South Central Virginia, USA
