TB: Identifying older varieties
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: TB: Identifying older varieties
- From: "* B* E* <e*@mailbox.syr.edu>
- Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 12:13:08 -0600 (MDT)
Apologies if this is one of those annoying, frequently-asked questions
best dealt with elsewhere, but I've checked out a lot of web resources and
books and haven't been able to find out how to identify an older variety
of tall bearded iris. Perhaps someone here might clue me in on who to
ask?
I have two unidentified varieties of TB in my garden (now that we have
enough sun), which are undoubtedly more than 25 years old. I suspect they
were probably common/popular varieties in their day:
1) 30" tall, blue-green leaves with no coloration at the base. Blooms are
probably about 5" tall (they seem pretty big) and the standards are spread
outward more than most iris I've seen. No noticeable fluting. The
standards are pinkish lavender. The falls are medium purple, not
particularly dark, and fade to cream toward the throat, with bronze
veining. The beard is bright yellow. I guess you would call this
bicolor a "neglecta"?
2) 36" tall (or more), leaves identical to #1 except for purplish color at
the base. Blooms are smaller than #1, about 4" tall, and the standards
fold in more tightly than #1 -- a more classic TB shape. Again, no
fluting. It is a bicolor: the standards are tannish-violet, the color I
think they call "champagne." The falls are the exact same color as the
standards of #1 -- that is, pinkish lavender -- and they too fade to cream
with bronze veining toward the throat. The beard is bright yellow. The
flowers are very profuse, although they don't look very impressive as a
massed planting, colorwise. This iris is just doing wonderfully now that
it has some sun for once in its poor little life!
In many ways these two different iris I have strike me as having
suspicious color similarities, but they are obviously different in height
and growth habit. I'm wondering if these sound familiar to anyone here.
Ellen
