CULT: Favorites - long

Well, I wasn't going to post this list but the weather is so miserable here
today I can't do what I want to be doing.  Also, while reading the other
lists, it struck me that gardener's preferences come in just about as wide a
variety as the plants they grow (or try to grow anyway).  So my list is a
reflection of my own quirky reactions to the plants and their inherent
characters as I see them.

My list is based on the anticipation factor of seeing something once again
that has bloomed before.  It definitely is not a list I would recommend to
beginners or novelties.  There are a lot of really nice cultivars growing
here that I would suggest to them rather than those on this list.  But the
fact is, while I like and enjoy them enormously, they don't stir the
anticipation of those on the following list.  I've tried to determine and
explain why it these and not others that make the list.

1.  SATAN'S MISTRESS (Seligmann '82) - belongs at the top of this list.  Has
for several years now.  This bloom has qualities of color unlike anything
else I grow.  A dark, dark ruby red (the bud and falls are nearly black),
the saturation of the color is intense, non-fading.  It excels in sunlight,
when the standards seem to capture and hold some of that light and release
it at a slower rate.  Like a diamond catches and refracts light, you expect
to find a red glow being emitted from the bloom itself.  Like a full moon
rising on the horizon, I can't imagine not anticipating and enjoying the
effect.  A slow increaser, but reliable bloomer here, it has very strong
substance and the best resistance to our typical late freezes even though it
is early.  I've never seen any sign of freeze damage when other plants in
the same stage of bud have melted after a freeze.  I've used pollen and
discovered it can strongly pass some of the color effects to its progeny.
It is genetically an arilbred (RB-) with I. korolkowii as a grandparent, but
the appearance of bloom and plant are TB.  So far it has been a cooperative
parent with TBs only and never set a pod.  Though this belongs at the top of
the list, those that follow aren't a list that really has any priority on
the order they are listed.

2.  The 'homestead' iris belongs on this list.  A plant that has several
liabilities, it still merits it on the anticipation level.  Very early, it's
about like our apricot crop - you only get to see the blooms about once
every four years.  An aggressive increaser, I've learned it needs its own
spot.  Otherwise it will overrun and crowd out everything else.  How to turn
a bed to purple irises!  The growth, then, is both a plus and a minus.  It
is purple with older form, nothing more, nothing less in color.  But the
form has some lift and bounce and isn't entirely linear.  The stalks never
flop and fall over.  They are also never straight.  To some degree or
another they always are 'S' shaped.  In an iris with bigger, wider blooms
this would be a big liability.  On this one it lends grace and lightness to
the effect of the clump as the iris perch up and down the stalks.  It
wouldn't look as good with straight stalks.  It's hard to know how much
sentimentality plays on viewing this iris.  I grew up with it.  It was here
when we moved here in 1950 and is probably the first garden plant I knew as
a garden plant.  I think it might have been planted by a lady that lived
here before we moved here and then used to babysit my brothers and sister
and myself.  I thought maybe her son could verify that or not, but he
couldn't remember.  He thought she probably did and acquired some rhizomes
for himself.  She was a kindhearted, generous person whom life dealt with
rather harshly, so when it does bloom I like to think it bloomed for Ina Mae
and gave her a brief bit of pleasure at seeing it.

3.  WHIRLWIND ROMANCE (McAllister '91) - a bloom that makes my fingers itch
to touch.  So plush and warm-looking in shades of brown, rust, gold, pewter
it is a textural delight.  You would expect it to have the warmth of a
warm-blooded animal and purr if you stroked it.  The globular form that I'm
so fond of in many arilbreds, it hasn't been an especially strong grower.
I've gone to great lengths to ensure I don't lose it.  It seems I'll have to
continue in this mode, since I lost one clump last summer.  The remaining
clump looks really good, but I'll try to have two to increase my chances of
having the anticipation fulfilled.

4.  EDENITE (Plough '59).  An iris that sets a mood.  With its somber
red-black coloring and a droop to the form that matches that color
perfectly, it conveys a mournful and beautiful mood that would be utterly
lost if modern form were imposed upon it.  As an example of 'character' in
the way the parts of an iris work together, there is none better in my
garden.  As pure dark red color goes, I doubt there are many that are
superior in any case.  It will keep a place among my irises for a long time.

5. ARIL REVERIE (Moores '90).  Exquisite defined.  This small arilbred is
like very fine, very expensive bone China.  Pastel tints of blue and ivory
and white, I was delighted to find that visitors also invariably selected it
as a favorite.  With the eye-catching BATIK in good bloom only two clumps
away, it was no mean feat to be noticed.  Yet for all it's small stature, it
got the notice and the comments.  Delicate appearance aside, It has proved
to be a grower.  While some pretty hale TBs in the area have reached the
point of near extinction after our vicious summer, this one remained a nice
viable clump.

6.  JAZZ BABY (Noyd '60).  A weightless bloom.  It gives the impression of
floating off like soap bubbles.  I don't know how it achieves this effect,
but nothing else among my irises has anything like it.  If Lawrence Welk had
chosen an iris to go with his bubbles, it would have been this one!  Palest
lavender - almost white - standards over falls that can be almost lime green
flecked with red, I don't think the color is how the effect is managed. If
EDENITE gives a somber mood, this one leaves a carefree mood.  It has a
tendency to increase rapidly, then nearly bloom out.  I was sweating out its
survival after last summer when it seemed to reach marginal status and then
was k.o.'d by our summer, but the increase is coming along now.  Still, my
anticipation will probably wait another season on this one.

7.  MOCAMBO (Denney '78).  One of the oddest sounding descriptions ever
given to an iris, I think.  Don't be put off.  This is a nice and beautiful
bloom with great garden presence.  The effect it leaves me with is of the
softest gray near-white standards over navy falls.  It has been a strong
growing plant with prolific bloom.  I planted STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN next door
and it compares quite well in form.  Even the pickiest trained judge would
have to concede it is the superior garden plant so far and STH does pretty
well here.  This IS one I might very well recommend to a novice or beginner.
Something that would be different and also beautiful and easy to grow.

8.  JEHOSEPHAT'S RELIANCE (McGrath '98).  You don't need rose-colored
glasses for this one.  It comes with its own pink aura.  One of my stronger
and more durable arilbreds with strong aril markings, it is not really pink.
But every time I look at it, no matter how many times a day, it comes as
something of a shock to realize it is not really pink, but more in the
lavender or lilac shades.  Close inspection says it's not pink at all.  But
that aura is undeniable and definitely pink.  So it has its own pink magic,
no matter whether it is pink or not.

9.  AT LAST (McAllister '93).  My pet name for this one is 'the silhouette
iris'.  It wouldn't matter what color it came in, the form is so clean,
balanced and graceful it becomes moot for me.  As a garden plant I have been
known to be somewhat defensive about this one.  It is not one that grabs a
visitors' attention and can even elicit somewhat negative comments due to
the subdued rusty coloring.  I was not convinced so performed an experiment
after one such visit.  By cutting it along with a couple of more flamboyant
colored TBs, I took them all to work where those same visitors then
preferred AT LAST.  Context maybe?  Or a situation that invited close
inspection to detail?  I didn't tell them it was one they didn't love in the
garden.  It satisfied me.  Anyway, I don't like to cut iris stalks.

10. SHINING WATERS (Essig '33).  After the first year, this one wouldn't
have made this list.  But this wears well and continues to grow on me.
Every year that passes finds me looking forward to seeing it again more and
more.  Tall, stately, and an iris that approaches true blue, it has come
into its own here.  It grows well, it blooms well and when the sun has set
and the light is fading it glows with a luminous blue light while everything
else is fading into darkness.  Planted among many new TBs of modern form, it
still does the job for me.

Still freezing and windy, but no longer snowing.  The sun is shining, but
those sacks of cubes are going to be freezing when I put them out for the
cows.  The cows will be happy, but my fingers will be numb before its done.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA



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