Re: CULT: HYB: Lilac colored iris

I'm also interested in hearing about tough lilac (rosy lavender?)
colored iris in the zone of despair.  It's a color class that I haven't
had much success with, but haven't really tried a lot of cultivars.

A few of the darker ones, SWINGTOWN and especially SULTRY MOOD do well
here, but first attempts at other darkish ones (LOYALIST & a couple of
others) did not.

Jim Ennenga, local club member about 50 miles from here, had a
spectacular clump of GOOD LOOKING a few years ago.  He treats for rot,
sprays, poisons, right & left, but  it looked so good, I decided to try
it anyway  I got it year before last and so far, it seems to be growing
well, but I don't remember it blooming last year.  Jim's clump suffered
massive rot during early summer while he was out of town.  His soil is
really awful - fill dirt clay subsoil.

So it <might> be that this one needs really good drainage (which my
gravelly soil provides) to do well.

I have a seedling from IMMORTALITY X CELEBRATION SONG  in that color
class that I kept because of the color.  It's a bit pinker/redder than
GOOD LOOKING, and not as strongly pigmented.  Too short, standards not
closed well enough to suit me, and is capable of rot, tho grows fast
enough to increase fast anyway.  It's at the convention this year - look
forward to hearing if anybody thinks it's worth introducing.

I plan to try AMETHYST FLAME this year, just to make sure the
'foundation' plant for this color class is good here.  Jim Ennenga also
has it and it looks very good at his place, so I'm optimistic.

And I have a half dozen seedlings from DUSKY CHALLENGER X GRAPE ICE that
mostly are not worth a dime by modern standards (narrow, VERY hafty) but
are rampant growers, more vigorous and healthy than DC, always bloom, so
I know it is possible to get extremely healthy, reliably blooming plants
from Schreiner 'lilac's.

In spite of GRAPE ICE being a total dud.

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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