Bee Warburton

I read in _The Medianite_ this morning that Bee Warburton had died.
I met her only once, but had the privilege of corresponding with her
in a robin for several years. Bee was a remarkable creative force
in the iris world, particularly with the medians, but she also worked
a great deal with Siberians and beardless species.

Perhaps as much as anyone, Bee helped create median irises as we know
them today. I'm not referring to hybridizing so much as her great
influence in establishing the median classes and the standards by
which median irises are measured. Bennett Jones's obit was, of course,
nicely written, but I was disappointed that only one page of _The
Medianite_ was devoted to honoring her achievements, which were
vast.

Bee came from an "old school" of New England gardening; her scientific
knowledge and international connections where balanced by a real
feeling for the esthetics of gardening. She was interested in all
sorts of plants and their garden appeal; she was not just an
"iris farmer", as many of us become after getting the iris bug.

My first encounter with the Warburton name was when I got three
rhizomes of the SDB 'Brassie' from a friend, the first year I was
growing irises. After 'Cotton Blossom' came out, the standards of
form for SDBs changed, leaving behind those that were not wide
and ruffled. Yet 'Brassie' remains one of the best SDBs for the
garden (in my opinion). It has an elegantly shaped bloom, good
proportions, and a *bright* daffodil yellow color that I really
haven't seen duplicated in a more modern SDB.

I don't grow it currently, but I'm thinking I should pick up
a rhizome or two.


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Tom Tadfor Little         tlittle@lanl.gov  -or-  telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor   Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Telperion Productions     http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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