SIB: HIST: identification
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: SIB: HIST: identification
- From: m*@tricities.net (Mike Lowe)
- Date: Sat, 22 Mar 1997 07:29:56 -0700 (MST)
I am a reluctant draftee in an iris interest that may be slightly out of
hand. Anne raises 260 Siberians, a large proportion of which are
'historic.' Of course many, (supported thus far by the Judges' handbook)
would argue that there are Siberians introduced in the early days of iris
enthusiasm in the U.S., but that only their age categorize them as antique
or 'historic.'
A major problem in collecting the older Siberian cultivars is that, if pod
fertile, they have undoubtedly dropped seed sometime during their history
and an obstreperous rogue has crowded out the distinctive but less
vigorous, original cultivar.
A case in point may be our quest for Ottawa (Preston 1930). A description
from a Kellog catalog of the '30s reads as follows: "The flowers are a
violet-purple, more brilliant than Caesar and his Brother, and further
differentiated by a conspicuous white border around the falls."
Our Ottawa is a large, flared, muted, soft blue-violet. The sort of thing
that takes up 95% of a seedling row. Probably a rogue.
If Ottawa resembled anything even approaching its catalog description, it
would have been a sensation in the 30s and 40s and should be a prominent
feature of our Siberians grown today. Instead, it is almost never
catalogued and when offered, turns out to be nothing close to old
descriptions.
Does anyone grow an Ottawa that resembles the above Kellog catalog description?
Best regards,
Mike, mikelowe@tricities.net -- http://www.tricities.net/~mikelowe/
South Central Virginia, USA, USDA Zone 7A, pH-5.4, very sandy loam
