Re: HIST: Karen's Purple Dwarf 'Flag'
- Subject: Re: HIST: Karen's Purple Dwarf 'Flag'
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 18:31:38 EST
From: HIPSource@aol.com
In a message dated 3/4/99 5:37:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, srust@fidnet.com
writes:
<< Karen, I have read about an iris that is an MDB that pioneer families used
to plant on graves. They referred to it as the cemetary iris. I have also
read it is called ATROVIOLACAEA. I grow this iris and got it from HIPS. It
is small, purple, has a light blue or bluish white beard and a sweet perfume.
It is a very good performer here and repeat blooms again about a month after
the main bloom, which is early. It is very tough and hardy. Nothing seems to
bother it. Bet Anner will know exactly what you have, I am certainly not an
authority.>>
Hi, Karen,
Welcome to the list!
I'm Anner.
What a nice story you have brought us!
It is almost impossible to identify an iris definitively from a verbal
description, or a photo even, but when I read your story I had the same
reaction that Cindy had: it sounds like the little purple pumila (dwarf)
known as ATROVIOLACEA, which we are given to understand has been used as a
cemetary iris in the past, especially in the midwest. I don't know how hardy
the little thing is, but it is found surviving in these contexts, often on
children's graves.
About "flags": Yes, now we tend to use this term for beardless irises, if at
all, but in the past bearded irises were also called "flags."
About division: If you sense they are diminishing or looking stressed or
malnourished you might move some around. I think I'd just slide a spade up
under the perimeter and detatch some and move that clump to another prepared
area, sliding them off the spade and settling them with water. You might also
wish to remove some rhizomes from the perimeter and plant them in groups of
five to ten. But I would not disturb the entire colony. They have survived
since 1919 and they must know what they are doing. If they are decidedly
imperiled by removal of graves or impending "perpetual care" then you should
lift them about a month after blooming--assuming you can wait that long--and
find them new homes.
If you want to buy some ATROVIOLACEA, send me a little note to my private
mailbox at----> HIPSource@aol.com<---- and I'll glady refer you to a
commercial nursery.
You may also wish to visit the nice webpage of the Historic Iris Preservation
Society at ---->http://www.worldiris.com<----- I think you would find this
interesting and enjoyable.
Whistle if you need me!
Anner Whitehead
Commercial Source Chairman
Historic Iris Preservation Society,AIS
HIPSource@aol.com
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