Re: TB: Unidentified Historics

From: HIPSource@aol.com

In a message dated 5/20/99 3:38:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, srust@fidnet.com 
writes:

<<  On an outting into the country today, saw many large clumps and rows of an
 old very pale, clear yellow TB...slender stalks, shorter, smaller flowers.>>

Sounds like it could be FLAVESCENS (De Candolle, 1813). Check the page for a 
photo. Riding this weekend up through the byways of the Virginia foothills on 
the way to Charlottesville for the Open House at the Center for Historic 
Plants affiliated with Monticello where HIPS has a display bed, Henry and I 
saw a great deal of little FLAVESCENS, which I adore, in all sorts of 
locations, ranging from ditches to pampered beds. Its a pretty thing, and 
especially fine with the old roses. Redoute, the great painter of roses for 
Josephine at Malmaison also painted FLAVESCENS.

HIPS page is http://www.worldiris.com. 

<< Some lined the roadways...also a small TB colored like the MTB Frosted
 Velvet, very flashy and sometimes in mixed plantings with the pale yellow
 variety.>>

Now, the checklist tells me that FROSTED VELVET is a little purple amoena. 
There are quite a few smaller historics of that sort from the earlier days of 
the century. Three that come to mind are RHEIN NIXE ( G. u. K ,1910) MILDRED 
PRESBY (Farr, 1923) and MRS. ANDRIST ( Fryer, 1919). Another possibility, 
although rarer, is VICTORINE (Lemon, 1840). I'm sure there must be 
others...... 
 
<< Anner, we rode the horses back up to the old cemetary in the Little Indian
 Creek Conservation Horse Trails.  The horse that I was test riding didn't
 pull any fancy tricks, so I was able to observe more this time.  I didn't
 see any iris, but the sign over the cemetary said "Baker Cemetary--1852.  It
 was enclosed and very secluded set high on a hill in a big field backing up
 to deep, mostly oak, woods.  The grave markers were mostly grey stone, some
 tall and pointed, others small and very crude.  30-50 graves, I would say.
 Way in the back I saw huge clumps of pure white, very large double peonies!
 Quite beautiful.  I long to dismount and search for iris; maybe Atroviolacea
 is there, too, but hiding in the weeds.  I see no evidence of a road,
 homestead, barn, church or any buildings, just the lonely cemetary.  Any
 ideas of other varieties of iris to scout for?  >>

Sounds like a very nice outing indeed! I think I'd keep an eye out for 
FLAVESCENS, maybe HONORABILE, certainly I. pallida, and probably. germanica 
and I. gemanica var, florentina. Might be some other stuff too, since 
presumptively there are graves more recent than the middle of the last 
century. 

But there must be regional variation in these things. I've heard, for 
instance, of GRACCHUS and HARLEQUIN showing up on graves on some parts of the 
country, as well as purples of the CRIMSON KING/ KOCHII mode. Generally the 
stuff that you hear about tends to be less finicky and more vigorous. Lots of 
pallidas of one sort or another, too. But I'm sad to see there aren't more 
irises on graves, and those you see often are not blooming since they are 
pretty neglected.

You could just drop a couple of rhizomes of something over the fence, I 
figure ...something that would look nice with the peonies......I mean, I'm 
sticking a few more irises in the alleys around here. Come end of season, 
scrappy bits left over, I'm not going to put them in the trash.....no.... 
just a little walk with a trowel......

Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com

 


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