Re: OT-BIO: Mary Blatz

At 07:28 AM 5/28/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>>>
My first question for all of you is this: I have several TBs which came from a nice lady the next town over; she had them labeled but I've yet to locate any info about any of them--anyone heard of the following?:
CAROLINA GOLD, IRMA LEE, JET FIRE, OVATION, PINK PUSSYCAT, RASPBERRY RIPPLE, SECRET PAL, STUNNING, TWIST OF FATE, UTAH VALLEY
How lucky that you got gift irises that were labeled. That may well be a first!
Starting with the most recent that I could find in the AIS checklists: SECRET PAL (J. Ohl 1970) Standards white; falls white, washed sea blue at border; lemon beard. 30" early to mid-season bloom. (AIS Checklist 1979). The checklist also gives the pedigree.
STUNNING (Jeannett Nelson 1977) Standards light lilac; falls red (be careful of wishful thinking by irisarians in using this term - it will not be Cardinal Flower red), precise light lilac rim; yellow beard; fluted and ruffled. (1979 Checklist)
JET FIRE (Tompkins 1964) Standards wine-red, interior white; falls white, edged vivid wine-red; bronze beard. (1969 checklist, which qualifies it as a historic).
PINK PUSSYCAT (Tompkins 1969) Pink self with white central habit on falls, pink beard. (1969 checklist, another historic)
RASPBERRY RIPPLES (Dave Niswonger 1969 - subject of several posts recently about his propensity for naming varieties after deserts [I knew it was Dave before I looked it up!]) Deep rose-purple self. (1969 checklist, another historic).
UTAH VALLEY (Muhlestein 1958 - another predictable grower who glorified Utah with a whole series of names) Violet self with white area in center of falls. (1959 checklist)
Others have already described Carolina Gold, Ovation and Twist of Fate.
Since you already have four historic varieties, I'd recommend joining the Historic Iris Preservation Society. Anner Whitehead will no doubt give you the URL to the HIPS web site, or she will do so in another post. It is one of my most referred to sites, but I have it bookmarked and therefore no personal memory.
Cherish this old treasures, and be happy that since nothing is brand new, you can look through the catalogs for other things to buy with a clear conscience.
I also recommmend joining AIS and buying Bill Shear's book, but feel duty-bound to tell you that amazon.com has the best price on it just now.


James Brooks
Jonesborough, TN
hirundo@tricon.net
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