Re: I. tectorum variegatum

From: HIPSource@aol.com

In a message dated 11/23/98 7:07:21 AM Eastern Standard Time,
icity@email.msn.com writes:

<<  After several years of receiving I. japonica I also finally found the
 variegated I. tectorum. (I had been firmly assured that it did not exist by
 a grower who should know.) I found one piece in the US and received one from
 Japan. >>

Hip hip hooray! Good for Iris City! 

You got a photo of the thing, Greg? Can we get it posted on some board? I want
to see it.

<<They are similar to I. pseudacorus in that they lose their variegation in
the summer on the mature leaves. However, I. tectorum  maintains slight
variegation in the new growth, then turns all green. I may  have some to sell
next year but probably won't list it in my 1999 catalog.>>

For heaven's sake please send one to Shear. He wants it so bad and a little
preferential treatment is certainly not out of order at this point.
 
<< I like the I. japonica very much...it has a very nice variegation, but will
 fade in the hot sun here. Unfortunately it has to live in the greenhouse
 over winter, can't take zone 6 cold.>>

I like it a a whole lot, too. Very handsome. It has beautiful leaves. The
variegation is white, too, and cleanly drawn. I have mine back under the crepe
myrtle with the variegated strawberry but there isn't much left of either
after the cruel drought and heat this year. Toadlilies and a rich metallic
blue hosta there as well, and a variegated bletilla. Can't help loving that
foliage of mine....

<< Someone asked if there was a variegated Louisiana and there is. Terry
Aitken
 discovered one in his LA bed and has been propagating it for introduction,
 maybe in the next couple of years. There is also a variegated I. setosa, but
 it apparently is not yet stable.>>

This is interesting. I've seen photos of the setosa--it was in the
Bulletin--and it was not very compelling in my book. If it had cropped up in
my seeds I'd have assumed chlorosis......
 
<< We also grow variegated I. ensata (including SILVERBAND), I. foetidissima,
 I. laevigata (a beautiful plant), Acorus Calamus and Graminea, I. pallida
 ZEBRA and Argentea and several of Brad Kasperek's intros, and a lot of other
 variegated plants.>>

I'm glad to hear that you've gotten some variegated foetidissima going. This
is another one that HIPSource gets asked about a whole lot. Found a couple of
sources for it, most growing it on for increase--slowly-- And I agree about
the laevigata--much more attractive than the variegated pseudacorus to me,
although those who fancy golden foliage have been able to use it well, say
with golden creeping jenny. Looks nasty with red berberis, although I'm seeing
that here and there too. For those with the space and water I really recommend
the variegated Sweet Flag--Acorus --that is the plant that Pseud-acorus is the
pseud of--which helps one remember how to spell it. Looks real good with
Louisianas and carries very well visually. 

Greg has been collecting the variegated forms of irises for several years,
specializing in them long before the current rage.  This creative
identification of a specialist niche and the willingness to go to some bother
over a long period of time to get a plant into trade that people are clamoring
for speaks well of Iris City, I think.  

Meanwhile, if someone does call Roslyn, I'd be interested to hear what they
found out. Replies---------->HIPSource@aol.com. 

Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com

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