SPEC: HIST: IRIS VARIEGATA, and little "variegatas"

From: HIPSource@aol.com

Bill Shear, up the road from me in Farmville, VA,  wrote:

<< I've been trying to get this species for some time now.  SIGNA seed of it
 never germinates for me, and I've held some of the pots for 3 years. Finally
I saw a large mass of it in an old, semi-abandoned garden across  town
(probably not the real article, a selected cultivar, but close  enough), and
asked the owner for some plants, come July. >>

I have found germination on the I. variegata seeds from SIGNA in recent years
to be poor. I have only gotten two of the usual form to germinate and none of
the obscure ones. Mine germinated in the spring after wintering in the
elements. Rather than germinating in April, they germinated the first week in
June, which indicated to me they liked the heat. As they have not bloomed, I
don't know if they are right or not.
 
About your found variegata, Bill. It could be I. variegata, but it is likely
one of the early garden clones such as HONORABILE, which dates from the mid-
nineteenth century and is often found around old homesteads and so forth. One
also sees some early G&K variegatas around from time to time such as FRO. All
are cheerful little irises with great spunk anad you will love yours, I am
sure. Mike Lowe has been experimenting with creating comparison tables of some
color patterns on the HIPS page. He is working on one with "variegatas" and
while it is not in finished form you can still use it.You might pop up to take
a look and see if your little iris is there. Here is the
URL:http://www.worldiris.com/

Those of you who have not visited the HIPS page should go see what is there.
Mike has a lot of interesting projects started up which should make for some
real neat times this winter, and as always there are a lot of photos for your
delight and edification. Pop on up for a refreshing "Quick Fix" some time.  

As for those irises riding out the hot summer in the garage and then hitting
the ground running in the fall, yes, I'm not surprised. It is a bit harder on
the smaller rhizomes but most of the oldies will take this sort of situation
in stride. They just see it as a real hot dry summer. If it is HONORABILE, she
might even bloom for you next year. Watch the drainage on those, however. The
ones that get real dry want the water badly and swell quickly and leap into
fast growth. This can mean rot. 

Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com

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