Iris, non-bearded, 2014

[fermi de Sousa]

Iris spuria ssp. maritima

David,
I have one seedling left from the batch I raised from the seed you sent - seems they don't appreciate 40^oC temperatures!
Hopefully I can post a pic in a couple of years time of the survivor in flower,
cheers
fermi

[David Nicholson]

Fermi,

Will send you another batch later in the year and this time I'll instruct 'em to love Oz!

[johnralphcarpenter]

Iris versicolor, I think.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Back to the "Iris species ex Korea" that I mentioned a few posts ago; here are some more pictures in the hope that somebody can identify.

[johnralphcarpenter]

One more...

[johnstephen29]

Thanks chrisB I've had that iris for ages, the label has faded badly and I couldn't remember what sort it was so thanks for telling what variety it was. Make a fresh label now

[David Nicholson]

Back to the "Iris species ex Korea" that I mentioned a few posts ago; here are some more pictures in the hope that somebody can identify.

Ralph, this is the sort of thing Lesley usually excels at this sort of thing.

[Lesley Cox]

Aren't you a sweetie David?

I'm at a loss with this one. I've not grown any of the Korean species except I. minutoaurea and I still think we need Mark McD from Massachusetts, who posted a number of species way back in 20??. Sorry to be unhelpful with that; my searches are never very successful.

The yellow pictured above, has, in the last picture, the look of I pseudacorus, especially at the hafts, but is probably not nearly tall enough and in any case doesn't come from Korea, as far as I know though any species which is native to eastern China and to Japan, could, I imagine, be native in Korea as well. I'd really like to have an ID for this one too, as any "new" one to me is quite exciting. I'll see if some of my iris friends can help at all.

[johnralphcarpenter]

Thanks Lesley; I emailed Jim Waddick, co-author of "Iris of China", as follows:

"Hello Jim, I garden in Kent, UK and have been growing Iris for around 30 years. I recently joined PBS which is where I got your email address.
I bought your book "Iris of China" when it was published. A few years ago I acquired a plant labelled as "Iris species ex Korea". It has just flowered for the first time and I am trying to identify it. I attach some photos; could it be Iris koreana? Your book says it is not in cultivation but things may have moved on since then. To me it looks like a more delicate version of Iris wilsonii. Flowering at around 18 inches tall."

He replied:
"At first I thought you had a fine plant of I. koreana which is now fairly wide spread in cultivation at least among species aficionados and in the US. Joe Pye Weed Gardens has sold 2 or 3 forms for a number of years now.
At first I thought you might actually have this species, but the killer was "18 in tall". This is WAY too tall. I think your pix are the far more familiar and some what weedy I pseudacorus. It is almost world wide either as a native or introduced invasive. It can get much bigger. The true I koreana would be less than half of this height at its highest.
So sorry as the plants/flowers look kind of similar without a good measure or scale."

So it seems I have another form of Iris pseudacorus!

[Lesley Cox]

Well that was quite clever of me wasn't it? Not really as my I. pseudacorus thought was based entirely on what I saw, not on any real knowledge of the plants themselves. Pseudacorus grows here to about a metre I suppose so yours, if that's what it is, would be quite a low form which could be good. Here it's a prohibited import because of its ability to block waterways and general invasiveness, a shame because that means any hybrids are also prohibited as seed and I'd give my eyebrows for access to the magnificent Japanese "eyeshadow" irises, hybrids with a particular seedling of I. ensata and not invasive at all.

In the meantime, I have 30 new packets of iris seed to sow, from NZIS seedlist.

[GordonT]

A thought on Iris pseudacorus: when we bought our home in 2009, there was a yellow iris akin to a siberian in size, growing in one of the only perennial beds here. The bed was awkwardly positioned, so we moved the plants we wanted to keep, and the rest went out in the dustbin. When we moved the "Yellow Siberian" down beside the pond, it doubled in size, removing all doubt that what we had wasn't a siberian iris at all. Available moisture and soil type can really influence the size of Iris pseudacorus.

[TheOnionMan]

Hello, guess who?   
Long time no see you fine folks, once again swallowed up by an impossibly fast-paced job.  I was gently prodded by Maggi to weigh in with this topic, so here I am 

I agree that it looks like Iris pseudacorus, the ring of dark markings and shape/disposition of the flower are a close match, and stems much to tall to be koreana.  Googling photos of I. psuadacorus show many medium-sized plants.

For comparison, here are 3 photos of the fabulous Iris koreana, a clone introduced by Darrell Probst from his many collecting trips.  First one is a close-up, then an overall view taken 1 month ago (May 2014) where it flowered prolifically, and last, is seed collected a couple days ago. Most years I'm lucky to get 10 seeds, this year got lots more.

[Maggi Young]

......the fabulous Iris koreana

Hi Mark - well, you got that right - what a magnificent plant.  It really likes your conditions to make such a big, well-flowered clump. A really "good" yellow colour too.

[Brian Ellis]

Wow

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks so much Mark I was sure you'd be the right person for this puzzle. what a stunning plant is your I. koreana. Any chance of seed available soon?

And can anyone post a picture please preferably with some information regarding relationships, of I. cuniculiformis. It's not in either Kohlein or Mathew, and I can't find anything on Google except images which mostly look very like something from the Sibiricae which I don't think it is. I seems to remember a few years back plants or seed being available but they later turned out to be I. bulleyana or something similar. Or was that a purported I. goniocarpa?  Dear Heaven, my memory is slipping badly lately. Anyway I've had a request for an ID of a plant and if I can save then post the picture, I will, shortly.