Pat's Arils - Warning, image heavy post!

[Jupiter]

I visited Pat (aka Arillady) yesterday with my daughter and we were treated to a tour of her garden. I knew I loved Oncocyclus irises before, from the reading I've done and pictures I've seen on this forum, but I am now officially smitten. 

Here are a few photographs I took of just some of the irises in bloom yesterday. Perhaps Pat would be kind enough to put names to some of them as there were so many names and parentages flying around yesterday I confess I can't remember any of it!

It was windy when we were there so if some of the blooms look slightly misshapen that's the reason. Clicking on the images will take you to my Flickr stream where you can view them at higher resolution.

[ashley]

Stunning plants and photos.  Hoping for IDs now.
Thanks Jamus and Pat.

[Matt T]

Stunning plants and set off beautifully by your photographs, Jamus. A real treat for the eyes on a grey Monday morning 

[arillady]

I know for sure that the first two are PT0022 which is an Iris haynei hybrid. I do try to perpetuate that one by using similar coloured hybrids to keep that lovely strong colour in the progeny.
The yellow has had its tag broken and faded and I did not do a planting plan when I planted it unfortunately. But it would be a combination of Iris samariae hybrid yellow form and Iris hermona hybrid yellow form or some of the Tira Nurseries Seed mixture which came yellow too. I try to keep the clear yellow going by using the pollen on similar flowers.
All the irises are complex hybrids now which include hermona, haynei, mariae, samariae, atropurpurea, urmiensis and hybrid forms which I received from Israel in 1990, 1992, 1995.
I do have a bud forming on an embryo cultured Iris kirkwoodii var macropetala - this will be the first for this one.
ASI will have seeds from some of these crosses this year in their seedlist if you are a member.

[Lesley Cox]

These are amazing irises Pat and many thanks to Jamus for visiting and taking the pictures. A real treat for the onco-deprived population.

However, I'm happy to say that my entire onco collection (2 tiny seedlings of I. iberica ssp elegantissima) has survived the winter, outside in a trough and almost rained out of existence, and has come to light in the last few days, quite a lot larger than when they died away in the early autumn.

Pat, would you please PM me with details of ASI and of SIGNA and how they can be joined? Thanks.

[Maggi Young]

Details of the two groups mentioned may be of interest to others :
The Aril Society International is a group of iris enthusiasts from around the world that are devoted to promoting the aril and arilbred irises.    http://www.arilsociety.org/index.pl?Intro   - they seem to have good perks right now for those joining in Australia and New Zealand 


SIGNA Species Iris Group of North America is dedicated to the study of the wild species of the genus Iris and related irids in order to promote a wider appreciation of these plants and their hybrids as garden ornamentals.
http://www.signa.org/index.pl?Membership


These and other links  to websites of interest  can be found here: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?action=links

[arillady]

Thanks Maggi for adding the links. Would love to have you join both societies Lesley. Both have fantastic seed lists.

[Jupiter]

I have just joined the ASI!  . I've been planning my iris beds and the logical next step is to start learning and propagating.

Leslie I'm heartened by your success down there in your cool, damp corner of the world.

[mark smyth]

Amazing plants.

If only we could get them over here in the UK

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks Maggi, I'll get onto it. I just wish they - and some others - wouldn't use black as a background to their publicity and information pages. I find these difficult or impossible to read! The Aril one is especially difficult, particularly with red text.

[Jupiter]

I do agree both webpages are ... well, jarring. Apologies if the designer is reading this, but growing up with both parents professional artists has made me sensitive to the aesthetic. Bad design is so ubiquitous I mostly just grin and bare it.