Oncos 2009 - southern hemisphere

[arillady]

Still waiting on these to flower
Iris paradoxa
Iris kirkwoodii
Iris paradoxa ex USSR
Iris iberica ssp elegantissima
If you look under and in front of the Iris paradoxa ex USSR I think the wee one is the real one and the other taller one is a ? till it flowers.

[arillady]

Iris kirkwoodii seed BIS128 2004 donated by MB France
with grand daughter Mackenzie in one shot

[Luc Gilgemyn]

They both look lovely Pat !! 

[Hans A.]

Congratulations Pat! Really wonderful plant!

[BULBISSIME]

Wonderfull patch Pat !!!
They looks healthy and so robust !!
They also looks like I. sofarana, very close species.
Many thank's to show us such beauties at the begining of autumn here 

[Miriam]

Stunning Pat!!

[Ragged Robin]

Paul I got my Not Thor from Marcus H. But he does not know it. He does have the real Thor so we are going to swap this year.
I have quite a few with slight variation in the Assorted Good Hybrid irises that you like.

 Assortedgood.TT90.92.12NW.8.9.09.jpg 017 (Small)
 AsstdghTT90lortetiilike.nwcnr.19.9.09.jpg 010 (Large)
 asstdgoodhyblortetiilike.TT90.sw12.16.9.09.jpg 011 (Medium)

I like these too Pat - so unusual and delicate but your Iris kirkwoodii is just gorgeous in its markings...are they actually brown?

[Paul T]

Beautiful, Pat.

[arillady]

My Iris kirkwoodii has a real black purple on white standards. The falls seem to be on a grey white ground with much blacker purple markings. The rain may have brought out more of the purple in the dye. Not good to get it on you hands or a light coloured benchtop.
I have taken a couple more photos that I will download later today.

[arillady]

I thought to get the nearest to the right colour for this Iris kirkwoodii I would pick a standard, fall and style and put them on the scanner bed. Standards 4" x 3 1/4" Falls 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" (so considerably smaller and the lovely black signal and the dark dark purple black beard hairs are lost in the photos. The style is 2 1/2" x 1" in the narrow part and 1 1//2" across the style crest (had to look up a diagram for the right names of the style part)
The first photo was with a white sheet of paper over the top the second with the lid supported by two matchboxes to raise the lid and then a dark towel put over the top to cut out light and the third one like the second but with the reverses of the parts shown.
The flower that I pulled apart was a couple of days old and after two days of light rain.

[Paul T]

Great pics, Pat.  Fascinating to see the detail like that.  Such an intricate pattern.

[BULBISSIME]

This flowers patterns and colours are simply jewells !!!
Many thank's Pat to have cutted your flowers....
Are trying to get seeds ??

[arillady]

Thank you all for your encouraging words. I am pleased at how well the plants look.
Fred I don't think I have another Iris kirkwoodii clump that will flower this year so there will not be any seed. I will collect the stamens on the next flower and hope it is not raining when it blooms.
A question which someone may be able to help with: The clump next to the Iris kirkwoodii( see September 29th) is labelled Iris paradoxa ex USSR from Alan McMurtrie seed. As I usually plant the whole lot of a seed packet in the same pot I have a small paradoxa in front of the clump (and this has light gray-green smallish leaves with a sickle shape whereas the taller growing section is light to mid green leafed and not so sickle shaped. Two different plants but until the flowering stem flowers I will not know what it is. Finally the question: what other irises grow in the USSR where Iris paradoxa is likely to have been collected? Guess I should contact Alan McM and ask him. Or just wait patiently for it to flower and reveal itself.

[Ragged Robin]

Pat, your photocopy pictures are extraordinary (ingenious setup!) and show the markings on the different parts of the iris so well - it is a stunning Onco and I love the dusky colour combination.  How tall is the plant? Maybe your granddaughter could show us 

Thanks for all the trouble you took to show everything so clearly 

[Brian Ellis]

You might be interested on the advice in this page on taking pictures without cameras:

http://www.nccpg.com/gloucestershire/scan.html