Showing posts with label favorite louisiana irises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label favorite louisiana irises. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2020

What is your favorite Louisiana Iris?


by Ron Killingsworth

When friends visit us during the bloom season for Louisiana irises, they are usually amazed at the diversity of the color and size of the flowers on Louisiana irises. After viewing thousands of irises in bloom, they never fail to ask, “Which is your favorite?”. Discounting my own introductions, it is hard to pick just one “favorite” Louisiana iris, when there are so many beautiful ones to choose from.

'Hush Money' (Mary Dunn 1998)

So, I will share some of my favorites with you. Maybe not the most favorite, but in the top ten, would be ‘Hush Money’ (Mary Dunn 98). ‘Hush Money’ won an honorable mention from the American Iris Society (AIS) in 2002. Registered as “stands cream with blue cast; falls cream, raised gold line signal” and “height 36”) does not completely describe this iris. It usually has style arms that are yellow at the top and green toward the bottom of the styles.  It has some ruffling on the falls.  The stands tend to stand up and the falls tend to have a graceful curving down to them. The foliage is never much taller than 36” and the flower is always in the right size for foliage that of that height.  The “blue cast” is very notable.  It is just a lovely small flowered iris. And, you have to love the name!

'Bajazzo' (Mary Dunn 1980)

Mary Dunn, of California, is no longer with us but she had a very productive career of hybridizing Louisiana irises.  She registered 128 Louisiana irises and won the Mary Swords Debaillion Award for ‘Monument’ (Mary Dunn 1977) in 1984.  She also won the Mary Swords Debaillion Medal (MSDM) for ‘Bajazzo’, ‘Rhett’, ‘Bayou Mystique’ and ‘Extraordinaire’. (By the way, she also registered ‘Scarlett’ so Rhett would not be lonely.) ‘Bayou Mystique’ (Mary Dunn 1988) just happens to also be one of my favorites. 

'Splitter Splatter' (D. R. Grieves 2004)

‘Splitter Splatter’ (D.R. Grieves 2004) is also one of my favorites. D. R. Grieves is a native of Kalamunda, West Australia, but interestingly, to my knowledge, was never a member of the Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI).  He probably belongs to some of the Australian iris organizations. Grieves registered 19 Louisiana irises from 2004 to present. I have never seen any of his other irises and ‘Splitter Splatter’, according to SLI records, has never been introduced in the USA. This one would probably be of interest to members of the Novelty Iris Society

'Heather Pryor' (John C. Taylor 1993)

 ‘Heather Pryor’ (John C. Taylor 1993) is also in my top ten favorites. Mr. Taylor spent a lot of time describing the iris when he registered it and the description is dead on.  It is a great garden iris and stands out in a crowd of blossoms.  The pastel colors really make it different along with the green style arms.  Taylor, of Sydney, Australia, registered 201 Louisiana irises.  The person Heather Pryor, of Australia, has also hybridized many beautiful Louisiana irises. With 153 Louisiana irises registered by 2019, she won the Mary Swords Debaillion Medal in 2004 and 2006 for ‘Peaches in Wine’ (97) and ‘Hot and Spicy’ (95) and her husband, Bernard, won the MSDM in 2016 for his ‘Blue Mountain Mist’ (2006).

'Dark Dude' (Ron Betzer 2010)

 ‘Dark Dude’ (Ron Betzer 2010) is probably my “darkest” favorite.  In fact, it is the darkest Louisiana irises I have grown and/or seen in person.  ‘Dark Dude’ won the MSDM in 2019, much deserved.  Its pod parent is ‘Bout Midnight’ (Mary Dunn 1988) (there is another Mary Dunn iris!) had been my darkest iris until Ron produced ‘Dark Dude’.

'Bout Midnight' (Mary Dunn 1988)

'Geisha Eyes' (Charles Arny 1987)

‘Geisha Eyes’ (Charles Arny 1987), an oldie but goodie is also in my top ten.  What an appropriate name! I was stationed in Okinawa for 18 months and passed through Japan several times.  Can not say I ever looked into a geisha’s eyes, but this iris has lovely “eyes”. The signal on all petals really make it stand out and it is a pleasing violet blue that holds the colors over many days.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1996 and an Award of Merit in 1999 but never progressed into the larger awards. It is of interest of me that the pod parent ‘Acadian Miss’ (Charles Arny 1980) is a beautiful white iris with green style arms while the pollen parent is ‘Valera’ (Charles Arny 1980), registered as apricot buff (and both of ‘Valera’s  parents are redish in color).  You never know what you are going to get when you cross two irises! Oh, those recessive genes!

Well, we could go on and on but that should be enough to hold your interest for at least a few minutes. Stay Safe and Stay Home. We will get over this mess.

Monday, July 1, 2019

The Diversity of Color in Louisiana Irises - Yellow Irises

by Ron Killingsworth

In previous "blogs" we looked at other colors found in Louisiana irises.  This time we will continue our discussion of the diversity of color to be found in Louisiana irises by examining some examples of yellow Louisiana irises.  People see color in different ways, so you may not see all of these as being "yellow". To learn more about the official wildflower of the State of Louisiana, please visit the website for the Society for Louisiana Irises.


'Amber River' by Richard Sloan 1984
This is a cross between 'Clara Goula' (Charles Arny 1975), a famous white iris, and 'President Hedley' (Joseph Mertzweiller 1979), a dark yellow in the dropping form.

'Brazos Gold' (K. Strawn 1993)
Not a very good picture of a very pretty iris that is registered as "yellow-orange".  'President Hedley' is the pollen parent.

'Butterick' (Jeff Weeks 2010)
This is a recent iris but in the older open form.  Plenty of us still love the old open form.

'Candlelight Supper' (Kevin Vaughn 2001)
The registration picture looks a little lighter than this picture.  If the name is wrong, then it is still a very pretty yellow iris.

'Charjoy's Jewel' (Charles Arny 1977)
This iris is registered as "maize yellow self, yellow line signal, stands slightly fluted' but mentions nothing about the beautiful green style arms.  I really like this flower form.

'Dixie Deb' by Frank Chowning 1950
Folks, this is a golden oldie (there is an iris by that name!) that will still win you awards on the show tables.  Registered as "sulfur yellow self".

'Creole Canary' (Marvin Granger 1976
If you have access to the registration data bank, or a copy of the Society for Louisiana Irises checklist, look up the pod and pollen parents of this beauty.  It is one of the many cartwheel forms that Marvin hybridized.  Notice the petaloids on the ends of the style arms.  There is a difference between a "cartwheel" iris and a "double" but it is beyond my comprehension.  Notice the flower has all falls and no stands -- isn't that what a double is?

'Edna Claunch' by Harry Wolford 2004
This is an outstanding iris that won the Mary Swords DeBaillon Medal in 2014.  An interesting cross between 'Atchafalaya'  (Farron Campbell 1998), a dark red violet cartwheel form, and 'Dural White Butterfly' (John Taylor 1989), a famous white iris with green style arms.  Atchafalaya is the basin in south Louisiana and is pronounced ahg chaf a lie ya, kinda like you are sneezing.  To learn more about the Atchafalaya basin, check out this website.

'Enviable' (M. D. Faith 2002)
A really beautiful iris that is registered as "stands greyed translucent white and falls Indian yellow".  Some people when registering an iris use so few words to describe it, you would think they paid by the word.  M.D. did a great job of describing this one

'Green-Eyed Love' by A. Faggard 1980
Ok, so this one is not really all yellow but the falls are yellow!  I really like this iris.  The green style arms will catch your attention from across the garden.  I am not familiar with the pod and pollen parents.  It is similar to 'Easter Tide' (Charles Arny 1979) which I also grow.

'Gulf Moon Glow' by A. Faggard 1994
This beauty was registered and not introduced until I introduced it last year.  It was often entered in an iris show and had to be entered in the "seedling" section although it is a 1994 registration.  The American Iris Society (AIS) recently changed the rules to allow named seedlings to be entered in a show as seedling or into the registered portion of the show.  This is really a beautiful iris, another of my all time favorites.

'Ila Nunn' by Charles Arny 1967
A beautiful white self with a little ruffling on the petals.  It won the Mary Swords DeBaillon Award in 1972

'Ila Nunn'
This picture shows a new bloom along side an older bloom.

'Key Lime Pie' by Kevin Vaughn 2016
This beauty came out of the pod parent of 'Edna Claunch', discussed above.  It has a very complex pollen parent genealogy. You have to love the lime-green style arms and it has quite a bit of ruffling.  It is registered as the "flat cartwheel form" and notice it has signals on all the petals.

'Kraemer Yellow' by Kraemer 1943
This is an oldie but goodie.  It is a collected iris.giganticaerulea.  It is registered as "soft sulfur yellow".  A nice example of the open form of an older Louisiana iris.

'Laura Louise' by Joseph Mertzweiller 1990
I have thousands of this iris.  It grows like a "weed".  Very pretty yellow irises, registered as "yellow orange" and the picture in the registration shows it with more of an orange shade of yellow.  A great garden iris that for some reason never won any of the AIS awards.

'Lightening Quick' by Mary Dunn 1998
Registered as "medium yellow self" and a really nice iris.

'Rigolets' by Patrick O'Connor 2004
Once again this picture is not exactly like the one in the registration; however, the age of the bloom will certainly affect the color in the bloom.  A very pretty iris with the nice green style arms.

'Rokki Rockwell' by Dormon Haymon 1992
Registered as a medium yellow, this iris agrees with the time of registration, a more open form that newer yellow irises.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1995.

'Seminole Autumn' by Harry Wolford 2004
This iris is registered as "caramel yellow with fine rose veining" but there is a lot happening in this iris.  Another favorite iris and an eye catcher.

'Sunny Episode' by Henry Rowlan 1983
An older iris but a beauty.  The registration shows green style arms and that is certainly possible, this could be an older bloom and the style arms faded to pleasing yellow.

'Te Aroha' by Heather Pryor 1997
A very nice iris with lime green signals, quite ruffled, registered as "soft lemon white".

'Yeloponie' by W. B. MacMillan 1975

Registered as "light yellow self, green line crest" fails to even mention the beautiful green style arms. Another example of an open form older iris.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1979

As you can tell by the registration dates, we grow a lot of the older Louisiana irises, "historical irises".

To learn more about Louisiana irises, visit their website.

Stay tuned for purple, dark and "odd colored" Louisiana irises in parts that follow.

The World of Irises is the official blog of The American Iris Society. Now in its 99th year, The American Iris Society exists to promote all types of irises. If you wish to comment on a post, you can do so at the end of the page and the author or the editors will reply. If you wish to learn more about The American Iris Society, follow the link.


Monday, January 30, 2017

Louisiana Irises


By Hooker T. Nichols


'Great White Hope' (Haymon)--image by Robert Treadway


One of the easiest ways to extend your iris season is to plant a few Louisiana irises in your beds.  If you are gardener who raises irises, as well as, daylilies, Louisiana irises will fill in the bloom between the two bloom seasons.

'Red Velvet Elvis' (Vaughn) image by MJ Urist


Louisiana irises can be grown in any type of fertile soil, though they prefer somewhat acidic soil.  The best time to transplant them is in early autumn when the summer heat has passed. I use any type of low nitrogen fertilizer.  8-8-8, 10-20-0 works well or use granulated geranium or azalea fertilizer.  A little each month does wonder for their growth. Autumn application is around Halloween and Spring when the crocus bloom.


'Deja Voodoo' (O'Connor)--image by Robert Treadway

Plant the rhizomes 3” deep and keep watered until new growth begins.  Mulch them the year round and one good watering each week during the hot summer months is a must.  Do not allow them to go dormant during the summer.  

'Dural White Butterfly' (Taylor)
Photo by Richard Sloan


The bloom stalks range from 10 to over 50 inches in height.  Cut all bloom stalks after the last flowers fade.  Remember that allowing seed pods to form and mature will result on a reduction of buds the following year.

'Ride for Dixie' (Morgan) image by Delane Langton

Here are some older varieties I would highly recommend to the beginner if they want to grow a few Louisiana irises.  Just remember, most are rapid increasers and must be transplanted every two years.  Three year clumps can yield lots of increase and huge clumps. One half to full sun is recommended.

'Daintree' (Taylor)--image by Terry Aitken
'Melody Wilhoit' (Nichols)--image by Patrict O'Conner

White-Dural White Butterfly
Red-Red Velvet Elvis
Blue-Deja Voodoo
Orange-Ride for Dixie
Yellow-Daintree, Spanish Ballet, Edna Claunch, Melody Wilhoit
Purple-Great White Hope, Cajun Serenade, Starpower
Bronze-Cajun Sunrise

'Cajun Serenade' (Nichols)--image by Jim Morris


You will not be disappointed with the beauty of Louisiana Irises.

'Cajun Sunrise' (Mertzweiller)--image by Richard Sloan

Editor's Note: Hooker T. Nichols is one of our new bloggers and a famous, award winning hybridizer of tall bearded and median irises; in recent years, he has been breeding Louisiana irises and has spuria seedlings under consideration for introduction. His irises can be found at his garden: Hillcrest Iris & Daylily Gardens.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Louisiana Irises That Make Me Happy

By Patrick O'Connor

Amazing progress has been made in the relatively few years in which Louisiana irises have been hybridized.  Those stalwarts who collected wild irises in swamps and along bayous and who began hybridizing in the 1930s and 1940s would be hard pressed to recognize some of the newer hybrids.  Even those working in the 1980s and 1990s surely would be surprised by their change in appearance and pleased with improvements in performance as a good garden plant.

I generally like the new irises and have been impressed by almost all.  Those marked by the greatest transformation in appearance of the flower, however, are not necessarily the ones I am happiest to see every year.  Don’t get me wrong.  Ruffling is great.  Green styles can be pleasing.  Signals on all parts add nice variation.  Strong substance generally is a plus.  Who can argue that a high bud count is not better than a lower one?

There is something to be said, however, for old friends, old forms, and for simplicity and grace.  I think those qualities may be what makes me happy to see some favorite irises each year and to resist any urge to move them out to make way for the new.

This blog will be about some iris hangers-on.  A few are actually old, but others simply hearken back to the time before the ruffling revolution, which really began not so long ago.  Even some new irises channel the quintessence of the wild ones and reinforce a prime directive for Louisiana irises:  There are a variety of pleasing forms, not a single model for a good iris.   And, it should be added, it is the appearance and performance of an iris in the garden that is the real test of its quality.

'Plum Good'

A good place to start is ‘Plum Good’ (Nelson, 2001).  This iris was developed by the late Ira S. Nelson, probably in the 1950s, but was only registered by his widow Barbara many years later.  The intensity of the plum red color and bright yellow arrowhead signal make this one striking iris.  The form is a bit open and slightly flaring, creating a bold but airy effect in the garden.  Many old irises drift away, but iris gardeners have refused to let this one go.

'Acadian'

If red is your color, ‘Acadian’ (Conger, 1956) remains appealing.  It was registered as “violet rose” but I don’t see that.  To me, the falls are distinctly red heavily overlaid with wine veining.  True, the standards are a lighter color, and violet rose may be accurate, but the overall effect of the flower is a textured red.  I don’t know of anything else quite like it even after all these years.

'It's A Boy'

Dorman Haymon’s ‘It’s A Boy’ (Haymon, 1989) is an overlooked iris.  It is a clear lavender blue with a strong yellow arrowhead signal outlined deep blue.  The flower form is open.  The registration blurb tags this iris as blooming at midseason, but after three years I have yet to find that accurate.  It is one of the last irises of the season, and it thus recommends itself to the procrastinating yet discriminating hybridizer.  ‘It’s A Boy’ provides a very beautiful and welcome surprise when the bloom season seems almost over.
'Velvet Memory'

Color distinguishes ‘Velvet Memory’ (Morgan, R, 1994) and I look forward to seeing its face every year.  Richard Morgan registered it as “dark red violet” and I can’t disagree as far as that goes.  But there is something about the tone that is distinct.  I have called it violet purple but that probably is no more accurate.  I’m not sure that my pictures or monitor capture the color or that any other iris has duplicated it.

'Morgan's Dixie'

My current favorite Richard Morgan iris is ‘Morgan’s Dixie’ (Morgan, by Melody and Jerry Wilhoit, 2009).  It is a short bright gold that is edged terracotta.  It provides a vivid-to-nearly-blinding patch of orange in the garden.  This, as they say, as one that you can’t pass by, but partly that’s because it reaches out and grabs you by the ankles.  I cannot imagine a replacement for this one.  ‘Morgan’s Dixie’ proves that an iris does not have to be tall to stand tall.

'Creole Canary'

Double Louisiana irises may be an acquired taste and if so, I have acquired it.  They are oddities, really, and perhaps are best enjoyed if few in number.  One I like is ‘Creole Canary’ (Granger, 1976).   It is “double” in the extreme, having six falls and a bunch of extra petaloids too numerous to count precisely.  One might say it’s a mess.  It is, but I enjoy looking at it every year.

"Henry Rowlan'

‘Henry Rowlan’ (M. D. Faith, 2000) is hardly an oldie, but it demonstrates that a clean, simple form devoid of ruffling (much less doubling) retains a strong appeal.  This is a gorgeous velvety purple iris that I never expect to replace.  The contrasting bright yellow of the crown signal is striking.  Someday this totally unruffled form may represent the new novelty iris.


As might be expected, I am attached to several of my own hybrids.  I still like these, but they may not grab others.  They include  ‘Barataria’ (2002), ‘Little Woods’ (2004), ‘Gentilly’ (2003), ‘Cocodrie’ (2013), ‘When Pigs Fly’ (2013) and ‘Zydeco’ (1999).

'Baratria'
‘Barataria’ is one of those irises that do not have show stalks, but they are produced in such profusion that a clump provides a color blast approaching that of a blooming azalea.  The day-glo rose color and contrasting white styles are an early highlight in the garden.  ‘Little Woods’ is a softer color – a warm rose – that is best appreciated close up.   The styles and signals have a subtle greenish cast and a line of deeper rose decorates the center of the falls.  One of the best smaller Louisiana irises.

'Little Woods'


'Cocodrie'

‘Cocodrie’ defies the demand for overlapping petals but its flaring form, orange color and decorative signals underline the Louisiana standard that many forms are fine.  This is another iris that slows your stroll down the garden path.  ‘When Pigs Fly’ exerts the same pull with a unique combination of pearly pink and yellow signals outlined by bright fuchsia.   This iris was named for its possibility of winning a Dykes, but at least there is no mistaking this one for any other.  It’s a fun iris.

'When Pigs Fly'

‘Gentilly’ is a favorite due to its soft peach tones and tastefully decorated styles showing a hint of green but tipped rose, and with a yellow signal outlined deep orange.  That may sound busy but the color contrasts are subtle, not garish.  This iris is best enjoyed out of the full blast of all day sunlight.  It definitely does benefit from partial shade.

'Gentilly'

‘Zydeco’ returned to form this year when planted again in a garden bed rather than under water culture.   There aren’t many, but a few Louisiana irises prefer to grow in a garden bed rather than in the bogs I create with drainless containers.  ‘Zydeco’ is a bright burnt orange self that deserves to be treated the way it wants.

'Zydeco'


Perhaps eventually I will tire of some of these old iris friends, as I have others.  I do like to think they retain some of the character of their wild ancestors.  It has become clear that the genetic possibilities for development and transformation of Louisiana irises are practically limitless.  Someday they may be unrecognizable as products of the natural world.   I hope that future Louisianas maintain qualities that reflect the essence of their natural heritage, and that we will not be entirely dazzled by beautiful images more likely to inhabit the far end of a kaleidoscope.