Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2016, 100 years of British Iris Breeding,

British lovers of heritage irises will be excited to learn that Anne Milner and Sarah Cook will be at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show celebrating 100 years of British Irises. As for Hampton Court, they are doing a joint stand, highlighting, and selling irises from both of their collections.   Anne has the A.J. Bliss collection while Sarah has the collection of Cedric Morris irises.

The theme of the display will be 100 years of British Iris Breeding, 1899 to 2000. It will be largely a photographic display, as there will be little flower left there by early July, but the RHS has been happy to accept that. This year, for the first time, all the National Collections will be in the main floral Marquee, alongside all the big nurseries, so it is quite a challenge to come up with an appropriately dramatic stand. Anne will also be selling copies of her informative book, "Bliss Irises- Family and Flowers; the journey to a National Collection." Their stand number is PH309.

The plants for sale will be from both collections including the following from Anne Milner's Bliss Collection : Benbow, Bruno, Clematis, Cardinal, Duke of Bedford, Evadne, Francina,  Lady Byng, Lurline, Majestic, Marsh Marigold, Morwell, Mrs Valerie West, Mystic, Pioneer,  Romola,  Senlac, Sudan, Susan Bliss, Sweet Lavender, Tenebrae and Tristram, with limited quanities of  Grace Sturtevant, and Princess Osra, and may be a few others also in very small quantities. They will, of course, all be bare rooted.

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the world’s largest flower show boasting an eclectic mix of gardens, displays and shopping opportunities spanning over 34 acres either side of the dramatic long water with the stunning façade of the historical palace in the background. Every year the show has more exciting and interactive content to excite and inspire. Visitors have the chance to experience the variety of gardens by walking through them and getting up close with the incredible designs. There is also a great range of garden tools, sculptures, furniture and more on offer from the array of trade stands, as well as the best, newest, finest and most unusual and colourful blooms imaginable in the floral marquees. The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show will run from 5 – 10 July 2016. For further information or to buy tickets, please visit the RHS website at www.rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt

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Tall Bearded Iris "BENTON OLIVE"

Perhaps the best classic Iris I have ever seen amazing that it was never registered.

Description from the 1959 'Lloyd Austin World Famous Iris Color Guidebook'
BENTON OLIVE (Morris 1949) E-M 36" A very popular novelty in silvery-olive buff. I imported this from England as there is none like it in this country. A subtle new coloring proving very useful to arrangers. Enough green in its make-up to cause it to be used by every hybridiser working toward greens. Very good pollen. Sometimes blooms in Autumn.

Photo credit and copyright Sarah Cook

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Sir Cedric Morris Iris Collection

The blog is honoured to have this interesting contribution from Sarah Cook
 who has the Royal Horticultural Society National Collection of Sir Cedric Morris Irises

'Strathmore' named by the Queen Mother when she visited the Iris Show in London

Colour plate from the 1959 'Lloyd Austin World Famous Iris Color Guidebook'

When I retired in 2004 I returned to Hadleigh and started collecting together Sir Cedric Morris’s Irises. Fortunately his Irises are relatively well documented with 55 registered with the American Iris Society and about 45 more described in catalogues, books, and articles. Sir Cedric sold his irises through both Wallace and Orpington Nurseries and they have also been sold South Africa and by Austin in the USA.
His irises are extremely varied, encompassing every colour and type. There is the long line of ‘Pinks’ starting with ‘Edward Windsor’, then ‘Strathmore’ and finally ‘Clasmont’ the last Iris he registered, in1960. One of his earliest interests was in plicatas, succeeding in breeding good yellows, pinks and mauves. In addition to these there are bicolour’s such as Benton Petunia’, and self’s, ranging from whites (Benton Pearl) through yellows (Benton Hebe) reds and purples. Most have the suffix ‘Benton’ in their name, but there are about 12 others, including ‘Black Michael’, ‘Emma Hamilton’ and ‘Storrington’.
I currently have about 20 of the cultivars he bred in the collection. I am keen to find any of the remaining 70 cultivars which Sir Cedric Morris named, of these, at least 7 were sold in the USA by Austin’s in the 1950’s, including ‘Benton Oberon’, Benton ‘Ophelia’ and ‘Benton Rubeo’, it would be a thrill to find any of these, but especially ‘Rubeo’ which was the name of Cedric’s pet macaw!



 The collections contains the following cultivars of which I am reasonably confident are correctly named although not all of them have yet flowered in the collection:Benton Ankaret, Benton Arundel, Benton Blue John, Benton Caramel, Benton Cordelia, Benton Daphne, Benton Duff, Benton Evora, Benton Judith, Benton Farewell, Benton Lorna, Benton Menace, Benton Nigel, Benton olive, Benton Opal, Benton Pearl, Benton Primrose, Benton Susan and Edward of Windsor.
I also possibly have ‘Craithe’, however the group of iris from which I was given the rhizome had two labels ‘Craithe’ and ‘Spindrift’ so if anyone has a picture of ‘Spindrift’ I would love to see it.I have had considerable help in making my collection , some of the irises have been given to me by friends of Sir Cedric Morris but I have also been given rhizomes from Botanic Gardens in Basel, and Prague and also from Bruce Filardi’s collection in the USA. I must also acknowledge the help and encouragement given to me by members of HIPS and by Terry Johnson.

Sarah Cook, Hullwood Barn, Ipswich. 2009

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Tall Bearded Iris "BENTON OBERON "

In the Northern Hemisphere the Iris bloom season is about to start and above is a colour plate of the Iris Benton 'Oberon' from the 1959 'Lloyd Austin World Famous Iris Color Guidebook' which is one of the irises not yet in the Morris collection.
The catalogue description is thus;
BENTON OBERON (Morris 52) ML-34" My color plate shows exceptional brightness and arresting color scheme of this one that I imported from England. Courtly and trim flower in bright fuchsia-heliotrope with very prominent contrasting beard in bright red-tangerine; of good size and fine substance . Heaviest bloomer of the Benton series.

When you might be inclined to go a visit gardens displaying Irises this season, print out the picture and take it with you, and you could find a missing part of a incredible floral jigsaw puzzle that is the 'Sir Cedric Morris Iris Collection'. See the above post by Sarah Cook.
Take a look at the Historic Iris Preservation Society Web site for information on other Historic Irises.

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