An Iris that has lasted the test of time and yet when it blooms it is still an a annoyingly strong example of the carrying power of plicata's .
Its name however I have always thought was inappropriate for this variety. 'Spreckles' sounds like a name for a budgie, or a thrush or one of our farmyard hens. When first told this Iris had been named 'Spreckles' it reminded me of the time when I found out the loud and brash punk rocker that lived down the road in the '70's is now working at the Haberdashery Counter at Spotlight and proudly wearing the name tag 'Rupert'.
Spreckles the iris is consistently every season dressed like a very colourful loud and brash punk that could almost have been conceived with the artist Jackson Pollock's imagination.
Grows really well as a plant, with vigour and has a resistance to virus, and carries well in the garden. Tuck it away in a large clump of early-mid season flowering blacks and dark blue irises and you may be surprised. Amazingly popular in New Zealand and still sold by many commercial growers.
Age could never change this iris, whereas Rupert now looks like a lost alternative lifestyle geek who got into body piecing in a big way, perhaps to hang pieces of Haberdashery off.
Schreiner's, Salem,Oregon, 57th Annual, Iris Lovers Catalog, 1982.
SPRECKLES (Schreiner's, 1972) ML. 35"
With its cadenced rhythmic motion this charming red plicata offers one a real surprise. Its animated crimson stippled marking on a gay yellow ground mark it as the reddest plicata, with the deepest yellow background shadings of any Iris we catalog. Early blooming, good stems with fine branching and 5 to 8 buds.
Jean Collins Iris Garden, Cambridge Road, R.D.1 Tauranga. Iris Catalogue, 1982.
SPRECKLES EM- Very bright plicata. Red/brown markings on yellow
BayBloom Nurseries, Cambridge Road, R.D.1 Tauranga. Spring and Summer Catalogue, 1996.
9916 SPRECKLES This charming red offers one a real surprise with its crimson stippled markings on a bright yellow background. Early blooming with fine branching, this variety has always been popular.
AIS Checklist 1979
SPRECKLES Schreiner's, Reg. 1979. Sdlg. B2388-1. TB 35" (89 cm) EM S. coppery red flush on yellow ground; F. bright yellow ground with red plicata markings; orange beard. Cayenne Capers X R 185-1: (M1141-A x self)., Schreiner's 1971.
As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
Photo credit and copyright Iris Hunter.
0 comments:
Post a Comment