Barry Blyth's Tall Bearded Iris ABOUT TOWN

'About Town' from a cross with Joe Ghio's 1989 apricot pink 'Bubble Up' X with Barry Blyth's stunning 'Electrique', and the result is a sultry exciting iris with ruffled lilac mauve standards, velvety deep wine red violet falls all set off by a distinctive ruffled pinstriped edge in colour of the standards. Tangerine beards that contrasts nicely against the fall colours. Good plant health. One of the great parents for Barry Blyth.

Tempo Two, Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia. Iris, Daylilies, Hosta Catalogue, New Introductions,  1996-1997.
ABOUT TOWN. (Blyth, 96 Aust.) EM 40" We call this a sumptuous Iris, with full, wide, ruffled and laced blooms. The standards are a silvery mauve to silvery lilac; falls are red violet with a ⅛" edge of the standard colour. Beards are tangerine. Branching is very good with 4 and 5 flowering points, and 3 flowers out at once. The most exciting thing for us about 'About Town' is its seedlings. Some of the most laced and ruffled bi-colours are showing up and it is going to be in many, many pedigrees in the coming years.(Bubble Up X Electrique.) Sdlg No. B160-1

AIS Checklist
ABOUT TOWN. (Barry Blyth, R. 1996). Seedling B160-1. TB, Height 40" (102 cm), Early Mid bloom season. Standards silvery mauve lilac; falls red violet, ⅛" silvery mauve lilac edge; beards tangerine; ruffled, laced. Bubble Up X Electrique.

This photo and others recently displayed on this blog and credited to Julie May were taken in 2003 on a Canon PowerShot S45 a 4.1 Megapixel compact point-and-shoot camera, now ain't that something.
As usual, clicking the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
Photo credit and copyright Julie May.

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Barry Blyth's Tall Bearded Iris HOSTESS ROYALE

This star performer 'Hostess Royale' was purchased many years ago from Mossburn Irises. It's one of those iron clad irises that has amazing garden presence and visitors to the garden all want to know its name. Excellent branching and with sound, vigorous plant habits. As you can see it's a self of a peach pink tone with a white patch in the center of the fall which highlights the big fat fuzzy deep tangerine orange beards.  All topped off with extravagant ruffles on standards and falls. A welcome late bloomer which is a bit like saving one of the best for last.

Tempo Two, Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia. Iris, Daylilies, Hosta Catalogue  1994-1995
HOSTESS ROYALE (Blyth 94 Aust.) M-ML 42" Gorgeous coral peach self with just a small white area around the apricot tangerine beards which are quite thick and lush. Good strong ramrod stems. Again huge flowers and stems, may be to large to get in show bottles. Huge plants, needs plenty of space, but so rewarding. Everyone loves it. Nice sweet fragrance. (Dance Man X Pink Swan) Sdlg.no. A61-2 

AIS Checklist 1999
HOSTESS ROYALE Barry Blyth, Reg. 1994 Sdlg. A61-2. TB, 42" (107 cm), ML Peach with creamy white area around apricot tangerine beards; pronounced sweet fragrance. Dance Man X Pink Swan. Tempo Two 1994/95.

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
Photo credit and copyright Iris Hunter

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Tall Bearded Iris LILAC WINE

'Lilac Wine' is an unusual colour spectacle that carries well in the garden. Standards are a silvery lilac tone and are highlighted with bronzy beige toned midribs, falls are a dark ruby plum red, yellow tipped beard completes the harmony. Blooms are well formed and lightly ruffled and are carried on 90 cm spikes with 6 to 8 buds from early to mid season. Growth, health and vigour are good, increase is average. This 36 year old  sometimes flowers too early for the show-bench which is not really a big bump in the road is it?

The Iris Yearbook (BIS), 1982,  “Varietal comments on Australian T.B. Irises”,  page 63, C.E.C. Bartlett.
Cy Bartlett writes about a range of Australian raised Tall Bearded irises and how they performed in Somerset.
Lilac Wine (Blyth, 77) This Iris has silvery lilac standards and velvety plum red falls with yellow beards. Its growth habits, branching and bud count are reasonable. There are several varieties of this colour combination available but what makes this Iris noteworthy is its earliness.

IRISES A Gardener's Encyclopedia, Claire Austin
Iris 'Lilac Wine'  (Blyth, 77) the velvety, deep red brown falls have deeper brown veins. Above the falls sit pale lilac standards that our heavily flashed with beige. The beards are yellow, and the flower is scented. Height 91 cm (36½ inches). Bloom early to midseason. Parentage (Barcelona x Outer Limits) X (Snowlight x Visionary sibling)

AIS 1979 Checklist
LILAC WINE    (B. Blyth, R. 1977). Sdlg. J78-4. TB 36" (91 cm) E-M.     S. lilac, deepening to beige at midribs; F. velvety plum red; lemon yellow beard. (Barcelona x Outer Limits) X (Snowlight x Visionary sib)., Tempo Two 1977/78.

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
Photo credit and copyright Iris Hunter.

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Tall Bearded Iris BEAUMONDE

Tempo Two, Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia. Iris, Daylilies, Hosta Catalogue  1986-1987
BEAUMONDE  (Lorna Hodges '86 Aust)  M. 36"  This has been a favourite of ours since it was a seedling in the raisers garden. This popularity was increased when it started to win awards in the trial garden. It is a plicata with a ground colour of white.  Standards are muted blue violet with a cast of colour throughout; falls are heavily veined muted blue violet.  Beards are bright orange.  It is a super grower with lovely branching.  Has to be seen to be appreciated.  (Smoke Rings x (Cabaret Royale x Porta Villa))  HC 83, Merton Calvert Award 84, AM,85.....................................$25.00

AIS Checklist 1989
BEAUMONDE (Lorna Hodges, R. 1985) Sdlg. TG 83-43. TB, 36" (91 cm), M. S. greyed blue violet; F. white ground heavily lined greyed blue violet; bright orange beard. Smoke Rings X (Cabaret Royale x Porta Villa). Tempo Two 1986/87. H.C. 1983, Merton Calvert Award 84, A.M.1985, Iris Society of Australia.
 
Now here's the rub. I did a search on the internet for 'Beaumonde' some time ago before I purchased this iris and found a limited amount of accurate information and I also viewed a page on the much vaunted by others for its accuracy the "Iris Encyclopedia". I did at the time as this site suggests email Bob Pries (he's the ringmaster for the Iris Encyclopedia) about the obvious problem, as usual I did not receive a reply but for me thats not really a  surprise. For a considerable length of time (A good part of this year that I have noted) this is how the page has displayed on the wiki.

Mr Pries very recently stated in HIPS E magazine 'Flags'
"The Iris Register and the Iris Encyclopedia are often compared but have different missions. The Register presents the official registrations as printed in the checklists. One of its primary assets is it is immutable at least by viewers. It serves as an accurate archive of the official registration data. But much of this information may no longer be true, particularly because of definition drift.' he then goes on to state,'The Iris Encyclopedia is attempting to provide a complete up to date information resource on the Genus Iris. Although we attempt to provide the original official registration data, in the case of the 1939 checklist registrations, we are also seeking inclusion of the material from the references given. Also users can provide annotations. For the Iris historian this should prove to be an invaluable resource for the future.'
Really ?.................Tell me something, has the definition of the colour 'Greyed Blue Violet' drifted so far in twenty seven years that it has now become 'Vivid Reddish Orange'?? The wiki image is so far off the written registered colour description that just about anyone could have looked at the photo and said, "I don't think so." Just how many more pages like this are there on this site??
  It's no good telling me this is a one off (I can guarantee this is not) or that this is just my expression of a dissenting opinion regarding the wiki, I look at this situation like this, the addition of information to the official registration data should be at least as accurate as the original data that was submitted by the hybridiser when he or she filled in the original registration form, the attaching of additional information needs to be vigorously reviewed before displaying on the web and if you don't have the resource to do this, don't start the journey. The objective of a checklist is most of all accuracy that can be relied on, what it is not is a free-for-all that is justified by a so called 'definition drift'.
Hope may not be warranted at this point!!!

 Currently Daves Garden, when it comes to accuracy regarding the 'Tall Bearded Iris 'Beaumonde'' beats this wiki thing hands down and that site is without a photo!!

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version. Reproduction in whole or in part of this post, its opinions or its images without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited. Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

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Tall Bearded Iris "CABARET ROYALE"

Take crisp medium blue tinted lavender standards, slightly darker violet in the midribs, some ruffled and flaring velvety falls in black violet with white veining on the hafts, add the bushy tangerine beard – and voilà !
With its excellent branching and a sound, vigorous plant which shows quick increase, this child of the seventies, 'Cabaret Royale' is a much loved neglecta and an ancestor to Barry Blyth's highly respected  'In Town'. The outpouring of white veining from the heart of the bloom would have been frowned upon by the Iris Cognoscenti in the seventies but today is now quite the trend.  
At 36 years old 'Cabaret Royale', which can re-bloom, puts on a lovely display in the garden.  Who would have thought Jean Stevens' 'Sunset Snow' would be in the ancestry?  'Sunset Snows' stars as the pollen parent to the pink amoena 'Twist and Shout'. This classic iris was sold to me in New Zealand many years ago labelled as 'Witch's Wand', surely with a smidgen of research they could of labelled it "One of Witch's Wand grandparents" which would of been a lot more appropriate.

There is a dilemma that 'Cabaret Royale' and many other irises of the seventies have in becoming 'Historic Irises'  (because of their thirty years + age). Their form and colouration is not too dissimilar from recently introduced 'Modern Irises'. Let me give you an example; Just how much difference is there between 'Cabaret Royale'  and Paul Blacks 1999 introduction ,'Habit' with its simple flower form?(and a child of 'In Town').  Begging the question that the gardening public is asking  - just how much of a difference is there between a recently classified  Historic Iris and some Modern iris these days????

The Iris Yearbook (BIS), 1981,  “Varietal comments on Australian T.B. Irises”,  page 50, J. E. Venner.
Jack Venner writes how a selection of Australian raised Tall Bearded irises performed in Essex.
Cabaret Royale (Blyth 76) This Iris created a definite impression when first seen in flower, being one of the first neglectas with bushy, tangerine beards. The standards are a light blue, ruffled with lacy edges and flaring falls are purple with a black sheen. It is a good grower and will satisfy most Irisarians who are tolerant of haft markings, but for the purists there is a new variety bred from it named 'Magic Man' (Blyth 79) that is said to be a all-round improvement and may not show so-called haft defects.

The Iris Yearbook (BIS), 1982,  “Varietal comments on Australian T.B. Irises”,  page 60, C.E.C. Bartlett.
Cy Bartlett writes about a similar range of  Australian raised Tall Bearded irises and how they performed in Somerset. The garden at Cannington presented a complete contrast with Jack Venner's garden in Essex.
Cabaret Royale (Blyth 76) At the opposite end of the scale from the quite calm of 'Asian Empress,'  'Cabaret Royale' is an Iris people love or hate. I.e. must admit that I find that it shreiks just a little too much for me. A blue and black neglecta, heavily haft marked with white and to crown it all violent, bright tangerine red beards. To add yet more colours this style arms of light blue are tipped and washed with brown. You certainly wouldn't overlook it in the garden! Not a particularly good grow for me either.

Tempo Two, Barry and Lesley Blyth, East Road, Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia, Season 1983-84
CABARET ROYALE (Blyth '76 Aust.) M-ML 36". Standards are erect, lacy edged and ruffled. They are light biue. Falls are wide, ruffled and very flaring, colour is velvety blue black. Beards are coral tangerine and bushy. Style arms are light blue with a lacy brown edge. Branching is good, as is increase (Panoramic x Twist & Shout). HC '76. $7.00

AIS 1979 Checklist
CABARET ROYALE    (B. Blyth, R. 1975). Sdlg. G104-1. TB 36" (91 cm) M-ML. S. light blue with violet infusion around midribs; light blue style arms tipped brown; F. black violet; coral tangerine beard. Panoramic X Twist and Shout., Tempo Two 1976/77.

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version. Reproduction in whole or in part of this post, its opinions or its images without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited. Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

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