'Forest Glade' has been blooming its socks off at home and shows no signs of stopping just yet. It produces beautiful two buds per stalk with consistency no matter what the weather conditions throw at it. Strong vigorous growth with hearty clean foliage, all of the great plant habits that we have come to expect from a Jean Stevens introduction.
As an aside, the pollen parent of 'Forest Glade's' is an iris named 'Sulina' and has its own interesting history. It's a 3 inch deep violet seedling pumila, one of two (Carpathia was the other) grown and selected from a collection of seeds Robert Schreiner obtained from the University of Cluj in the Provence of Transylvania. Considered by Robert Schreiner to be a lower Danubian form of the pumila species, 'Sulina' and 'Carpathia' are named after one of the three channels that carry the river Danube to the Black Sea. Another of Robert Schreiners famous dwarf breeding irises was named 'Nana' this variety is a collected form of pumila, grown from seed sent from the Crimea. All three of these irises were never registered but were introduced by Schreiners and all were used extensively by many hybridisers and are noted in the parentage of more than just a few MDB, SDB, and Intermediate Irises.
Waterson Iris Garden, Wanganui, Irises 1960-61
FOREST GLADE
One of the new class of irises called "Lilliputs", raised by the crossing of the tiny pumilas with the Tall Bearded Irises. This little iris is very exotic in colouring, charming in effect. The standards are palest citron yellow - almost cream - while the falls are a clean soft olive brown with green overlay and with a wide margin around them of the same citron yellow as the standards. Free flowering and vigorous. 9 inches..........................17/6
THE IRIS (Australia) 1962, 'Comments from Tasmania', Page 70, Marion Calvert.
Forest Glade. One of the lilliputs (raised by Stevens of N.Z.). Standards palest citron yellow, while the falls are a clean olive brown with a wide margin of the same citron cream as the standards. It is very attractive in the garden and much admired by all who have seen it.
A.I.S. Bulletin #184, January,1967, 'Varietal Comments, Region 3', Page 61,Charlotte Ganz.
A very striking flower with lemon standards and olive reddish falls edged lemon. It achieved more height here than it had "Down Under" but still was not in proportion, a failing of which Mrs Stevens is aware. It is a pity because the colors are so lovely.
New Zealand Hybridisers Checklist 2011
FOREST GLADE Mrs J. Stevens, Reg., 1960. Sdlg.1/f361. SDB 10″, E, Y3. S. pale citron yellow; F. green-toned olive-brown, edged citron yellow; yellow-cream beard. D127 X Sulina. Waterson Iris Garden 1960-61
Waterson Iris Gardens were the first to introduce 'Forest Glade' in 1960 the same year of its registration not Sunnyside Gardens, 1969/70, as shown in the official AIS Checklist description .
I think 'Forest Glade' is still commercially grown in New Zealand somewhere, but I purchased mine on Trade Me from hctnz (Lyn Nell) a Mid-Canterbury gardener who sends generous plants that have great plant health and who I have no hesitation to recommend highly.
As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
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