TALL BEARDED IRIS IRWELL BANDIT

More of 'The Late Show'
Ron Busch Irises are renown for their rebloom so it comes as no surprise to me that some more of his Irises are starting to poke up extra bloom stalks after last weekend's 120mm and this weeks 50mm of rain.
The above "Irwell Bandit" blooming yesterday, for me it's the second year of re-bloom. Good height (115cm-45 inch) Stalk with two branches and 12 buds on the rebloom stem, . Vigorous grower, clean purple bottom foliage.

As well as 'Irwell Bandit' over the last few weeks we have also re-blooming at home Irwell Simplicity, Irwell Jazz Time, Irwell Enchanted Circle, Irwell Morning Bright, Irwell Fancy Dragon and Irwell Playboy. I will post on the blog photos and Checklist descriptions of these in the next few weeks.

2016 New Zealand Iris Hybridisers Cumulative Checklist
IRWELL BANDIT (Ron Busch, R. 2010). Sdlg. 1819. TB, 30" (76 cm), M, Re. Standards white flushed lavender; style arms lavender white; Falls red violet, white veining around tangerine beard, off-white edge. Parentage unknown. PBF.  The Iris Garden, 2011.

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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THE LATE SHOW

Ron Busch's Irises never fail to amaze! This is a yet to be registered seedling of Ron's producing a vivid display in our Autumn Garden. 

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 Classic Iris SUMMIT

'Summit' photo taken yesterday.
Part of my program each season is to replace the older earlier photos on my Blog to portray a more accurate photo for ID which is after all the purpose for the blog, its my record of the Irises growing at home.
The photo is as the Waterson Catalogue description below and shows the rich yellow of the falls. 

Waterson Iris Garden, Wanganui, Irises 1960-61.
SUMMIT A lovely iris which, like Pinnacle, is a combination of white and yellow. The standards are the same pure white, without even a hint of cream, but the falls, instead of being primrose yellow as in 'Pinnacle', are a rich yellow. In the clump it is breathtakingly beautiful. There is an exquisite quality of beauty about this combination of white and gold which appeals both to the lover of bright colours for colour's sake and to the lover of artistic colour combinations- Summit is a tall and stately iris with widely branched stems carrying classically formed blooms.

D'Arcy Blackburn, Clifford Street, Gisborne, Bearded Iris Catalogue, 1957-1958
Summit (Stevens) A famous iris, one of the raiser's white and yellow amoenas, which has been acclaimed overseas as an outstanding iris. Tall and widely branched, with standards of pure white and falls of golden yellow, it makes a wonderful clump. Excellence substance and habits of growth. (48 inches)

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 IRWELL SIMPLICITY

Yes I am keeping notes regarding plant habits and bud count and all the other important things but I do not have enough time to extrapolate the data to the blog at the moment.
There are about twenty 'Ron Busch Irises blooming at the moment some in different gardens in different parts of the North Island so gathering the information and taking photos are the priorities at the moment. The dots will be joined and filled in later so if you need the bud count, or information of plant health you will have to return at a later date.
I hear some call these photo's glamour shots but I like to think of them as a method to ID irises and by time I have finished 'The Ron Busch Collection' will be well documented and after-all that's the end game. So here is another of Ron Busch 2010 stunning introductions blooming at home today.

2016 New Zealand Iris Hybridisers Cumulative Checklist
IRWELL SIMPLICITY (Ron Busch, R. 2010). Sdlg. 1764-4015. TB, 30" (76 cm), EM. S. white, yellow base; style arms white; F. white, ¾" lavender margin edged pale lemon, pale lavender spot with texture veining; beards yellow. Parentage unknown. PBF.

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 ©.
The copyright of course includes the well known Iris photo kleptomaniac in France known as 'Irisenligne' who seems to back to his bad old habits again.

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Tall Bearded Iris IRWELL CASUAL FLIRT

I knew the early blooms would include some of Ron Busch incredible catalogue.
So here is one of the early starts after a night of heavy rain.

2016 New Zealand Iris Hybridisers Cumulative Checklist 
IRWELL CASUAL FLIRT (Ron Busch, R. 2010). Sdlg. 1852-4044. TB, 30" (76 cm), EM. S. lemon, violet midrib; style arms old gold, wine midrib; F. rose wine plicata on white; beards bronze. Parentage unknown. The Iris Garden, 2014.

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 ©.
This of course includes the well known Iris photo kleptomaniac in France known as 'Irisenligne' who seems to back to his bad old habits again.

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New Zealand Tall Bearded Iris EARLY BEAUT

Hardly any iris  bloom stalks anywhere at home just yet, and it feels like it's going to be one of those 'all at once' iris seasons once nature finally makes its mind up when spring will start so the irises get an temperature 'go' signal that is consistent over a few days or weeks not an hour or so like it is currently, and that the daylight hours change from just a astronomy calculation to reality.
Even with all of these challenges it seems that our garden Tall Bearded Iris season starts these days with a couple of David Nicoll's 'Early' series Irises.
'Early Beaut' is an unusual colour tone with a pollen parent that is a well known Southern Hemisphere beauty of Barry Blyth 'Chinese Empress' that has softened the rather coarse colour tones of its famous pod parent 'Thornbird'. Double budded with good bud count, good plant health with strong plant habits.   


Richmond Iris Garden, 376 Hill Street, Nelson. Issue #54, 2004-2005 Catalogue.
* EARLY BEAUT - D. Nicoll Early flowering Violet blue standards infused with green at centre, falls veined violet merging to creamy mustard edge............................$15.00

2016 New Zealand Iris Hybridisers Cumulative Checklist
EARLY BEAUT D.B. Nicoll, Reg., 2004. Sdlg. D98T12-l. TB, 33″, (85 cm), VE ; S. light violet blue with a light infusion of green-gold from the centre midrib; style arms light creamy mustard with a touch of violet on the lip; F. veined violet centres merging and fading to light creamy mustard edges, under surface of central midrib green; beards bright orange; slight sweet fragrance. Thornbird X Chinese Empress. Richmond Iris Gardens 2004/05.

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 ©. 
This of course includes the well known Iris photo kleptomaniac in France known as 'Irisenligne' who seems to back to his bad old habits again.

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Tall Bearded Iris BURNT TOFFEE

The unusual is to breeders and some select growers a delight, toss in a unknown parentage or two and the intrigue goes to overdrive!! 'Burnt Toffee' is another of what I like to call my "Colour Chaos Irises" with it's original mysterious colour concoction. Smoky copper red-violet standards, brick red edged hafts with a airbrushed violet blue centre that expands down the falls and a decided margining of gold bronze, a blue beard tipped with bright old gold. Orange blossom fragrance. Impressive branching (3 plus spur). 'Burnt Toffee' disease-resistant foliage is a deep blue green, but plant has only average growth, eventually producing a stunning clump in the garden. For some though an acquired taste.

Schreiner’s Iris Lovers Catalog 1977
BURNT TOFFEE, (Schreiner 1977) ML. 37"
No one color completely characterizes this Iris for it subtly blends a gradation of several colors. Its standards are medium red-violet suffused with golden bronze. The falls present a change of pace. Their center is a pronounced blue-violet wash that diminishes to the precise border edging of gold-bronze. The beard starts as blue tipped but gives way to old gold deep down in the throat. Hafts are a metallic olive-gold-bronze. This smoky colored Iris is indeed unique! Three branches, 7 to 9 buds.

Eden Road Iris Garden, Wenatchee, Washington. 1979 Catalog.
BURNT TOFFEE, (Schreiner 1977) ML. 37" (Unknown)
Very effective blending of dark chocolate and blue-lavender. Beard is dull gold to blue. This one will make you stop and enjoy its rich coloring.

Tempo Two, Barry and Lesley Blyth, East Road, Pearcedale, Victoria, Australia, Season 1983-84
BURNT TOFFEE (Schreiner '77 USA) ML 37". A unique smoky Iris that subtly blends a graduation of several colours. Standards red violet suffused golden bronze. Falls gold bronze with blue flush through centre around blue beards. Good branching. (Parentage unknown) HM '79

AIS Checklist 1979
BURNT TOFFEE Schreiner's, Reg. 1977. Sdlg. G 1519-3. TB 37" (94 cm) ML.  Standards  light chocolate, flushed blue-lavender to center along midrib; Falls richer chocolate with darker chocolate hafts, blue blaze in center; dull gold to blue beard. Unknown parentage., Schreiner's 1977. 

Big hat tip to Calos Ayento of Brighton Park Iris fame for the 1977 Schreiner's description its much appreciated.

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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The past is never where you think you left it until you find it again

Mademoiselle Schwartz.
Photo courtesy Michèle Bersillon [Ref 1]

In summer of 1973 I received from Corinne Bromberger, Redlands, California, eight varieties originated by iris breeder Dr. Samuel Stillman Berry who, along with William Mohr and Grace Sturtevant, was one of the pioneering hybridizers in the United States. The previous year I had learned that Corinne lived immediately adjacent to the Berry property where--to my surprise--Dr. Berry still lived, spry and alert in his mid 80s. Immediately I contacted Corinne to ask if he had any of his introductions from the 1920s and 1930s still in the garden. His Mauna Loa was in a few collections as was Acropolis, but all others seemingly had vanished. Her reply stated that yes, he probably had most of his originations but that the garden was in considerable disarray and the irises had no labels. But...when they flowered he would note, "Aha, there's so-and-so." She then mentioned this to Dr. Berry who was, she said, quite touched that someone remembered his work after about thirty years out of the iris world. So the die was cast. In the meantime, Dr. B. gave Corinne a nearly complete set of his catalogs (1926-1948) as a gift of appreciation--a gift that proved to be invaluable.

Among the irises received from Dr. Berry's garden was his Canyon Mists (1926), a name I knew only from the Check List entry. Even accounts of his irises by Lena Lothrop in AIS Bulletins had neglected to mention it. His catalog description read, in part: "A very light mauve self, quite similar to Mlle. Schwartz, but has a longer season and does not fade out seriously in bright sun...." What flowered here was, indeed, a light mauve self, so I was satisfied.

Approximately thirty years later I received an assortment of rhizomes from The Presby Memorial Iris Gardens where they were trying to authenticate identities in plantings that had become considerably mixed in the years following the death of long-time director Barbara Walther. Most had names attached (true? false?) and a few were "what is it?" Among the latter appeared...Canyon Mists. At first I was surprised that such an obscure iris would have been grown at Presby, but then I realized that hybridizers in Presby's early years were solicited to contribute (and eager to do so!) their originations to the collection. I figured Dr. Berry had heeded the call.

The story continues in 2010 when Michele Bersillon in France sent me a short list of historic irises available in a last-chance sale from Lawrence Ransom, a British ex-pat who had rescued what he could from the shards of the Simonet collection. One in that list stood out: Lady Foster (M. Foster 1913). a significant garden iris and parent (sib to Caterina and Crusader) which had eluded collectors. So I told her to ask for Lady Foster, which she did; Ransom sent all his plants, which she thought would be better grown in her garden for a year before shipping to me. Thus in 2011 I received ten husky Lady Foster rhizomes. You can imagine my surprise and disappointment to discover, the next spring, that they were the same as Canyon Mists! But that made no sense whatsoever: why would such an obscure California origination be in Simonet's collection? That also called into question of "Why at Presby?" By this time I had a copy of Ridgway's book Color Standards and Nomenclature which was widely used in the States to precisely describe flower colors, and for Lady Foster the described Ridgway colors, along with a superb black and white photo in a Wallace catalog, proved this was not Lady Foster. But was it Canyon Mists? The "light mauve" of Berry's catalog description did fit, but I recalled the mention of a similarity to Mlle. Schwartz. The Ridgway color for her was "palest mauve." Close enough to suggest pursuing the Mlle. as the true identification. But the only photograph I had seen is in Les Iris Cultivees. and it didn't show enough to either rule in or rule out our iris. By this time Catherine Adam was in the discussion, having been in touch with Lawrence Ransom in her zeal to preserve, correctly identified, historic French irises, and from him and me she was aware of this puzzle. Her take was that it must be Mlle. Schwartz, but how to prove it?

In the next chapter, enter Terry Johnson to the question. The only other image of Mlle. Schwartz recorded was a note in the 1939 AIS Check List of a black and white photo in Gardening Illustrated, January 5 1929. I knew Terry had accessed old British gardening publications, so I asked if he could track down this photo. And he did, sending it with the caveat that it was a clump shot rather than closeup. Well...that is exactly what was needed: a photograph showing flowers at all angles, full stalks with branching. For my money there's no question: this iris which has traveled under the names Canyon Mists and Lady Foster actually is the seemingly lost Mlle. Schwartz--lost, but right before our eyes!

Phil Edinger, May 2016.

One of the great privileges in my iris world has always been a email from Phil Edinger, and  it was a recent email conversation we had regarding Mademoiselle Schwartz that included Dr. Samuel Stillman Berry made the above post possible, it was an email full of past and present history that I asked Phil to write it up for the blog and wallah!!!!!! Much and many thanks to Phil. 
A mighty big hat tip to Lawrence Ransom who rescued what he could from the Simonet collection that eventually kick started this new journey for 'Mademoiselle Schwartz'

Many thanks to Catherine Adams who kept giving encouragement to give 'Mademoiselle Schwartz' oxygen and to Michèle Bersillon for the above amazing photo, the plant conservation and the international logistics that also helped make this all possible.

[Ref 1] The above photo Michèle Bersillon emailed me after reading the post Mademoiselle Schwartz.
Her email mentioned
"I just read your article (bravo!) about this lovely historic that I have had the privilege of cultivating in my garden, Mademoiselle Schwartz.  I had been a bit disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be Lady Foster as Lawrence thought, but it certainly turned out to be a treasure and well worth the wait to send it to Phil.  It is presently in bloom here, so I took a photo the other day—before the rain!—and thought you might like to have a copy." 

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  Michèle Bersillon ©.

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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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