Showing posts with label miniature tall bearded. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miniature tall bearded. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

The American Iris Society Announces the 2023 Williamson-White Medal Winner

 'BLACK CHERRY SORBET'

The Williamson-White Medal is restricted to miniature tall bearded (MTB) irises. It is named in honor of E. B. Williamson (1877-1933), his daughter Mary Williamson (1909-1987) and Alice White (1886-1969). Although others had introduced irises that fit into the miniature tall bearded iris class before Williamson, he and his daughter were the first to breed them as cultivars in a distinctive class of irises. They were apparently byproducts of breeding for tall bearded irises. In the early 1950s, Alice White of Hemet, California began a crusade to gain recognition for the assets of these wonderful smaller irises. She organized table iris robins and wrote many articles for the AIS Bulletin and gardening magazines promoting their virtues.

Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

Miniature tall bearded iris 'BLACK CHERRY SORBET'
photo by Heather Haley

'Black Cherry Sorbet' (Chad Harris, R. 2015) Seedling 08MTB2. MTB, 22" (56 cm). Early bloom. Standards black cherry-red (RHS 183A); style arms buckskin tan (164B); falls orchid (186C) ground heavily veined black cherry-red (187A); beards bright lemon yellow (13A); slight spicy fragrance. 'Redrock Princess' X 'Butterscotch Wine'. Introduced by Mount Pleasant Iris Farm in 2016.

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including A
ward of Merit and Honorable Mention, will be published on the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.
 

Monday, September 6, 2021

Part Three - My Continuing Journey in the Iris World

By Maggie Asplet

I have arrived at the end of describing my journey—well the 2019 journey anyway.  When I left America in 2019, no one knew we would not be able to travel again until who knows when.

In March of 2020, going into lockdown was a double-edged sword. In addition to facing the pandemic, I received sad news from the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI). MPI is a government department that regulates seed coming into New Zealand. They informed me that that seeds (sorted and shipped by Thomas Johnson) from crosses I made at Mid-America Gardens in Salem, Oregon were destroyed just two days before lockdown. A MPI staff member made an error: they accidentally kept 13 packets of seed they were not letting me have, but destroyed remaining 86 packets of good seed. So, we did a lot of hybridizing work but nothing came out of it other than some wonderful memories.

This being said, it leads beautifully to another part of why I enjoy my trips to Salem and the surrounding area: opportunities to attend their American Iris Society Regional Meetings.  A great time to catch up with friends and learn new things.

Judging at a Regional Meeting

Judging cut irises at Chad's Harris' place, Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm. Some aspects of the judging was different from what I am used to at home in New Zealand.

As part of this regional meeting, we attended judging of cut flowers in what was a round-robin type situation.  Very interesting to judge the same flowers as they travel from one venue to another.  Also interesting to have some challenges amongst them.  Not were all what they seemed and we were expected to be able to find the different or odd one out.

Judging and judging schools were also done in the nurseries we visited.  These first pictures are taken at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm.

On the left is Patrick & Margaret Spence and the right are some other attendees of the Regional Meeting.  Judging School is about to take place.

The irises that we saw at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm were very different from the bearded irises at Mid-America.  Chad grows some wonderful "other" irises, and the grounds and garden are always in immaculate condition (see below). 

View of the iris field at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm

The following pictures are some of the stunning Miniature Tall Bearded (MTB) irises that I absolutely adore.  They are just so perfect, a finer flower on finer stems.

Lynda Miller's MTBs - 'Cascade Trails' & 'Bingo Marker'

Chad Harris' MTBs - 'Candy Basket' and 'Black Cherry Sorbet'

There were a number of other types of irises on display at this time.  The name of each is listed with them.

'Who's On First' by R. Hollingworth 2008 - Spec-X

'Aaron's Blue' by Gabrielle Lecomte 2018 - Iris setosa


From Chad's farm we travelled to Atiken's Salmon Creek Garden, the home and nursery of Terry & Barbara Aitken. We saw more than just irises there, as most gardeners do love other plants.  



First, I'll share a lovely selection of MTB's, some of which are just so stunning and I would love to grow them here in the southern hemisphere.

Name is written on the images

Although they look great here, trust me, they look even better in the garden.

All the iris nurseries we visited grew other plants besides irises. Terry also has some beautiful orchids, perhaps another "passion" of Terry's.

Sorry, I don't have the names of these but they were just stunning.

If you have an opportunity to attend a regional meeting, I thoroughly recommend that you do so. It is a great time to make friends, learn more about irises, laugh heaps, have AIS members give you (me) a hard time.  I didn't mind, usually because I gave it straight back.

For us in New Zealand, we hold an event each year and it is now up to the region concerned to call it a convention, a safari, or whatever they choose.  Last year, the event was cancelled. Let's hope it can happen this year. One of the other things that happens in New Zealand are special events, like when I blogged about the Hawkes Bay groups' "Day Out".  Again a great time for sharing.

I will leave you with some beautiful images the AIS Regional "Day Out". These arrangements were on our tables during dinner that night.



Hopefully 2022 will be kind and I will be able to return the Portland. I am so missing my trips over to Oregon.  Stay safe everyone.

Monday, August 9, 2021

The Beginnings of Tall Bearded Irises

by Bob Pries

My first blog! I thought I might start off with some thoughts about another beginning which occurred about 200 years ago. For years I wondered what the first tall-bearded irises actually looked like. Here is what I've found.

Circa 1820, E. Van Berg oNeuenkirche, Germany and Marie-Guillaume de Bure of Paris, France began naming cultivated varieties from the bee crosses appearing in their gardens. Van Berg did not introduce his selections into commerce. On the other hand, De Bure is noted for the first named and introduced cultivar ‘Buriensis’---which he named after himself. It was said to have a plicata pattern similar to the later ‘Madame Chereau’ but larger with more rosy markings outlining the white flower.

Although considered an “amateur” in 1848, De Bure was said to have the largest collection of irises in France. The book “The World of Irises” (available through the American Iris Society Storefront) credits De Bure for setting in motion the train of events which led to all present-day iris societies. It makes me wonder, "How many bearded irises did De Bure have in his collection?" By 1830, De Bure’s work had inspired fellow Parisian Henri-Antoine Jacques, the horticulturalist famed for introducing the Bourbon Roses. Perhaps his only surviving cultivar is ‘Aurea.’ Jacques in turn, inspireNicolas Lémon of nearby Belleville, France (which was later annexed into the city of Paris).

Lémon was noted for growing thousands of seedlings. He did not bother with hand pollination and was quite happy with the work the bees produced. Nonetheless in 1840 he put irises on the map by offering 100 varieties for sale to the public.

 

This plate appears within Portefeuille des horticulteurs. Vol 2 (1848) with a nine page description

Between 1840-1850, Lémon continued to offer hundreds of irises for sale each year. To find descriptions of these irises we must go to the French literature. I am greatly thankful to Sylvain Ruaud and other members of the Société Française des Iris et plantes Bulbeuses for providing links to these descriptions of the Lémon varieties. Readers can find these by going to Lémon’s hybridizer page in the Iris Encyclopedia where you will find lists of his cultivars and linked references. The following plates show more of Lemon’s irises.


This plate appears within Bulletin du Cercle Général dHorticulture (1856)



American plant catalogs of this period rarely gave descriptions of these bearded hybrids and usually only offered collections of fifty or one hundred “germanica” irises. Although these bearded hybrids were often referred to as Iris germanica, it is likely that all of them had only Iris pallida and Iris variegata in their backgrounds. Experimental breeding between the two species by Sir Michael Foster, (of Trinity College in Cambridge, England) showed this to be the case. Since both species had chromosome numbers of 2n=24, their offspring were all fertile with each other also. Germanica irises grown in gardens at the time were probably ‘Grandmas’ Blue Flags’ a sterile triploid.

It was probably not until about 1885-1890 that fertile tetraploid Iris germanica was collected from Amasia, Turkey and Foster started entering true germanica irises into breeding. Lémon’s irises were all diploid, while Foster's ‘Amas’ was tetraploid. Thus, the early diploid irises really formed a fertile family distinct from today’s tetraploid tall bearded. The Lémon hybrids had more affinity to today’s diploid miniature tall bearded than to our modern tall bearded. The few that remain of the earlier group provide a delicate charm and grace to modern landscapes. I would love to see more images of them in the Iris Encyclopedia.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Honey, I Shrunk the Irises!

by Tom Waters

MTB irises 'Redrock Princess' and 'Dividing Line'

Miniature Tall Bearded?

An oxymoron is a phrase whose parts seem to contradict each other, like jumbo shrimp. In the iris world, we have the rather perplexing term miniature tall bearded. How can an iris be both tall and miniature? Of course the word "miniature" here must be taken in a relative sense: these are irises much smaller than the standard tall bearded irises which they otherwise resemble.

Bearded irises are categorized into six classes, based mostly on height. Strangely, however, there are three classes that all occupy the height range between standard dwarfs and tall beardeds: intermediate bearded (IB), border bearded (BB) and miniature tall bearded (MTB). When I first became interested in irises in southern New Mexico in the 1970s, I found this rather confusing, moreso because at the time I had not grown any of these various types of medians. I asked a local club member about MTBs, and she said "I don't think anyone here grows those."

Happily, this group of irises has grown steadily in popularity since then. They are now widely grown, and one 'Dividing Line' (Bunnell, 2005), has even won the Dykes Medal. But what are they exactly?

The Story of MTBs


The answer takes us back to the 1920s and 1930s, when the popular tall bearded irises were changing rapidly through the work of the hybridizers of the day. In particular, more and more tetraploids were being introduced and supplanting the older diploids in popularity. A tetraploid is a plant with four sets of chromosomes, whereas diploids have only two. Tetraploids are often larger and huskier than their diploid counterparts. This was certainly the case with the TB irises, and the iris world was all enthused over the new large blooms and tall stalks.

'Hot News'
But there were a few people here and there who were less enthusiastic about the new "bigger is better" trend. Ethel Peckham, Thura Hires, and Mary Williamson were amongst the first to go against the trend and seek out the smallest TBs, rather than the largest. Mary Williamson's father, E. B. Williamson, was a noted iris breeder at the time, and the three ladies kept a close eye on his seedling beds looking for the daintiest, tiniest irises, which the hybridizer himself referred to as "runts". Pekham dubbed them "table irises" to call attention to their suitability for flower arrangements. These original selections were all diploids.

Interest in the table irises declined as time passed, however, probably because they were not recognized as an official category, so had no awards or other encouragement. They might have been altogether forgotten were it not for the work of Alice White in the 1950s, who tirelessly promoted the table irises. The timing was right, as this was an era when there was a surge of interest in dwarf and median irises. New types were being developed, and it became apparent that a new system of categories was needed to accommodate the many different sorts of irises smaller than the TBs. So in 1957, the miniature tall bearded class was created. This name was chosen over "table irises" to emphasize that they can be appreciated as garden plants in their own right, not just for flower arrangements.

The requirements of the MTB class are stricter and more exacting than any other. Not only must they fall in the proper height range (41 to 70 cm, although the center portion of that range is preferred), but they must also meet limits for flower size and even stem diameter. In many ways, the standards of the class are a reaction against the prevailing trends in TB breeding. Instead of taller and taller stalks with larger and larger blooms, MTBs must be truly miniature and dainty in all respects.

Meet the Diploids...

Iris variegata
As noted above, the original MTBs were all diploids. That is no longer the case, but diploids remain the most prominent type. Although a variety of different bearded species are in the background of the diploid MTBs, the dominant influence is from Iris variegata, a dainty median-sized species from eastern Europe, usually yellow with red or brown veins covering the falls. Its wiry stems curve gracefully, resulting in a slightly zig-zag branching pattern. The blooms have a nice flaring form.

There are many modern diploid MTBs in which the variegata coloring and form are much in evidence, but the range of color and pattern goes beyond that into white, blue, violet, plicata, orchid, and blends. Some recent favorites of mine include 'Redrock Princess' (Witt, 2006), 'Peebee and Jay' (Schmieder, 2006), and 'Hot News' (S. Markham, 2009). 
diploid MTB 'Rayos Adentro' (Morgan, 2007)

...and the Tetraploids

Iris aphylla
Although the tetraploid TBs are larger than the diploid TBs, there are tetraploid bearded species in all different sizes. Early on, some creative hybridizers such as Ben Hager realized that it might be possible to breed tetraploids that would meet the strict size requirements of the MTB class. Hager used Iris aphylla, a copiously branched small bearded species to create tetraploid MTBs, introducing many in the 1970s and later.

Why undertake such a project? One reason is that there are colors and patterns in the tetraploid bearded irises that simply do not exist in the diploids. Tangerine pink is the best-known example. If you want a true pink (or orange, or red-bearded white) MTB, it will have to be tetraploid.

Iris aphylla has lots of branches and lots of buds, which is a good thing, but it brings some problems, too. The stems tend
'Tic Tac Toe'
to be stiff, with branches from the base of the stalk that stay parallel to the main stem. This can lead to a crowded, coarse appearance far from the MTB ideal of grace typified by diploids from Iris variegata. Still, with diligence and patience, the difficulties were gradually overcome, and today we have quite dainty and graceful tetraploid MTBs to complement their diploid counterparts.

Some favorites of mine include 'Say Red' (Craig, 2008), which has three buds in each of its many sockets, and seems to just keep on blooming forever, 'Tic Tac Toe' (Johnson, 2010), a lovely pink and pastel violet bicolor, and my new favorite 'Silver Ice' (Black, 2013) an almost-white plicata with beautifully formed ruffled blooms.

'Say Red'
Although some were initially skeptical regarding tetraploid MTBs, there is no doubt now that they are here to stay, giving us even more choices and possibilities within this class of delicacy, daintiness, and refinement.

Have you tried MTBs in your own garden? Do you prefer diploids or tetraploids, or do you enjoy some of each?