2020 iris blooms

[jabelman]

a few years back I started collecting heirloom irises, always liked them as a kid my grandparents had a bunch,
long story short I have their property now, and in my spare time I been working these old iris beds, some haven't bloomed in decades. last was a great start. this year was looking even better til we had 2 nights of 28 that froze everything.
so for the next few weeks I will keep posting some pics as they open.
the first to bloom were these purple ones, they been on the property since the 50s.
they bloom heavy and I have separated them alot over the last 3 years. one of the strongest scent ones. next to bloom was 2 tone redish , this was part of set of heirloom bulbs I purchased.

 

[KennyP]

Looking good! My purple ones have bloomed yellow the last 2 years.

 

[Shotgun Wedding]

Those are really nice!!

 

[oldedeeres]

I love iris too, especially the smell. The blooming is kind of hit or miss here depending on the year. These are from a couple of years ago.

 

[Lily'sDad]

People are surprised when I tell them the purple ones smell like grape cool aid. I don't think they ever tried to smell them.

 

[jabelman]

just for comparison with that abnormal deep freeze we had it really messed up some buds, these are the same variety as above, but got hit hard

 

[jabelman]

it rained all day, a slightly different purple opened today. a bunch more later this weekend. really seeing the effects of the freeze probably 25% lost buds

 

[Cat385B]

Looking good! My purple ones have bloomed yellow the last 2 years.

I’ve been told yellow is the dominant color for iris and lillies. If planted close together, they’ll all be yellow after a few years. Not sure about iris, but seen that happen with lillies.

 

[jabelman]

I’ve been told yellow is the dominant color for iris and lillies. If planted close together, they’ll all be yellow after a few years. Not sure about iris, but seen that happen with lillies.

iris's are a rhizome, they can't change colors. you can cross pollen different colors and then it will seed then create a new cross color. I think you are right with yellow being dominant, from what I read, alot of hybrid don't use yellow. my plan is searching for and preserving the true heirloom variety pre 1950 varieties

 

[jabelman]

next round of blooms came out today. a couple of the nicer ones