Iris--TOW
Lee Poulsen (Wed, 10 Mar 2004 09:12:12 PST)

Maybe this will be in the article that Bob eventually sends us, but I
am hoping that someone will explain to the bulb novice who, while
growing or admiring various irises over the years, but never having
joined any of the Iris organizations, doesn't know what the traditional
standard divisions or classifications are and which kinds of irises
fall under those divisions. And secondly, but probably more important
to me, I hope Bob, or someone else in the know, will give a brief
synopsis of which species all the current hybrid types were derived
from, possibly cross-correlating it with that excellent handout Bob
sent us.

Since I have or have seen very few species Iris, what I do see and what
gets offered the most by nurseries and mail order catalogs are these
broad categories of Iris hybrid (?) types. The most common that I
always see offered include: Bearded/German [with subcategories of Tall,
Intermediate, and Dwarf?], Dutch, Siberian, Spuria, Japanese,
Louisiana, and less often: English or Spanish, Reticulata, Juno &
Onocyclus hybrids, and Pacific Coast hybrids. I am not familiar with
the artificial group called Crested Irises. I am extremely curious how
these all tie back into the individual species or combinations of
species that are in Bob's handout, and which Subgenus or Section (or
combination?) each belongs to.

--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10

On Mar 9, 2004, at 9:13 AM, Robt R Pries (by way of Mary Sue Ittner
<msittner@mcn.org>) wrote: