Novelty Bearded Irises

Novelty bearded irises - this iris class includes such oddities as the beardless bearded iris. Also included are those irises whose flowers have odd forms such as horns, spoons or flounces.

As the quality of novelty bearded iris flowers and plants improves, this miscellaneous class of irises is becoming more popular. Growers and hybridizers, aware of the increasing interest in oddball irises, are keeping unusual plants that appear unexpectedly in their seedling beds and then striving to improve the quality of these novelty irises.

History

Back in the 1930s, some irises were observed in seedling fields that had curious bumps on the edges of the flower petals. The person who had hybridized them thought this had come about because of too much inbreeding. He considered these plants undesirable. However, there were other iris hybridizers who liked this trait and began breeding programs to emphasize and refine the bumps into what we know today as laced blooms. The extravagantly laced flowers of 'Grand Waltz' and 'Laced Cotton' were developed from those bumpy-petalled flowers of the 1930s.

Early in the twentieth century, flat bearded irises appeared with six bearded falls and no standards. Among the beardless irises, the flat form of the Japanese iris is a very popular type. Flat flower forms also occur in Louisiana and Siberian irises. Occasionally, a bearded iris has mutated into what is called a tulip-type, that is, it will have six standards and no falls. The tulip-type of iris flower usually has little or no beard.

Characteristics

Iris judges are encouraged to make every effort to evaluate novelty irises intelligently rather than simply dismiss them as freaks. The rule of thumb is that the better the flower, the better the novelty iris. The flower must be beautiful even though it looks radically unlike an ordinary iris. In addition to unusual form, novelty irises should be of good quality and bud count, with firm stalks and vigorous growth habits.

There are multi-petalled novelty irises with flowers that display more than three standards and three falls. Yet, the flowers should still have the basic outline of an iris flower. There are novelty irises with irregular color applications.

Unstable color genes may produce flowers with a contrasting pattern of two colors, one of them usually white. The pattern, which should not be confused with the plicata pattern that features a contrasting dotted pattern on the edges of flowers, may be quite varied but distinct. This haphazard color patterning is highly thought of in roses and camellias. The same genetic color pattern is fairly common in Japanese irises and is also known in the bearded iris classes, though less often.

Josephs Coat', an unregistered diploid miniature tall bearded iris, is the only iris thus far known to have what is called variable coloring. The color pattern of the flowers ranges from a yellow-and-red variegata type to an amoena type with white standards and violet falls. The more the color varies on a given flower stalk, the better, according to admirers of this unusual cultivar.

Flat -shaped flowers are novelty irises with six falls arranged in a horizontal to downward arching pattern with six visible beards. Although there usually are no standards, flat-shaped iris flowers will occasionally have one standard. This novelty iris is especially effective when the petals are very wide. Flat-shaped novelties may have one or two partially normal flowers on the same stalk with the flat flowers, an inconsistency that is to be expected, but not desired. A good novelty iris should consistently display its novelty characteristics.

The flowers of iris plants with variegated foliage are seldom impressive, but the foliage can be in handsome combinations of green with white or green with yellow. Iris pallida variegata, with foliage striped in yellow and green, and I. pallida argentea, with white and green-striped foliage, are the best-known varieties of this type of novelty iris. Breeders are working to develop tetraploid versions of variegated-foliage irises that will include the typical distinctive substance and vigor found in tetraploids.

The popular novelties known as horned, spooned and flounced irises all have projections that grow at the ends of the falls' beards. "Horn" is the term for a short, stubby protrusion of the beards. They should emphasize and add a kind of lilt to the line of the beard. "Spoon" refers to an elongated version of the projection that ends in a wider end, giving it a spoon effect. A "flounce" is a still larger projection at the end of the beard that grows in a wide, folded, sometimes canoe- or fan-shaped growth pattern. Protrusions and filaments that end in a spoon or flounce should be sprightly and graceful, adding a certain charm to the overall effect of the flower. These extensions should be in proportion to the flower and neither weigh down nor distort the form of the flower. They should also be consistent from flower to flower. The better cultivars of novelty irises will display their particular characteristics with marked regularity. As time goes by, hybridizers are bound to succeed in breeding novelty iris varieties that have more consistent growth and flowering habits.

Culture

Grow novelty irises in the same way as you would the iris classes from which they have arisen. If the novelty comes from a line of tall bearded irises, then grow it just as you would the tall bearded irises. The same goes for any of the novelties-you need only know what the background of the plant is.

Back To Top