As most of us are aware, "back in the day", a great many hybridizers had "businesses " and sold their own plants, either through other , established nurseries, or from their own "storefronts", often by "mail order". And many of those folks used their "unregistered " seedlings as bonus plants, or, donated them to local garden clubs, parks, etc., for landscape projects. This put many hundreds of "look-a-like" irises into the mix....many of those "look-a-likes" proved to be even "hardier" than the plants selected by the hybridizer for registration. Then, when you consider all the irises...that WERE registered with an "official name"...but lost it , over the years, all the "bee pod seedlings " that surely dropped, and then , all the "amateur hybridizer babies", that were grown, shared with friends and family, and , of course, were WAY to nice to ever dispose of...………..There are *probably* more "noid" iris being grown around the world , that there are registered iris !
I'm not against loving "noids", doing your own hybridizing, or even sharing them , but, PLEASE don't use terms like "similar to", might be", or "probably is", for the noids...if you MUST use more than "noid"....just add a number (i.e. "noid #27"), and, for those seedlings....use a "seedling number", so the iris has every chance you can give it , in NOT being confused with a named variety ! I, too, am a "Guardian Gardener", and, I also grow a great many "waifs & strays', noids, castoffs, and "also - rans"....they are all irises, most of them smell as good, look as pretty, and grow as well (or even better !) than anything with a $100 price tag, out of the latest catalog.....but, again, PLEASE do all you can to make sure they aren't confused with something else !!
We all have some , innate , desire to put a "name" on everything, and spend lots of time, energy, and often, money, trying to ID our favorite "noid".....and there is nothing wrong with that, BUT, just because 15 people , on this ,or any other forum", agree that your noid is "surely" the long lost "Wangdoodle", bred on the famous "Faraway Farms",.....that don't make it so! So don't start sharing it out under that name !! If one wants to donate, or share out irises....and you aren't 100% sure of the name....call it a NOID, or a "period iris" (i.e. "circa 1920-1930").
All that said, in a couple more months, it will be "sharing time for irises, and there are always irises to share, and anything that I have (size of the clump, permitting) is open for sharing, so, if I post something as "open to share", you are more than welcome to have some!
I'll put my soapbox away, for now ! happy gardening !!
