This beautiful iris has been growing around my mother's house for 15 years and her best friend had it grown around her home for 10 or more years before. I was told that it was dug up from the side of the road in Jones, OK more than 30 years ago. There have been two times that a "lite" version bloomed as seen in the last photo. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Winklemanmr

Purple plicata irises are very difficult to identify as there are hundreds of them. I had a quick look at our database, mostly looking for the line running down the middle of the falls and I found the following possibilities:
Acropole

Hawaiian Holiday

Rococo


There are many irises in the database that don't have images and there will be other irises that it could be. The only way to accurately identify your iris is to acquire the iris you think it may be and do a side by side comparison when they bloom. The height, bloom time, colour of the iris and beards and the branching should all match.

Good luck with your search

Winklemannr! Good luck with your search!

and another

BlueFlagFan said: Winklemannr! Good luck with your search!

Winklemanmr

I think you should start with a search of the purple and white plicatas in the database (check out blue & white and violet & white as well). Yes, there are a whole lot of them. The fact that your iris is probably at least 25-30 years old will narrow the search field to iris introduced before 1990-1995. Also, it has the more modern form so you can probably rule out plicatas introduced before 1945 or so. That still gives you 50 years of plicatas but the prominent centerline on the falls will narrow it even more.

iciris said: and another

welcome, and good luck.......!

Thanks for the encouragement and the leads. I did get a strange bloom last year when I moved this iris around and made a new bed. The picture looks similar to "San Francisco" which is a parent to "Acropole" and the other strange bloom in my initial post does look like "Hawaiian Holiday"

Oh, you got a really cool chimera, which is what the blooms that go a bit crazy are called. A chimera can have color changes, such as yours, or ones where the petals are half one color and half another. But they can also have extra falls or be missing some, or just produce really odd blooms. Your second and third blooms above are amongst the pretty chimera. These blooms are usually caused by environmental stressors like late freezes and the such. We have several threads on this forum about them if you want to check out the beautiful oddities of the iris world.

Thank you Lestv, I'm learning more and more each day. I went a little crazy the past two years and have a multitude of irises growing. I even have a few rebloomers going crazy here in OKC. Also, I have another question not related to this particular discussion, but are there irises that only bloom in the Fall. I have City Lights planted and it's only bloomed in the Fall the past two seasons. It's been going strong this season for over 30 days. It even survived the first freeze a couple weeks ago.

Richard, I am no expert but for my two cents rebloomers are supposed to bloom in the spring and also in the fall. Some of mine that bloom in the fall do so very well that they do not recoup enough bloom energy to make a show in the spring but again will bloom the next fall. Repeat bloomers bloom in the spring and then may rebloom a month later or several times during the summer. One of the things I have found to encourage rebloomers to perform as expected is to give them extra water during the summer, expecially during very hot dry months, and feed them after the first bloom cycle in the spring. There are others on here who collect and grow many rebloomers and they will be better able to help with this question. Welcome to the iris forum. Your photos are lovely.

Bonnie,

Thank you for the advice. I may have overwatered this summer. I also did a lot of watering after planting my new irises that I ordered from Schreiner's. I would like to add them to my list, but they have not been added to the database as some of them are 2017 introductions. Of the eight that I ordered I feel that 4 of them will bloom for sure this spring. I can't wait to see them!!!

I can't wait to see them too especially the new Schreiners.

Totally_Amazing said:I can't wait to see them too especially the new Schreiners.

me, too!

I'm not sure if I could post the pictures from the Schreiner's website and I'm too new to post a link, please check out the 2017 introductions on their website.

I have the following:
Bellini
Cubs Win It
Express Yourself
Feel The Thunder
Morning World
On Deck
Triple Take

The 8th iris I ordered was the one I originally wanted "Starship Enterprise" but it was not available and it was replaced with "Who Needs A Prince"

Can't wait for Spring 2018...

Also, I will be ordering "Tanzanite Twinkle" for 2018 planting!!!

This is the link to the schreiner 2017 introductions
https://www.schreinersgardens....

Nice order Richard. You should have some nice pictures to post to the data base next spring.

thx for posting the link, robin.

Beautiful choices Richard!

Since you live in Oklahoma City I have a suggestion for you. Take time during the bloom season to visit Stout Garden at Dancingtree. Hugh Stout grows a very large variety of iris (and daylillies) and you live so close you should go take in the beauty. I wish I had a vendor like that in my backyard. Check out their website for more info.

You can contact them at:
[email protected] or by phone at (405) 642.4190.

website: https://www.stoutgardens.com/

They are located at:
432 NE 70th St
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105

I will definitely check them out this spring. Thanks!!

It may be "stepping out"....a very nice older iris..