Liz ~ It IS very pretty!

Gee, if I could find a cure for the curse, that'd be great...but then all the fun of irises would be gone.

Particularly wonderstruck by "Paloma Blanca"

I've always had a thing for red-bearded whites and this one raises the bar up a notch.;
I'd love to know who its parentage!
........... and unfortunately, I've added it to an already long want and prohibitively expensive must-have list

So beautiful and the ruffled lace:

Odd that Paloma Blanca is a 2019 introduction but doesn't show up in the iris wiki yet.

Curiosity got the better of me. Went to Mid America Gardens website and looked at Tom Johnson's 2019 introductions (58!!!). If I am reading this right, the cross for Paloma Blanca is the same as Crystal Symphony.

PALOMA BLANCA (Thomas Johnson '19) TB Late 36" (91cm) Sweet fragrance. Paloma Blanca is Spanish for white dove. Icy blue white standards and faint blended edge on white falls. Nice red orange beards are tipped blue white. Beautiful form with good lacing on the petal edges. Super clean grower with strong show stems carrying 8 buds. A very classy iris to close the season. Sdlg. TG225YY: Sib. to Crystal Symphony.

CRYSTAL SYMPHONY (Thomas Johnson '19) TB Late 40" (102cm) Light lavender violet standards; Icy lavender white falls with small salmon lined hafts. Beards are Tangerine tipped frosty lavender white. Beautiful full ruffled form with classical domed standards. Super strong show stems with lots of buds and branching. Sdlg. TG225ZZ: TD41A: (Rite of Passage X Note to God) X Don't Stop Believing.

coboro said:Odd that Paloma Blanca is a 2019 introduction but doesn't show up in the iris wiki yet.

The iris wiki is derived from the AIS Online Checklist. If history is any guide, the Checklist will be updated to include 2019 registrations and introductions some time in April or May of 2020. Considering how big Mid-America is in the iris world, I'd imagine someone will create any entry for Paloma Blanca in the wiki well before then, although it will probably be missing most of the information you'll be looking, like parentage, for until the R&I is published.

'fall empire'
the tattered fall may have been the result of the rain? i was trying to get its label in, too. i only managed the hybridizer and the reg. year.


'capt. thunderbolt' showing off some color.😀

went for a quick walk around the garden, to see what needs to be done today; besides tackling the stephanotis vine😧.

lo and behold, 'fall empire' finally decided to open. the primary bud fell off a week ago when we got a cold snap (cold for us anyway at 38 deg.). then this next bud refused to open in the deluge we had that produced, supposedly 4-5 in. of rain. it continued to rain, and i guess the flower opened in part of the windy rain we had.

. the unruly vine i'm about to tackle

i'm not surprised that 'fe' bloomed, it's a remontant. but, "the captain"? it's registered as e/m......but january? i'm excited to see him. last year's bloom was too deep in the foliage to appreciate. this one looks like it may have an 8" stem. , and maybe it will be enough to hold it above the leaves.

happy to be starting out the new year early again.yeah!

Daphne ~ It seems as though you have some irises in bloom for most of the year. It must be your climate, as they probably don't go dormant, and of course, your meticulous care of your garden.

janwax said:I love Pharoah's Poet too!

Do you know a vendor?

It should be in the Mid-America catalog, due to be out sometime this month-and they should be open for business in the next week or two, Lew.

janwax2 said:It should be in the Mid-America catalog, due to be out sometime this month-and they should be open for business in the next week or two, Lew.

Thank you

Flo BB. From this afternoon:

Sure are a lot of things early blooms! Don't give mine any ideas - we have more cold weather coming.

thanks, evelyn. but, it also means that my irises don't have much rest. i wonder if this means that the rhizomes get stress out more?

Lovely blooms y'all. I cannot hardly wait for mine to show up! Ahh! Only....around three and a half months to go...at least for me.

Our Winter has been warmer than usual. Hoping we don't get slammed with a heavy ice storm before March.

My little ones usually start blooming i mid-April, so I have to wait a while too, but it is nice to come here and enjoy blooms from gardens in warmer climes!

I too am worried with temps in the 50's yesterday, the grass has started to get green, temps to be in the teens tonight, all this up and down with the temperatures sure makes me wonder what will happen to the irises here. It's only January, and I know there will be some cold weather coming. I'd rather it be now than in April.

cliftoncat said:I've been saying I won't buy any new irises this year, but I'm very tempted by this one:

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Pharaoh's Poet')
• Uploaded by ARUBA1334

Me too! Holy cow, this is stunning