tveguy3 said: I have had years where a bloom looked more saturated in color then other years. Not sure what causes that, but it happens at times. More with pink ones (for me at least). Die Laughing will have different degrees of color breaks on each bloom, and sometimes none at all. At least that's been my experience with it. That seems to be born out in the pictures in the database.

Die Laughing 2019

Die Laughing 2020

Die Laughing 2021

Die Laughing 2022

Same plant, same camera, different years.

With daylilies it seems like cooler weather the night or two before opening makes the blooms more saturated. I wonder if some irises work that way as well. And come to think of it, the daylily I see the most variation on is pink! (Winter Rainbow)

There are two problems with it being Die Laughing. First - All the blooms are the same. When it first bloomed I considered Die Laughing but then all the other blooms were the same pattern. The other issue is this is what my "reverted" Die Laughing has bloomed like in the past.






A lot less frilly with a cream rim, no lacing.

Compared to this they look like different animals:

It's a good case for always using non-fading garden labels. Mine are printed not only with the name of the cultivar, but who I purchased it from, and the month and year it arrived and was planted.

Even as a small child I knew not to pull up or move my mother's garden labels. Children can be taught not to mess with them. We don't have dogs who might dig them up, and the deer, groundhogs, and feral cats all leave them alone. I did have to finally ban hubby from raking the garden, so since then, the labels stay put.

I use labels and maps, and record every purchase and all the bonuses. This one never had a name, just a question mark on the tag in the pot. I hoped I would ID it when it bloomed but I never bought or got bonused one that looked like that.

Leslie, from where did you get this one? One of the reasons that I now add the name of the vendor and date purchased to the labels I make, is that I have experienced having at least one vendor send me unlabled bonuses, and also multiple vendors who sent me definitely mislabled irises. In fact, I had not one, but two iris nurseries send me rhizomes for Vanity, which weren't. One bloomed a muddy cream with horns, and the other bloomed orange. It was so frustrating, with years wasted. Finally Snork (Pam) took pity on me and sent me the real thing. I will forever feel greatful to her! Vanity is such a beautiful clear pink with always perfect form. Thank you, Pam!

Tom, I, too, have noticed that the colors of my iris are more intense this year after a much cooler than usual winter and spring.

Oh don't worry all of you. I have been busy. And my NoID has a name. And was confirmed by the hybridizer himself. I am over the moon.

May I introduce to you Tom Burseen's Choctaw Queen!
Choctaw Queen' (Tom Burseen, R. 2019). Seedling 16-1191A. TB, 35" (89 cm), Early to midseason bloom. Standards light orchid-pink (RHS 62D) blended darker; style arms carrot red (29B), washed light brown; falls creamy coral pink, washed magenta rose (60B), cream flash below beard; beards orange in throat and middle, ends gold; rounded form; ruffled; pronounced musky fragrance. 'Mosey Along' X 'Karma Delight'. Iris Lab 2020.



The only thing I had that was similar in my garden was Burseen's Hah Wa Ya, so I wondered if this could be a child plant of Hah. So I went to my Burseen catalogs and lists to check the bonuses I had gotten from him. In 2020 I ordered Choctaw Queen from him. But that year he had floods and lost hundreds of his iris. He refunded me for Choctaw, but in the order he had also added a bunch of little survivor iris bits. I potted them up, but wasn't sure of all the names. This one got moved into the garden last fall and really took off. Looking in that catalog today I saw his picture of Choctaw Queen and it sure looked like mine. So then I went to the AIS registry and the description matched my iris. Now I had to confirm it. I asked Judy Schneider if she had any pictures of Choctaw Queen because she takes a lot of the pictures of Tom's seedlings. She didn't have any but asked that I send her my pictures, that she then sent to Tom Burseen. Tom confirmed that it WAS Choctaw Queen.

Bad news - this may be the only surviving Choctaw Queen out in circulation. Hoping for increases!

Oh wow. Glad you can help preserve such a beautiful iris!

Choctaw Queen shall not be forgotten!

I think it would have been a popular one for Tom. Sad that he lost all his stock.

Black's Canine Caper:





Lockatell's Courtney Rucker. A very consistent bloom. You can count on it to always look the same when it blooms.






Keppel's Celtic Tartan went all out with blooming this year. Three weeks and counting.

for solving your mystery iris. Wow, you're sitting on a gold mine! You better guard that one with your life.

Hi Ya'll!
Just had a beautiful pink open up in my central NC garden. It may be Buisson de Roses which I had but hadn't seen it bloom in a very long time. It has fairly strong PBF which cab help ID. If you could help me out, I would much appreciate it. Love to see your photos and maybe be seeing some of you at the Charlotte Iris Show next weekend (I will "try" and bring an iris or two to be judged.) I also invite you all to the Eastern NC Iris Society iris show and sale at the Mebane Arts Center, Mebane, NC on Sunday, May 7.
Entries will be received from 8:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at the Mebane Arts and Community Center, 633 Corregidor Street, Mebane, NC 27302. I'll attach the show schedule here. And the iris photo! Please help

Amy, I am a member of the ENCIS. I am just hoping to still have some iris in bloom by the time of the show! Mine started early.

Leslie, congratulations on figuring out what your mystery iris is, and getting confirmation. You have a very choice and rare iris there! I hope you can propagate it and share it around so that it gets preserved.

Hi Leslie: Enjoying your blooms. I love the color of your Cherry Moon. I had no SDB pinks bloom this year so I am really missing them. But can't forget those with some green on them…I love your Chubby Cheeks. Ton of Fun is very nice too! And your Choctaw Queen is What a rich beautiful color.

From the past week or so:













Over 6" of rain yesterday will be helpful to the peach crops, but terrible to iris blooms for a while.

I had rain yesterday, this morning and more coming for Sunday. My peonies are getting too heavy and braking their stems. *sigh*

Great to see you have Lucy's Sprig Muslin! And I love Red Butterfly.

Leslie, do you have peony hoops? I have them on all my peonies, even the ones with stout stems. They help a lot!

Ed, Does a heavy rain like that cause your irises' stems to split? That has happened to me after a lot of rain when my buds are about to open.

Daisy I do. But with heavy rain the bomb style peonies fill up with water and bend over the hoop. Those that are redeemable I bring inside. Have a big vase of them right now.

Leslie, I hope you can harvest a bunch of the buds in "soft marshmallow stage" They last longer in a vase that way. In fact you can delay opening by storing them in the fridge, and stage them in your vases bringing a few out at a time.

I have gotten so that I always harvest my "Vivid Rose" that way because its perfume is so wonderful in the house. It sits in back of another peony and so the blooms get hidden and unappreciated if I leave them on the plant. Open this on the plant's database page to see the full photo.