Was interested to hear that Keith Keppel won the Dykes this year with 'Drama Queen'. I went to his catalogs to read about it and found it hasn't been in his recent catalogs. It has been a parent of some of his more recent intros. It's interesting to me that it is no longer in his catalog but understand that he is cutting back, only listing his own things for 3 or 4 years and Blyth iris. I do grow 'Drama Queens' sibling Dark Drama' and its a beauty. Does any one here grow 'Drama Queen'? Here are the Dykes winners that I have in my garden. .

Jesse's Song 1990

Siverado 1994

Queen's Circle 2007

Dark Drama...sib to current Dykes Drama Queen
I'm embarrassed that I misspelled Dykes in the original post. I previewed the content several times but not the thread name...blush
Beverly Sills l985

Drama Queen 2011
Starwoman 2008
Sea Power 2007
Splashacata 2005
Hello Darkness 1999
Thornbird 1997
Before The Storm 1996
Edith Wolford 1993
Dusky Challenger 1992 (When it wasnts to bloom)
Victoria Falls 1984
Vanity 1982
Brown Lasso 1981

And More
:)
A

Anita....good to see them all. Excellent pictures. I would still like to get Starwoman and Golden Panther. Drama Queen is gorgeous!

I believe I have five: Starwoman, Splashacata, Brown Lasso, Mystique and my very favorite DM winner, Yaquina Blue! I've had a few others but if they're not among my favorites I phase them out after a while. You both have wonderful pictures of the others, so here are Yaquina Blue and Mystique.

YAQUINA BLUE (2001) - Second picture has more accurate color.


MYSTIQUE (1980) - First picture does better on the really deep color of the falls.

Drama Queen


Golden Panther 2009


Queens Circle 2007


Celebration Song 2003


Stairway To Heaven 2000


Thornbird 1997


Elmohr 1945


I don't have any pictures of my own, but I also grow:

Paul Black
Sea Power
Crowned Heads
Hello Darkness
Dusky Challenger
Titans Glory

We grow Allegiance 1958.

There are some Dykes' winners that I've tried and given up on. But there are others I could never part with because #1 their absolute beauty & #2 they aren't timid about growing and blooming here in our quirky weather. Of the ones I keep these are some favorites, but not necessarily in the order shown.

Celebration Song


Crowned Heads


Dusky Challenger


Everything Plus


Golden Panther


Hello Darkness


Jesse's Song


Queen's Circle


Song Of Norway: This is probably my favorite all-time iris of any classification; Dykes metal winner or not!


Silverado! How can anyone not like this iris? The last picture was taken just as the sunrise was breaking the horizon.


Splashacata


Stairway To Heaven


Vanity: A classic and beautiful iris from a remarkable hybridizer, the late Ben Hager!


I also grow Before The Storm which is a good strong grower here.


Brown Lasso: Grows & blooms well here.

We grow 'Allegiance' & struggle it does. don' care however, just love it. When we had 'Before the Storm' it surrvived under 4" of ice. John chopped up the ice with a mason's hammer.

Great pictures Leon. Wonderful to see these Dykes winners. I was surprised to hear at our recent UIS Auction that some members didn't think new winner Drama Queen grew well here.

Lucy, that is amazing chopping 4" of ice off BTS. We've had some pretty rough winters, and somehow they manage to survive. If we get heavy snow they seem to get "insulated" against the sub-zero weather. But some never make it no matter how hard we try.

Snow can be helpful, certainly made a good difference after the drought last summer. However ice doesn't allow the plants to breathe.

Leon, I love your pictures! You have a considerable collection of Dykes Winners, and your pictures of them are fantastic!

Thank You Betty. There were others that I just didn't have room for and had to let go: Stepping Out, Titan's Glory, etc. As much as I liked Sea Power, it simply would not grow and bloom here. I still have Mary Frances by the late hybridizer Larry Gaulter, and this is just a superb iris. It is not quite the grower as some of the others, but I vow to keep her!

Mary Frances, Larry Gaulter 1973, Dykes Medal Winner 1979. (American Iris Society Honorable Mention '74, Award of Merit '76)

I have Mary Frances too -- My mother's name, and I still think it's a beauty.

And how can I forget this iris with the same name as Wabash (the city), Wabash (the county) and the fabled Wabash River all in the state of Indiana! This grows in a clump by the drive so it is hard to miss it in bloom.

Wabash, 1936, TB, E. B. Williamson; Dykes Metal 1940. Very tall & stately & nice colors.

What a wonderful page -- the pictures everyone has sent are superb. I grow ALL the tall bearded Dykes Medal winners and have for years, or rather I TRY to. Some just will not grow for me here in Oklahoma -- especially Sea Power, Crowned Heads, Splashacata, Brown Lasso, Before the Storm, Hello Darkness, Bride's Halo, Kilt Lilt, Swan Ballet and Elmohr. Bride's Halo is one of my favorites when it blooms, but that is rare.
My favorites are Blue Sapphire, Ruffled Ballet, Stepping Out, Mary Frances, Vanity, Dusky Challenger, Jesse's Song, Celebration Song, Silverado, Song of Norway, Stairway to Heaven, Yaqina Blue, Mesmerizer, Thornbird and Queen's Circle. Since there are already wonderful pictures posted of most of these, I will add only Mesmerizer and Blue Sapphire (not sure why it didn't center -- the photo is, but I'm still not fluent in the digital age!! Some of the older ones that really do well and make such wonderful clumps with bushels of bloom are Wabash, Ola Kala, Spun Gold, Great Lakes, Missouri, and Cherie. I have won "Best Historic" at our Tulsa shows with both Great Lakes and Missouri. The iris I think least deserved the Dykes Medal is Victoria Falls, because nearly every year it blooms Victoria falls. The stalks are so long and spindly they just will not hold up the large number and size of blooms which are admittedly lovely, but you can't really enjoy them when they are lying on the ground.
But thanks, Paul, for posting this forum and all of you for the wonderful pics.
Mesmerizer

Blue Sapphire

I posted earlier with the two I could think of at the moment, YAQUINA BLUE and MYSTIQUE, but today I checked the list and I have a few more:

STARWOMAN (Intermediate)


SPLASHACATA - With my cat Batik on patrol...


MARY FRANCES (My mother's name)


STEPPING OUT - I had it but gave it to my sister about three years ago -- and she's much happier with my sis (clump shot)!


Here is the link to the list of Dykes Medal winners from the AIS website:

http://www.irises.org/pdf/Dyke...

I'm so excited -- for the first time in my life, I own a Dykes Award winner AT THE TIME that it's named a Dykes Award winner. I have *Drama Queen*. I hasn't bloomed for me yet -- I just got it last year -- but I can't wait til Spring.

I didn't realize that I had so many Dykes winners in my collection. I have the following:

Mary Frances
Stairway to Heaven
Edith Wolford
Before The Storm
Thornbird
Beverly Sills
Queen's Circle
Silverado
Jesse's Song

And this year I was able to add Sea Power.

Kool, huh?

So happy to see this thread revived, such beautiful photos! I have all of them also. What is it with Sea Power that it struggles in the hot areas? I've replaced that one 3 times at least. I love big ruffly flowers, and one year I think I ordered 30 blue iris with watery names. That made such a beautiful bed, all those shades of blue.
Last year, I ordered lots of orange, hoping to blend them with my pink iris and it didn't quite work the way I hoped.

I hope Sea Power doesn't struggle in the hot area of Kentucky. The only Iris that I've ever had that almost refused to grow here is Halloween Trick. It had crummy little plain flowers this Spring, and has only one skimpy increase. I'm giving it time to rethink its options.