My friend sent a bunch of photos which I added to the database but I need a name for this one please.
Is it Blue Shimmer?

Greene, It doesn't look like it. Blue Shimmer is an historic.

'Celestial Explosion' looks like a possibility.

Ok.. NOT Celestial Explosion.
Knowing how long your friend has had this would help in determining the age, and narrowing the choices down.

My guess would have been CE as well;

Definitely not Blue Shimmer. Might be Celestial Explosion, but there are several other possibilities.

Please don't post pictures to the Iris Database based on what you think it might be. There are over 60,000 registered varieties of iris and who knows how many unregistered ones floating around. The chances of guessing the right one are slim.

Hi, greene! {{waving at you}}

Very good point, Kent ! I'm having a *problem* getting an ID on an 'older" iris......doing "comparison" plantings", reading AIS descriptions, studying pictures, and , despite three , different "vendors / sellers" , and four VERY knowledgeable 'collectors ALSO 'growing my NOID" to help ID it, and many years of effort , on ALL our parts......it's STILL a NOID ! I'll agree, "Names are Nice", but....only if it's the CORRECT name ! So, "Learn to Love Your NOIDs ", and enjoy them for what they are, NOT for what you "want them to be' !

Agree!

KentPfeiffer said:Definitely not Blue Shimmer. Might be Celestial Explosion, but there are several other possibilities.

Please don't post pictures to the Iris Database based on what you think it might be. There are over 60,000 registered varieties of iris and who knows how many unregistered ones floating around. The chances of guessing the right one are slim.

Thank you Kent for the very stern warning. Ouch. Words can hurt.

As you can see I asked for an ID. I have no intention of adding any "guesses" to the mix. My friend is a photographer; the pictures were taken at the Iris garden at Coastal Botanical Gardens and Bamboo Farm in Savannah. Since the members of the Iris forum on ATP cannot make the identification I will go in person to the botanical garden to obtain the proper identification and will do so before adding this image. I have never knowingly added a wrong image and would not want to mess up the ATP database...which is why I posted here requesting assistance.

Mr Stan Gray oversees the Iris collection at Coastal Botanical Gardens in Savannah. Many of the plants belonged to his father who started collecting in 1928. Mr Stan Gray owned Gray's Iris Garden, Montvale, New Jersey before moving himself and the iris collection to Savannah. The current collection in Savannah could well contain several historic Iris.

http://gardenandgun.com/articl...

http://savannahnow.com/accent/...

Here is a link to the Presby Iris Garden in New Jersey where some of Mr Gray's Iris are growing...each properly labeled. Mr Gray had something to do with the Iris Hall of Fame idea.
http://presbyirisgardens.org/w...

But I do thank the Iris forum members for their help.

The only thing you are going to get, when posting pictures of irises online asking for identification, IS guesses. It's a rare day when you can look at a picture of an iris and KNOW which one it is. That's true whether it's here in the iris forum, or on facebook, or wherever. More to the point, too many times people will ask for an ID, get a 'That looks like such and such' response, and 30 seconds later the picture is in the database under that entry. Then I have to contact them and ask them to remove it or move it to the generic iris entry and all sorts of drama can ensue. Just trying to head all of that off at the pass.

Pictures from display gardens are great. I've added 1000's of images to the database from pictures I took at those types of gardens. One thing I've learned though, no matter how well managed a display garden is, a certain percentage of tags are going to be wrong. Had to delete one of my pictures from Schreiners just the other day because its ID was questioned, and I had no real way of KNOWING if it was right or not. It generally resembled the iris it was supposed to be, but there was enough doubt so out it went. I also saw a picture in the iris wiki this morning that was clearly wrong and you could actually see the (wrong) plant tag in the picture. It happens.

Part of my responsibility in the Iris Database is to keep those types of errors to a minimum and the 'I need a name for this iris' posts put me on the alert.

Sorry I asked. I'll know better next time.

Ask away, just don't post the pictures in the database when you get your "answer".

Or...I could just not ever visit the Iris Forum again...that's my plan.
Thank so much for you for your version of kindness. I have been put in my place and I will stay there. I know now that I should stay on my own side of the street and not venture into unknown territory...not even to ask a question. Enough said. I am out of here.

An afterthought...
Bearded Iris are beautiful flowers...the people who collect them...

I think you may be reading an attitude into it that isn't there.
Whether you're still here or not... Thank-you for posting the links to Stan Gray's Iris and his family history with them. It was very interesting reading.

greene @, I think you may have misconstrued the comments that Kent (and I) made. It was only to help inform you, both ,of the difficulty of IDing an iris by a picture, alone (or even with a direct ,plant to plant comparison, in some cases), and to caution you about what a problems it causes. I, for one, am sorry that you took it as an "unkind act", and apologize for appearing to be critical.
I think, if you look at the situation from our angle, you will, no doubt, understand that a great many folks , who ask for help in identifying an iris, take "it looks like," or,"it probably is", as as a guaranteed identification, and that causes a lot of confusion for everyone. We were only hoping to avoid that.

We are talking about plants here, right? Will the sun cease to rise on a wrong "I guess"??

greene said:My friend sent a bunch of photos which I added to the database but I need a name for this one please.
Is it Blue Shimmer?

If this cultivar have purple based foliages, 'Purple Pepper' would be one serious contender.

There are several things you need to check for, when in doubt, you need to delve deeper into the flower's blooms. Your image showed there's quite a small area of dark burgundy dots right below the standards, I have been unable to find a side view of 'Purple Pepper' to determine whether it too have the same colouring, in the same area.
Bear in mind, you could easily have half a dozen cultivars looking pretty much the same so when searching for the correct name, jote down the name of the ones that bear resemblance to the one you're working on, then you need to look for the differences when cross referencing.

There's a lot involve in identifying one misnomer

To some this is going to sound harsh and I might sound like a heretic to others but in my garden there is no room for old noids unless they have some sentimental value like being Mother's favorite. My beds are overcrowded and each year I have to cull a few plants to add something newer. I so respect the work of the committed hybridizers. Isn't it great we have freedom of choice in our own gardens. To each his own. We don't all need to love the same things.

We don't all need to love the same things. And it's darn good that we don't!