I have some iris bulbs that put up a stalk and the top flower blossoms as the beautiful hybrid I purchased then that same stalk puts out to branches that blossom and look like historics.

Has anyone had this happen?

At first I tied a string on the historic flower so I could find the bulbs to move them out from among my hybrids. Then I realized it was the same bulb and branch producing two completely distinct blossoms always in the same pattern. Top one a hybrid. Lower branches an historic looking thing. I took a video but vids don't seem to upload.

Do you, or your neighbors, use glyphosate-based (Roundup) herbicides? Irises exposed to glyphosate will produce flowers that are smaller, lacking in ruffles, and have more muted colors than normal. Which I guess would make them resemble historics?

Generally, all of the flowers on a given stalk are affected, but it depends on the timing and extent of exposure.

Also -- Irises don't have bulbs -- they have rhizomes. It's an important distinction -- bulbs are generally planted completely underground, sometimes to a depth of 6" or more. That would kill an Iris. FWIW.

I have had the first bloom be much more like it's supposed to be and later blooms not so good when it's not a very healthy rhizome. I had one seedling bloom this monster bloom, about 8 inches from top of standards to bottom of falls, but then all the rest were more normal sized. I've also had some bloom a tiny first bloom, and then all the remaining buds shriveled up and died.

I have not used any herbisides.
The surrounding iris didn't do it. 😏

Just that one RHIZOME. (Thank you Muddymitts) I'm in the habit of saying bulb because when I say Rhizome to most other people they don't have a clue what a rhizome is.

If I say "bulb" I don't have to explain myself but I need to knock the habit when I'm talking to the pros. 👍🏻🌹❤️

Honestly I have never seen that before.





Here is the top. There is one tall main stalk in the center where the right flowers branch and bloom then...

You follow the thinner little side stalks down that I have tied off with orange yarn (because the blossom looked like a bicolor historic blue.... And you see this two short stalks branch off from the main stalk just inches after the main stalk leaves the rhizome. Those two short stalks have there own flowers branching off.

The odd part of this scenario is that the side stalks bloomed first. Which is why I thought it was an historic mixed in with the hybrids. So I tied yarn to them to mark them for transplant.

About a week after the ones that looked like historic were finished blooming. The middle stalk burst into bloom with the pretty hybrid blossoms branching off.

So then I careful loosened the rhizome to gently pull out the smaller stalks and they were the same plant. Just branching from the base of the stalk. I was absolutely dumbfounded.

the pictures are still captures of my video so I apologize they are not so good.
If you look closely you will see I tied a pink string on the talk stem. I was tying pink strings on the stalks with pink blossoms.

Such a thing is impossible to my understanding but that's what it was.

This is what it looked like.

The reason I originally chose to do a video is because it would follow the stalks to the base. If some had a cell phone to private message me I can send the vid by cell.

I took the entire rhizome and planted it by itself so I could better watch what it does each year.

That certainly is strange, Betsy. I would have guessed chemical damage too. All I can think of is that the mother rhizome didn't have the energy she needed to produce the correct blooms. She may have spent that energy producing the side stalks instead. So -- maybe a simple anomaly.

It sure has been a strange year for Irises.

Strange indeed. (not helpful, I know, just a comment).

At first as I was trying to pull up what I thought was the historic I was thinking...

"Wow, this historic rhizome seems to be directly underneath the hybrid rhizome."

I figured there must have been a historic already in the garden that I accidentally planted over. 🙃🙃.
I've been collecting iris for 10 years and never seen that happen.

I've seen distorted numbers of petals or something but never a distorted stalk with recessive genes spilling over. Lol.

I had several of that type this year.......weird stalks, and failed blooms. The cause, I think, here, was the "sick" plants, with not enough 'go power" to finish what they started

Found a few of those myself during the replant project. Another rhizome growing under the mother rhizome. And it was a whole rhizome, not an increase. Thought it was strange and replanted them both. Another garden surprise I guess..

Blessings