I'm growing about a thousand different cultivars......"named".....and a couple hundred "noids". Are the named ones 'correct' ?? A few I would say are 100%...but very few. If YOU buy a cultivar DIRECTLY from the hybridizer.......and he didn't "error" by sending it's bed-mate, and you didn't error by letting it get mixed In with a similar looking clump of another iris......yeah, that one is *probably* 100%, but it goes downhill, fast, from there !
Between hybridizer who have sold, or given away "seedling sibs" of their introductions....and also sold, or given away unused seeds from their crosses, to he fact that all of them tend (and have for years) to "follow trends".....we want luminatas...they produce luminatas.....plicatas are "hot', so let's use plics in our breeding program, to the fact that iris are *probably* the most 'passed along" plant, and even a relatively new cultivar may go through several gardens, in a short time.....and every time it moves, there is a chance for error, and every time it's divided, there is a chance for error, and every time it's planted, there's a chance for error ! So, a "historic" cultivar.....one from the 1920's, for example.....how many gardens has THAT clone grown in? How many "chances for error" ? Many, many iris have very poor AIS descriptions recorded...or various reasons....and "photographs" can be scarce....and "accurate" photographs, even scarcer ....so the best anyone can do is say" the iris "fits" the AIS description"....if enough *experts* agree
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Now, every one of us will jump up and say, " I have a LOT of iris that are 100% accurate ! I only buy from the hybridizer !, or I don't make mistakes in MY garden !", or some such.......and most of it is all wishful thinking, on our part
! If you want a "100%" accurate iris.......you'll have to go to Superstition (or any other of the hybridizers) and be first I line to buy a clone of the "just named" seedling.....that' one will be 100% !
Bottom line.....get your plants from *reputable " sources.....keep accurate records......have good tags, labels, and garden maps, keep a "clean" garden.....no pods allowed to form, no clumps over growing their neighbors (in fact, no 'similar looking' iris planted anywhere NEAR one another!), when dividing, and "sharing" the iris, provide *provenance*.....I got it from Sally, she got it from Sue, who bought it from Schreiners in 1992.....if the recipient wants it. If it's noid, that " probably" is Wabash DON'T call it Wabash, or even call it "Wabash-not"......just call it a NOID ! *Probably*, and *Not*, are likely to be dropped, or forgotten as the years go by. And, above all, remember that gardening is supposed to be a fun, *stress-reducing* hobby , and don't get in a dither over an ID! Names are nice, but NOT necessary ! So, if accurate record keeping, and the rest , really ISN'T your thing, tell folks when you pass it along, " I don't know WHAT it is, but, it's a nice iris, so I hope you like I !" and get back to pulling weeds, and relaxing in the garden!
