Viewing post #2153215 by William

Lestv said:It would take a bunch of programming to set up comparison sections in each plant database. And there will be a bunch of debate about what traits you are comparing and the definitions of similar. Example: Yes, Peggy Anne and Silver Streak are similar broken colored iris in the same color range. But I do not find all of the other example pictures above to be that closely similar. Especially ones with different colored standards but similar fall patterns. So how would that be handled in a comparison database? Would you have to set up a comparison area for each iris, i.e. those that look like Peggy Anne, those that look like Wintry Sky, etc.? How would you search it, especially if you have one like Peggy Anne that isn't already listed as similar? Would many people use such a database? Do we actively grow iris that look like others we already have?

If you search the database for a plant, you already get all of the Plant Combination photos that have that plant tagged. So everything to do this is actually already in place. It is more a question if Plant Combinations are the best place for these kind of comparison photos or not. Maybe there needs to be a separate section, but the same code could still be reused, with very little modification.

Let's say I search for 'Absolute Treasure' and then I can immediately see all other irises it has been compared to. Sometimes the comparison photos will show great similarities between the flowers, sometimes they will be more different. Both are good to know for selecting. There is no need at all to set up a separate section for Peggy Anne, Wintry Sky or anything else.

I think a lot of us replace older iris with newer, but similar cultivars, so I think there is a window of opportunity to take comparison photos while you still grow both cultivars.