Alright -- you'all are not gonna believe this.
Years ago, I bought the afore-mentioned two packages of Irises from Walmart. One was the infamous Cherub's Smile, and one was a purple variety whose name I have long since forgotten.
The rhizomes in both packages were in very bad shape, and ultimately the Cherub's Smile rhizomes died. The purple Iris didn't die, but it never bloomed. Every year it would send up some leaves, create a few increases and then go dormant in the Fall. I think this has been going on for five years now.
Well!! This year the now pretty-good sized clump sent up a bunch of bloom stalks and yesterday one of them opened. Guess what it looked like???
Sheri's Sultry Mood!!!
That's only part of the story.
Last year I had bloom stalks on a clump of supposedly *Batik* -- given me the previous year by a friend. When the blooms opened, they were -- guess what? -- Sultry Mood! Found out by doing some sleuth work, and talking with the person who gave the rhizomes to me who checked his records as to which Irises he had thinned the year before.
Now here's the rest of the story: The mixed-up Batik rhizomes which turned out to be Sultry Mood were planted in a bed under the maple tree -- right next to the mystery Iris from Walmart, which turned out to be Sultry Mood!! When I saw that open bloom on the Walmart Iris yesterday -- I stood there totally perplexed -- the brain thinking "I thought I moved that Iris to Iris Lane last year" (I did) "Did I not dig up all of the rhizomes?" (I did) "Wait a minute -- is that the Walmart Iris?" (it was) "Omigosh -- that's the Walmart Iris!" (it is) "It's the exact same Iris as the mixed-up Batik Iris right next to it last year!"
And now that I think about it -- I vaguely remember the picture on the package from Walmart and the name. Very vaguely. But you don't suppose that it was the purple Iris rhizomes that died, and that these are the Cherub's Smile Iris -- since Sheri's Cherub's Smile turned out to be Sultry Mood? Or -- someone's version of Cherub's Smile? Surely the packers of Walmart Irises are consistent!!
Regardless, it's a gorgeous Iris -- and now I have lots of it!!! Who knew that Irises came with so much mystery and intrigue???
