I have a query for those of you who grow (or grew) 'Darkside'.

Back a few months ago, I noticed that per the database, it has purple based foliage (PBF). (This article also confirms the PBF. http://historiciris.blogspot.c... but for some reason the author thinks that it is a rebloomer?! )

Now, mine (which I bought ages ago, iirc from a hardware store (yes, I know )) does NOT have PBF. At least, not when I was examining the foliage late this spring.

As I was ordering from an iris nursery in that time frame (one which carried 'Darkside'), I ordered a rhizome for comparison purposes.

Today I was pawing through that box of rhizomes, found their 'Darkside', and theirs does not have PBF either. (I looked into buying it from the original garden (Schreiner) but it is not in their catalog.)

Now I vaguely seem to recall reading some thread or other here on the topic of PBF, and iirc it seems that PBF on SOME irises can fade/disappear as the season progresses.

So my question for anyone here who grows (or grew) 'Darkside' is - DOES it have PBF, and if so, is that PBF stable, or does it disappear?

(I would probably want to keep this iris even if it is NOT 'Darkside'. It has a lovely deep purple color, DH loves it, and it is very fragrant (fragrance also not mentioned in the description).)



Comparison images... Blue J Iris (where I bought this new rhizome, but fan does not have PBF) and mine

I do not grow Darkside, but the irises with PBF that I do grow show more of it later in the season than they do in spring.

My example came from "Iris Warehouse" in '12. It does show faint PBF right now (it's much darker in the pre bloom period, and, as Lilli said, PBF is quite variable....temperature and other factors (soil fertility, is the main one, IMHO) affect how "dark" it is. It is listed in the Reblooming Iris Recorder as having rebloomed in CA., and ND. (usda zone 3, & 10)

Thanks Lilli and Arlyn!

I just checked the foliage again, no PBF. I guess maybe I have to check it in winter?

It has never rebloomed here (CA Zone 9b), but then again, it has some shade, and I don't think I've ever re-fertilized it after the bloom period.

The "PBF" thing is, IMHO, often over rated, and miss understood as a "diagnostic tool" for ID. An example I'll use is "Wabash" vs. "Bright Hour".....the blooms are VERY similar (they are closely" related") and the difference is, Wabash has PBF, and Bright Hour doesn't......except....My example of Wabash shows PBF only PART of the season....at some points, even a "dissection " of the leaf bases won't show any. So, the point is....if a person happens to check for PBF when it's "not showing".......and use that as the only basis for ID....they would be wrong !
I "tracked" PBF on several cultivars for 4-5 years, using a "number" scale (5 was real dark, and 1 was almost none) and found that some cultivars showed "5" (or whatever number) all season long, but most would vary from "none", to whatever the darkest was, as the year progressed.....some got "darker" as the temps rose, some only showed "pre bloom", some only "post bloom, and some , faded to nothing when it got hot....so, unless you are comparing "in the same season ", "in the same soil", and "at the same temperature"....it really doesn't tell you much

Wow...

Thanks for that very thorough explanation, Arlyn.

Hmm... my memory is telling me that yes, even though 'Darkside' is not PBF now, it was when I was potting it up (rescue operation) in November 2015.

So yes, I'll look later this fall... and winter...

Seasonal PBF? It is never easy, is it??