! "Best way" will depend on who you ask
, as everyone has a slightly different method, but, here's my take on the process: And, I'm going to "pretend" you know *nothing* about irises, so...just jump ahead to where you need to
!
1st, you need to know *what type* of iris you're trying to ID...i.e. tall bearded, siberian, minature dwarf...whatever, so.....there are lots of places to get general iris information , and most growers' sites have a section devoted to this:
http://www.irises.org/About_Ir...
this one is from the American Iris Society
2nd you need to know if you are looking for a "self" (standards and falls of the same color and tone), a bi tone(standards and falls of the same color, but DIFFERENT tones), again, many sites have info on this:
http://www.chapmaniris.com/id4...
this page is from Chapman Iris
3rd spend some time looking at pictures ! Most vendor's sites have TONS of pix to look at....some even divlde the iris into different sections...selfs, blends,whatever, and a few further divide into different colors...Blue Jay Iris has a pretty good selection of plants, divided into "sections" that make searching easier
This site also has a real good search engine for iris....you can search by "characteristics"....height, color, whatever.
3th post some pix (which you've done !) and somebody (often several somebodies!) will jump in and offer suggestions as to what it might be
4th now, you have a "tentative" name for your plant, and, while it MAY be, and probably IS what was suggested.....the only way to be SURE is to acquire a sample of the suggested iris from a reputable source....a vendor, or a friendly forum member...and grow it along side of your "unknown" iris (also called a NOID { no i.d. = noid
}, and if everything *matches*....color , height, shape, bloom time, etc.....you can then say you have a true match.
the whole process *can* be quite time consuming...and at times quite exasperating....but it's a fun process, and a great learning experience, as well. You'll make lots of "iris buddies" along the way, too !!
Have fun !!
