I was looking over the AIS website and was surprised to find the Russian Iris Society Link and a Facebook group called Irises of Russia. If you love to look at new irises you'll have to check it out. Best of all, you can't order them.
Here's the webpage:
https://www.facebook.com/group...
It has a lot of growers' as well as nurseries' photos from all over Russia as well as Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Many are 2019 Russian introductions and some are from US hybridizers. But even the US iris blooms seem so much better than we see them over here, that it makes you wonder what they're doing to make their blooms so much larger and frillier. I hope it's not all that Chernobyl radiation that is giving them an advantage(?) Most likely they have the more favorable growing conditions as in our Pacific NW. But they must know how to fertilize them well, too. And I'm betting it's from farmyard manures due to their economics and also since I've had some of my best vegetable gardens when they were fertilized with poultry or pig manures. I think I may have to clean out my chicken house and give it a try on a few irises, too.
Here's an example of the same iris, here and there.
IRIS SERGEY. (T.JOHNSON`16) from Irises in Ukraine.
Photo courtesy of Pushchinairis.od.ua
IRIS SERGEY. (T.JOHNSON`16) from Irises in Ukraine.
