Brother Carl's beard is pale yellow tipped blue. IMM's beard is white.

Laurie, For some reason beards don't seem to work here. On iris that I am 99.9% sure are correct sometimes the beard does not match the check list. I am not saying that a blue beard will be orange but sometimes when a beard is said to be tipped a certain way I just can't see it. I got a bloom from each and put them side by side and although there was more yellow on Brother Carl there was still some yellow on Immortality. I pulled the falls from the flowers and laid them side by side. The only real difference I could tell was in the size of the falls. Brother Carl was much larger.

Using the beard as an indisputable mark of identification may be inaccurate because of the hybridizer's notion of the meaning of 'tipped' and an older registration form.

Does 'tipped' mean the point end (visible) of the beard, opposite the throat? Or, does 'tipped' mean each individual hair is two or three colors and the hybridizer is talking about the top color when he registered the iris.

A revised form of the Application for Registration tried to address this problem several years ago. I am not sure if it succeeded. The registrar accepted the wording as reported as he had no flower or picture before him to determine the accuracy of the reporting. Of course, the irises being discussed here predate that revision.

If you noticed in a recent issue of the AIS Bulletin in a pictorial account, beard colors can be quite complex, particularly if you remove a fall from a flower.

I think many registrations were made by standing over the flower and writing down the description.

Walter Moores

I believe that under certain growing conditions that the beards on some iris just don't reach their potential in depth of color and length. I know that beards on iris on my hill just don't seem to standout like they do in some of the photos in the online catalogs. Lee Mincy

Some pictures I've seen on line and in print show my Lemon Chess and Sunshine Lady to have red beards. They do not! I don't know if somebody has been playing with photoshop or what.

If somebody used those photos in a show for name verification, they might disqualify the true iris.

Lee, do you have any arilbreds with diffuse beards? Some are really wide and even have 'whiskers' on the standards. Now those really are hard to describe for registration.

Walter Moores

Walter, I don't believe I have any arilbreds. I have several that I bought off ebay last fall that I have not updated my records on them with the checklist info. Will the checklist say if it is arilbred or not?

Yes,

The abbreviations are:

AR is pure aril. (It is doubtful you could grow one in a wet climate).

AB+ = 3/4 aril 'blood'

AB = 1/2 aril 'blood'

AB- = 1/4 aril 'blood'

Most likely it would be a half or three quarter aril to have the diffuse beards.

Walter Moores

I was stunned to see my camera showing a yellow beard as orange! On Joyce Terry. Later in the day it photographed properly. I knew some iris pigments were difficult to capture, but the beard?!! Live and learn.

I don't think I've seen Bloom Burst. What are it NPK numbers?

Miracle Gro Bloom Burst 10-52-10. WalMart usually has a cheaper version but I can't remember the name. This is water soluble and I apply over the top. I only use this on my rebloomers and usually apply it twice about two weeks apart. Last year I applied it first on 8/1 and rebloom started on 8/13. This year I applied on 6/1 and rebloom started on 6/22. It will be interesting to see if this holds true next year. Some people have trouble with rot when applying over the top. Rot has never been a problem for me. I have always used 13-13-13 on just about everything and put it on my iris before I knew that had too much nitrogen. Since it did not cause a problem I still fertilize all my iris with 13-13-13 in late February. I know that in most places this would be a no no but it works for me. The rebloom season lasts much longer here than spring bloom. Last year was my first year with a lot of rebloomers but I had at least one iris in bloom from 8/13 until the first hard freeze on 11-30-05 when it got down to 25 degrees. I believe this year will be even better since I had by first rebloom on 6/22 and I believe I will have iris in bloom until it gets down to about 28 degrees. Light frosts don't hurt iris here. It just makes them last longer. When it gets below 28 and stays there a while it brings the season to an end unless you cover the plants. Rebloom will never approach spring bloom in quantity because so many one timers are already out there, but to me there is something special about having at least some iris in bloom from early March until first freeze. Most of the iris I buy in the future will be rebloomers and I plan to get more of Dr. Zurbriggs because they just seem to keep blooming and blooming. Lee Mincy

I don't focus on rebloomers much, but I have noticed over the years that many irises that catch my eye turn out to be Zubrigg varieties. He really has a good touch for hybridizing beautiful varieties. Thanks for the notes on how they are doing for you.

Mike