JUDY'S BLUE GARLAND
(Chris Vizvarie, R. 1992). Sdlg. JBG-1. IB 21" (52 cm) M.
Pale to light blue self; beards medium blue; slight sweet fragrance. Parentage unknown. Last Scent Farm 1992.
There are several that have Judy in the name but only one that has Judy and Garland.

rebel44: Judy's Blue Garland! that's great; any clue where I might look for it or for "Gertrude"

There was an iris registered in 1907 that was called Gertrude. There have been several registered over the years that have Gertrude with a last name following it. It is not likely that the Gertrude registered in 1907 is still around but stranger things have happened. Someone else may have it growing because it had the name of a loved one. There may be some of the dual name Gertrudes around. There is probably someone that has an iris garden with movie star themes that has Judy's Blue Garland growing in it. It may well be in some commercial gardens catalog. One of the best sources for hard to find historic iris is Hips. I checked their sale for this year and Gertrude was not listed for sale. There are a lot of iris sold on ebay. You can always do a seach there and see if either of these come up for sale. Lee Mincy

Riverside Iris Garden, Caldwell, ID has Gertrude listed. They are no longer taking orders this year. Their website is www.Riverview-Iris-Gardens.com

Actually Gertrude is still to be found here and there. Its an old favorite, but somewhat rare. Aside from Riverview, Argyle may have it..I seem to recall that at one time they did list it (you can look up their website and contact them, but they are not taking orders either at this time of year) Or, you can contact the HIPS Locator Jeff Walters (check out the HIPS website for his email). One more possibility. I know a lady from upstate NY who grows and sells it. Since you live in Vt, I would not recommend you try to get it now since it is kind of late for you to plant. Wait till the spring, check the commercial growers, and if you are interested, contact me via email and I will send you the lady's address. You would have to write her (no email)
Laetitia

thanks all so much for the tips.....It is encouraging to know that the idea we instantly knew was the right one might be able to blossom, so to speak.....if anything else comes to mine don't hesitate to let me know

Now you have me interested. I am a fan of historic iris and if one that was registered in 1907 is still around it must have something special going for it so I am going to try and get it also. You are probably not going to be able to stop with just two iris. Once the iris bug bites you may be addicted for life. Lee Mincy

LEE

I found a picture of it at Dave's garden(http://davesgarden.com/pf/finder/cultivars.php?sname=Iris&choice=G&offset=100) .....I thought it had a very traditional but special look; perfect for our Mom's garden idea and also just found it listed at bluecloudiris.com. Now I have to find one called Jane - my wife's mother. This whole thing started with us coming across the Iris "Beverly Sills" who was a special favorite of my wife's Mom and thinking it would be nice to get it in her memory and now we are tracking down plants that have their names or are related in other ways and have a whole new garden section planned.

I started adding a few new bearded Iris this summer with a small order from Schreiner's which was really planned to fill in some color in June after the daffodil season and before most of my daylilies. I am already hooked on Daylilies and had a few Siberian Iris and a few older bearded Iris that seemed to all go together really well. Daylilies prime time is right after Iris and their foliage is different and breaks up the Iris' straighter lines; but you are right, after seeing the newer bearded Iris and the choices available in the catalogs we got a little hooked.

Soon we may have two addictions, and of course, you have to have a few plants going after the main daylily season.......Unfortunately, we picked two plants of which there are unlimited numbers to choose from. Registered daylilies are up to near 60,000 different hybrids......Good thing we only have 2 Moms and 26 acres and most of it is woods, so far!

Thanks for the link. I am going to add that to my historic collection. There are a lot of iris registered with Jane in the name. The one that is just Jane does not have any info in the data base which usually means it was registered before 1940. I could not find it in the manual check list however. There might even be one registered that has her whole name. There is a Happy Jane registered by Delany in 1964. I also started with daylilies. I still have the ones I started with but have only purchased iris the last four years. Lee Mincy

Lee, thanks a lot for looking, very helpful.....

where does one find that information and what is the "HIPS" website?

HIPS: Historic Iris Preservation Society. HIPS has a web site that has a visitors section and a members section. If you are a member of HIPS you can access the members area of the web site. Mike Unser is the webmaster and has really put up a good site. He has a lot of photos of historics and a lot of good reading material about iris. There is an online data base that you can have access to for ten dollars a year. It's a little cheaper if you sign up for more than one year. It is a very useful tool for looking up iris. It has different ways to search the data base. The subscription info is on the AIS(American Iris Society) web site. I just checked and there is also a link to the data base on the HIPS site also. Generally you can get to just about anything about iris from either web site. Lee Mincy

Gertrude is at Superstition Iris Garden. You can find a link to it on the sources page of the HIPS website. If you haven't already found it, that is
Ann

Hi
My name is Linda and I just ran into this post. I have Gertrude. She is a historic iris that my Grandma grew in her gardens. She is a 1907 intro by Peterson. She blooms without fail every year and increases rapidly. If you would like a couple of rhizomes, I am happy to mail you some. she is coming to bloom right now, but I could dig it after the bloom season. Have a great day!
Linda