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Looking to find this iris

5 years ago

Looking to find Iris douglasiana 'PB&J'

by Ryan Grisso. Annie's Annuals had it for a bit but no longer offers it. I have been unable b to find another source. Anyone have some to share? I can pay you for it. Thanks

Comments (6)

  • 5 years ago

    Good luck with that :-) Pacificas or Pacific Coast hybrid iris (which this is....not Iris douglasiana) seem to come and go with the breeze. They hybridize so freely that maintaining a true-to-form data base is tricky. I've had various cultivars come and go in my own garden over the years.

    You might want to inquire through the Pacific Coast Iris Society. Or if you are local, there is an excellent PCH specialty nursery located just south of Seattle, Leonine Iris.

    btw, this is the worst possible time of year to be planting or dividing these. I wouldn't touch one until at least September.

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks for the info. I had come across Leonine and as you mentioned it is the wrong time of year and they are sold out of a lot of stock already for Fall shipping. A friend of mine saw it planted at Annie's Annuals in Richmond, Ca and she thought that it would be a great Mother's Day gift. I have seen it planted as well and wouldn't mind some for myself. I grow lots of types of iris from seed and belong to SIGNA but have yet to come across a source for it potted, or someone to share divisions at the appropriate time.

  • 5 years ago

    This is what Annie's Annuals has it listed as. See web link. https://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/view/?id=3571

  • 5 years ago

    Annie's may list it as a douglasiana but it's not :-) If you are at all familiar with the native west coast species, it is pretty easy to discern the natives from hybrids, both by the degree of coloring involved and the shape of the flowers. This is most definitely a hybrid. The Pacificas or PCH iris have a much stronger marketplace (they are much showier) than do the native species, which are also much harder to find in the trade. Annie's used to list a lot of Pacificas incorrectly as as I. douglasiana.....it would seem to indicate that they think ALL PC irises belong to this single species when in fact there are upto some 12 different west coast native species involved.

    fwiw, Leonine carries several Pacificas with very similar coloring and flower shape if you are unable to locate PB&J.

  • 5 years ago

    Once again, thanks for your insights. There is a really good discussion of the various Pacific Coast Native Irises and various hybridizing efforts to evolve the modern PCH in the book, "Beardless Irises" by Kevin Vaughn, under the section, "Pacific Coast Native Irises". Several of the stunning crosses made by the Australian breeder John Taylor are shown. Sadly, none seem to have made it to market in the U.S. John Taylor has developed some stunning color combinations and patterns. You probably already have this among your resources.

  • 5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    I think the aforementioned coming and going is due to the built up flowers of the garden hybrids having this feature throwing the plants out of balance and making them ephemeral. Also I've been told by one or two people long involved in the local garden center industry that many of those developed in California for instance have turned out to to be tender in the north. My own experience with this was having several 'Canyon Snow' freeze out after some years in place in Island County, WA. (Subsequently I have noticed large old looking clumps in an Island County Master Gardener demonstration garden - however this site is on a different island and farther west than my planting was = probably milder winter climate. Or enough time has actually elapsed that this latter planting post dates the winter that took out mine).

    Another statement I've encountered is that most material offered as "Iris douglasiana" by itself (as in the parental species and not named horticultural selections involving it) is of hybrid origin. I did notice myself many years ago that plants under the name did not seem to fit the bill. I think I've seen this with so called "Iris tenax" on nursery tables also. (Despite that being the case flowering stock I saw at an outlet yesterday did look correct for tenax, which I have seen in the wild. Here in WA where no other Californicae are present).

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