Psedua-what? Falling Down the Iris Pseudata rabbit-hole
Two years ago, we planted our first few iris pseudata... starting with 'Yukiyanagi', 'Alabama Blue Fin' and 'Yarai'. All of them grew so much in the last two years that they have needed to be divided and moved. In 2024, we acquired quite a few more, including the ones in the photos below. 'Alabama Blue Fin' might get the grower-of-the-year award after more than doubling in size in less than a season! So what's the big deal about iris pseudata? For one thing, it is a species cross (sometimes written SPECX) between iris pseudacorus and iris ensata (images below). From this combination you achieve tremendous vigor from the pseudacorus, and you get color variation and richness from the ensata. 'Ause' ( Carol Warner , R. 2014) SPEC-X (pseudata) One of the most reliable pseudata/pseudacorus parents is 'Gubijin'. Not a true pseudacorus, with an odd chromosome count of 2n=35. However, it is happy to be the pod parent for nearly all ps...