Laughing Ravens

 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...

'Furui Shiro' ( Carol S. Warner , R. 2016) SPEC-X  I expected that after the last of the Louisiana irises finished blooming, that the iris season was over. I had not expected the iris pseudata and the iris ensatas to pick up the pace. June ended with a few of the pseudatas sending up their first-season blooms. This included 'Ause' and 'Furui Shiro'. I was thrilled to see anything bloom on 'Ause' since it was planted late last summer, and sometimes it can take a while for a plant to establish in a new location.  'Furui Shiro' has been something altogether different. It is in its second year (having not bloomed at all last summer)... and the growth spurt this spring was intimidating. When you read the advertising copy on websites, you have to take everything with a grain of salt, right? Well, Carol Warner described it this way: "There are three branches on the stalk giving about 10 blooms. The terminal on a well grown plant will push a four...