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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Iris changing colors, or where's Immortality Iris?

I think I finally understand now why some people are convinced their iris changes colors. There's a lot of rational explanations on why that happens, such as one color didn't bloom for a few years yet their rhizome was so aggressive that it's taken over the area before they decided to finally bloom, giving the illusion the iris had suddenly changed colors.

I purchased Cherub's Smile and last year it bloomed for the first time, revealing a white flower. I contacted the company and they identified this as Immortality Iris. I thought it was pretty cool because I didn't have a white iris.

A friend really liked it a lot that I promised I'd divide it for her. I separated it, sent her six rhizomes and then I re-potted all my iris.

Then it bloomed this year...

May 1, 2014 - Unidentified Light Purple Iris

I looked online to see if anyone shared this experience at all. All I could find were threads that talked about buying Cherub's Smile and just getting whites.

May 2, 2014 - Unidentified Light Purple Iris

May 12, 2014 - Unidentified Light Purple Iris
It seemed eager to set a couple of seed pods, at least. Both seed pods were pollinated by random 'Purple Mom/Black Dad' irises of mine. Then I noticed a second flower stalk was coming up. I thought this one would be my Immortality Iris for sure. Nope. The tip came out very dark purple.

May 14, 2014 - Unidentified Light Purple Iris
The second flower stalk's flower opens, revealing another light purple. I'm not sure where this came from. It certainly isn't one of mine. The only conclusion I can come to is that the bag came with one Immortality Iris rhizome and the other is this light purple.

There was one suggestion that maybe I accidentally misplaced some seeds from last year, when Immortality Iris was crossed with a 'Purple Mom/Black Dad' iris but nope, that's not it either. All my seeds were poured out into this pot and germinated this spring, starting their itty bitty lives for the first time!

May 15, 2014 - Iris Seedlings - Immortality/PMBD1

Oh, and my friend gave me an update. One rhizome is blooming and it's purple.

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