N E W YO R K 2 0 2 0: Tall Bearded Iris History
BY JIM MORRIS, MISSOURI
Society archives, the AIS book The World of Irises, Keith
Keppel’s records and memory, and Clarence Mahan’s
marvelous book Classic Irises and the Men and Women
who Created Them. This capsule of TB history is but
a small portion of all that has “come before” but is
representative of the periods of time selected.
It is my view that there has been a “quantum leap” in
new patterns, form and quality of tall bearded irises in
the past few years and my cutoff of 2010-2018 (present) is
arbitrary but will serve for illustrative purposes. There is
an extensive list of these new irises and space permitting
we can illustrate some of them herein. Enjoy and if you
have something to share please forward it to Nancy
McDonald. And don’t limit it to just TBs as I did here.
There are many stories concerning the other types of
irises that we could use as well.
1950–1969 AMERICA & NEW
ZEALAND: ‘Sable Night’ (Paul Cook
1952), ‘Blue Sapphire’ (Schreiners
1953), ‘Unicorn’ (Lloyd Austin 1954,
TB-Novelty), ‘Taholah’ (Jim Gibson
1956), ‘Whole Cloth’ (Paul Cook
1958), ‘Emma Cook’ (Paul Cook 1959),
‘Rococo’ (Schreiners 1960), ‘Rippling
Waters’ (Orville Fay 1961), ‘Winter
Olympics’ (Opal Brown 1963), ‘Sunset
Snow’ (Jean Stevens 1963), ‘Stepping
Out’ (Schreiners 1964), ‘April Melody’
(Jim Gibson 1967), ‘Pink Taffeta’ (Nate
Rudolph 1968).
‘Stepping Out’ (Schreiners 1964, TB)
1970–1989 AMERICA: ‘Mystique’ (Joe
Ghio 1975), ‘Beverly Sills’ (Ben Hager
1979), ‘Spinning
Wheel’
(Charlie
Nearpass 1981),
‘Lady Friend’
(Joe Ghio 1981),
‘Immortality’
(Lloyd Zurbrigg
1982, TBRe),
‘Jesse’s
‘Jesse’s Song’
Song’ (Bryce
Williamson
1983), ‘Dusky Challenger’ (Schreiners
1986), ‘Champagne Elegance’ (Dave
Niswonger 1987, TB-Re), ‘Before
The Storm’ (Sterling Innerst 1989),
‘Thornbird’ (Monty Byers 1989, TBNovelty).
(Bryce Williamson 1983, TB)
1990–2009 AMERICA, AUSTRALIA
& FRANCE: ‘Clarence’ (Lloyd Zurbrigg
1991, TB-Re), ‘Mesmerizer’ (Monty
Byers 1991, TB-Novelty), ‘Total Recall’
(Ben Hager 1992, TB-Re), ‘Rosalie
Figge’ (Jane McKnew 1993, TB-Re),
‘Infernal Fire’ (Gerald Richardson
1994), ‘Judy Mogil’ (Jim McWhirter
1997, TB-Novelty), ‘Splashacata’ (Rick
Tasco 1998), ‘Again And Again’ (Sterling
Innerst 1999, TB-Re), ‘Seapower’
(Keith Keppel 1999), ‘My Ginny’ (Don
Spoon 2000), ‘Queen’s Circle’ (Fred
Kerr 2000), ‘Jayceetee’ (Graeme
Grosvenor 2001/02), ‘French Can Can’
(Richard Cayeux 2002), ‘Drinks At
Sunset’ (Barry Blyth 2002/03), ‘Aurelie’
(Richard Cayeux 2003), ‘Decadence’
(Barry Blyth 2003/04), “Dusky He-Man’
Gerald Richardson 2005), ‘That’s All
Folks’ (Bill Maryott by Joe Ghio 2005),
‘Radiant Bliss’ (Betty Wilkerson 2005,
TB-Re), ‘Absolute Treasure’ (Rick Tasco
2006), ‘Gypsy Lord’ (Keith Keppel
2006), ‘Silver Streak’ (Mike Sutton
2006, TB-Novelty), ‘Ink Patterns’
(Thomas Johnson 2007), ‘Money
In Your Pocket’ (Paul Black 2007),
‘Snapshot’ (Thomas Johnson 2008),
‘Surfer’s Dream’ (Gerald Richardson
2009), ‘Tobacco Chew’ (Tom Burseen
2009).
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Spring 2018 AIS Bulletin 25