New Acquisitions from David Cupps

Heart of Glass

T.Johnson 07; Heavily ruffled and laced flowers have clear medium pink standards with no peach or coral tones. Styles are darker coral pink. White falls have greenish texture veins over their centers with hafts and diffuse bands of clear medium pink. Beards have white bases overlaid soft tangerine. A totally lovely and feminine creation with well branched show stalks to properly display these beauties.

Thanks to David for sharing some beauties from the Bluegrass Iris Society sale...

Guilt Free Sample

Black 07; Feel no guilt when you pick some of these pretty flowers to bring inside. With strong growth, super branched stalks and buds, there'll be plenty more to enjoy in the garden. Lacy light peach styles peer from between lacy baby ribbon pink standards. Hafts of the lacy milk-white falls are blushed peach and topped with bright red-orange beards. Winning numerous awards including 'Best Pink' at 2010 Firenze Italy International Iris Competition.

Frisk Frolic

Black 08; The sun’s bright and the day cheery; it’s time for a Frisky Frolic. Generously ruffled, petite flowers are pinkish mauve. Horizontally flared falls are sanded overall red-purple and standards have a fine network of darker texture veins and muted buff bands. Styles are coral-peach. Bright red-orange beards add to the fun.

New Iris Acquisitions, round 2

The second delivery of irises came from Pleasant Valley Iris Farm. I ordered from them in 2009 and was very pleased that all the rhizomes were healthy and true to name. Their prices are also reasonable.

Here are online photos of what arrived. Everything seems to be establishing itself well.

Kiss the Dawn
1994, Kerr

'Kiss The Dawn' (Frederick Kerr, R. 1994) Sdlg. 89-03-02. TB, 35" (89 cm), M. S. pinkish red violet; F. peach pink, veined darker, with distinct pinkish red violet edge; beards red orange; ruffled, lightly laced; slight fragrance. 'Feminine Wiles' X 'Prom Night'. Rainbow Acres 1994.

Kinkajou Shrew
2000, Kasperek

'Kinkajou Shrew' (Brad Kasperek, registered 1999). Seedling 94B-18A. TB, height 38" (97 cm), early to mid season bloomer. Standards red purple (RHS 72B), white streaking with occasional red purple dot; falls darker beetroot purple (71A), white streaking, light golden yellow hafts; beards cadmium orange, large; ruffled; pronounced fragrance. 'Gnus Flash' X 'Footloose'. Zebra 2000.

Lace Legacy
1992, Greenwood by Aitken

'Lace Legacy' (Doris Greenwood by J. T. Aitken, registered 1992). Seedling G83A -1. TB, height 34" (86 cm), Medium bloom season. Heavily laced light apricot orange, paling to white around bright orange beards; slight fragrance. Parentage unknown. Aitken's Salmon Creek 1992

Mother Earth (I had this, but it is so lovely I wanted to start a fresh grouping)
1988, Hager

'Mother Earth' ( Ben Hager, R. 1987). Sdlg. T3703RfBi . TB, 37" (94 cm), EM. S. oyster cream, tinted lavender near edge and beige through center; F. lavender, paler around beard, beige on hafts; pale blue white beard. 'Scenario' X 'Pleasure Dome'. Melrose Gardens 1988.

Rustler
1988, Keppel

'Rustler' (Keith Keppel, R. 1987). Sdlg. 81-95B. TB, 37" (94 cm), M. S. antique gold (M&P 12-L-8) flushed faded rose (5-KI-9); F. henna (6-J-12), paling to antique gold at margin; florida gold (10-L-8) beard tipped chrome orange (10-K-2); slight sweet fragrance. 'Laredo' X 'Dazzling Gold'. Keppel 1988.

America's Cup
Hybridized by McWhirter; Year of Registration or Introduction: 1988

Conjuration
1989, Byers

'Conjuration' (Monty Byers, registered 1988). Seedling D1-1. TB, height 36" (91 cm), mid to late bloom season. Standards white, edge lightly infused pale violet blue; falls white, suffusing to deep bright amethyst violet edge; white beard tipped tangerine; fuzzy white horns; ruffled. B-37-10: ('Sky Hooks' x 'Condottiere') X 'Alpine Castle'. Moonshine Gardens 1989. American Dykes Memorial Medal 1998

Golden Panther
2000, Tasco

'Golden Panther' (Richard Tasco, R. 2000). Seedling 94-30-30. TB, height 34" (86 cm), Mid bloom season. Gold overlaid bronze, highlighted darker bronze at edges; style arms bronze gold, edges lighter lemon yellow; beards bright golden orange; heavily ruffled. 'Guadalajara' X 90-02-03: ('Marsh Light' x 'Dazzling Gold'). Superstition 2000. American Dykes Memorial Medal, 2009

Edith Wolford
1986, Hager

'Edith Wolford' (Ben Hager, R. 1984). Seedling T3917RfY /Bl. TB, height 40" (102 cm), Mid bloom season. Standards clear canary yellow; falls mid-blue violet; blue beard tipped orange; ruffled. 'Merry Madrigal' X 'Freedom Road'. Melrose Gardens 1986. American Dykes Medal 1993.

Snowed In (a free bonus)
1999, Ghio

'Snowed In'(Joseph Ghio, R. 1998). Sdlg. 93-90L3. TB, 34" (86 cm), EML. S. light blue, thin tan edge; F. violet black, white sunburst pattern around red beard. 88-180P: ('Notorious' x (('Success Story' x ('Fancy Tales' x 'Alpine Castle')) x (('Persian Smoke' x 'Entourage') x (('Strawberry Sundae' x ('Artiste' x 'Tupelo Honey')) x 'Borderline' sib)))) X'Romantic Evening'. Bay View 1999.

Gay Male Athlete Allies

I'm no jock. Never was. I enjoy baseball and learned to watch tennis with my ex and college football with my husband.

Sports, especially team sports and contact sports have been bastions of macho homophobia. Thanks to a new generation and some courageous allies, the world is becoming a better place for jocks and all of us.



Ben Cohen, Hudson Taylor, Michael Irvin, Mike Chabala, and Nick Youngquest open up about homophobia in the sports world and what role they can play as loud and proud allies.

READ MORE at http://www.omgblog.com/sporty/#ixzz1W3cLmiwu
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

First New Acquisitions of 2011

The first new irises in my garden for 2011 came from Borglum's. My annual trip there included 5 clumps. At $7.50 a clump these are a quick way to fill up the garden and share with friends. Take a plastic bag, a shovel and have at it...

Vision in Pink, Let's Boogie, Kevin's Theme. Jurassic Park and Copper Classic came home with me.

"Let's Boogie" at Borglum's
1997, Schreiner

'Let's Boogie' (Schreiner, R. 1997). Seedling BB 1814-A. TB, 37" (94 cm), Early thru mid bloom season. Standards and style arms creamy peach (RHS 193); falls beetroot purple (71A), 1/8" cream white mid-stripe; beards tangerine. Sweeter Than Wine X V 248-A: (Latin Lady x (Craig #41, unknown, x Breaking Dawn)). Schreiner 1997.

"Kevin's Theme" arrives in Mendon
1993, Kerr

'Kevin's Theme' (Frederick Kerr, R. 1993) Sdlg. 88-17-1. TB, 38" (97 cm), ML. S. ivory yellow with blue violet center flush; F. blue violet, lightening to white around beard; beards yellow, tipped blue violet; ruffled; slight musky fragrance. 'Edith Wolford' X 'Lullaby of Spring'.

"Jurassic Park" in the bag
1995, Lauer

'Jurassic Park' (Larry Lauer, R. 1995). Seedling 89-7-2. TB, 36" (91 cm), Early thru mid bloom season. Standards and style arms canary yellow; falls blended lavender blue purple, yellow veining and edging; beards yellow, tipped blue purple; slight sweet fragrance. 'Best Bet' X 87-29: ('Edith Wolford' x Denney 81-5-1: (('Regents' Row' sibling x 'Winterscape') x 'Midnight Love Affair')). Stockton 1995.

A clump of "Jurassic Park" planted in Mendon

Iris Racaps begin as the "Season of the Borer" ends.

It's been a long summer in the garden and I have not really updated this blog in a while.

The iris blooms in June were wonderful! As were the daylilies in July and some are still blooming...

August, however brought about the heartbreak of iris borers.

I thought the foliage was not looking so great but when I started cleaning up I discovered that, for the first time to my knowledge, the borers had invaded.


The war is now over for this season. Because of the advanced stage of development, no insecticide could be used. The only thing to do was to dig up every rhizome, discard the worst, wash them, put them in a 10% bleach bath for an hour, rinse them, dry them and replant them.

Given my collection of more than 50 cultivars and 5 to 10 rhizomes of most, that was a task. I had to label each and keep them separated. Splitting them and making room for new acquisitions also meant having to dig 4 new beds.

The good news is that many seem to be showing new growth and now I know what I need to do next year!

It's my plan to recount the season on this blog and record the new plantings. Earlier this year we had an iris bloom party and my good friend Andy Smith too some stunning photos. I posted then in Andy Smith Photos, part 1 and part 2. I will discuss all cultivars as I recap.

Marriage Equality Flag update

Super Gay Man Flies Over Mendon

God Bless Google...

On the first day of marriage equality in NYS, google added a special feature to the street level view of any spot in NYS. Here's our house.



If you missed it, keep your eye on the little character in the bottom half of the screen.