A tale of two iris...

Click to view a JPEG photo of 'Bright Hour'	Click to view a JPEG photo of 'Wabash'

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'Wabash' (Williamson 36) is the most popular historic iris grown in the U.S.A. It was also at the top of the polls in the 40s and 50s. It is a superlative garden iris and is often described as 'beautiful.' About half the time, however, the description is not quite so glowing, dwelling instead on the virtues of 'Wabash' as a garden subject.

Enter the good. In the late 40s, Geddes Douglas supervised a test project to determine; "Whence came the Amoenas?" The project involved thousands of test crosses, by irisarians across the country, indeed, the world. One of these myriad crosses proved so beautiful Geddes was unable to discard it and it was duly registered as 'Bright Hour' (Douglas 49). I believe it was introduced to commerce, catalogs of the early 50s show it thusly, although the Check List does not. It was widely circulated among project members and amoena fanciers.

Forward to the present. In my garden, in Cameron Hall's garden and in nearly anyone's garden where 'Wabash' and 'Bright Hour' are grown, the surviving iris is almost always 'Bright Hour.' Both grow almost as weeds, tenacious of life in the extreme, although stable in undivided clumps. However, 'Bright Hour' is beautiful. Sooner or later, the unsuspecting gardener has all clumps of 'Beautiful Wabash' and the, shall I say 'plain Jane' but real 'Wabash,' has found its way to the compost pile.

The one point of absolute discrimination between these iris is the base color. 'Wabash' is tinged with faint purple at the base of the fans, most visable in the spring, 'Bright Hour' has no purple whatsoever.

We have tossed 'Bright Hour' so has Cameron Hall, except for a 'keep alive' clump planted at a cousin's house. We were not able to obtain the real 'Wabash' for nearly five years. We would buy or beg a start of 'Wabash' yearly, only to find, when it bloomed, that it was really 'Bright Hour.'

We reacquired the real 'Wabash' (complete with purple base) from a grower near my mother-in-law's house. It had been 'passed over the fence' in the early 50s and has grown in the neighbor's planting for nearly 45 years. When we asked the owner for a start, we inquired as to the care it has received. The answer was;"Oh, I just keep mowing close to it when it tries to take over the lawn. No other care needed."

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