St. Josephs Catholic Church on Washington street in Petersburg Virginia has a huge planting of this iris in a large border immediately adjacent to the church, on the south side.

It blooms extremely early -- late March in mid Virginia in 2000. Well branched, six buds, green foliage bases, stalks average about 30 inches.

'In the flesh', opening outside (this is a cut stalk, opened inside and photographed outside) the flower is not as dark, standards are grayed cream and falls are same with a 1 inch wide 'halo' of greyed brownish purple arcing across the mid-fall.