What's in a name?

What a gorgeous iris!!! Back in 2008, this beauty bloomed in the field. The problem was, it was mixed in a group of others and looked nothing like them. Who was this lovely lady? I sent photos to all of my wholesalers inquiring, some I never heard back from, others had no idea either. Keeping track of plants/rhizomes can be a tricky business! As soon as we dig iris, before we even move our feet, we use a sharpie marker and write the name on the leaf. This really helps with mistakes. We also only dig from rhizomes that have bloomed. At Earthworks we have over 800 varieties of iris. It's a daily trip threw all of the rows everyday to see who's blooming and to verify they are correct. So I pull my wagon, with 3 huge binders each with a information sheet and photo of the iris. Over half I now can recognize, some I have never seen bloom yet.

Hopefully we have not mixed up any, but I would never say any method is full proof. Too bad we can't dig when they are blooming, but doesn't work that way. So who was the beauty, the one I picked to be my all-time favorite? It died the following year, bummer! Iris that cannot be fully identified, are sold as "unknowns" and usually cheaper. Some folks care about the name, others don't. I can put up with a nameless iris, if it's this awesome!