PlantFiles Pictures: Intermediate Bearded Iris 'Sangreal', 1 by Michael_Ronayne

Michael_Ronayne wrote:
In the late 1930’s my son-in-law’s Grandmother was given a yellow Iris for her new home in Little Falls New Jersey, by a relative who was in the landscaping business. About six years ago, when Grandma was moving out of her house, my daughter transplanted a clump to my home in Nutley New Jersey. The Iris turned out to be a prolific re-bloomer and is one of the first Iris to bloom in the spring and the last to bloom in the fall. The Iris has been successfully transplanted to my daughter’s home in Sykesville Maryland (Zone 7) and my cousin’s home in Warwick New York (Zone 6A) where it has done quite well.

I became interested in re-blooming Iris because of this Iris, and while I have collected many re-blooming Iris over the last several years, many of which are quite showy, Grandma’s historic Yellow Iris remains the most consistent re-bloomer I have. For the last three years, I have been attempting to identify the yellow Iris. Based on Internet photographs, physiology and history, I thought the Iris was Southland (Sass, 1934) and purchased a specimen of that Iris last year to do a side by side comparison. The known Southland specimen just bloomed; a week after Grandma’s Iris and I found that it was darker shade of yellow and shorter in size. Obviously Grandma’s Iris is not Southland (Sass, 1934).

The only other documented re-blooming historic yellow Iris which might be a candidate was Sangreal (Sass, 1935). Unfortunately the one Internet seller of this Iris did not have a photograph and I did not find your photograph when I did my research early last summer. When I realized that I did not have Southland, I did another search and found your photograph of the Sangreal Iris, which appears to be identical to Grandma’s Yellow Iris.

Is your Iris Sangreal (Sass, 1935) and is it a prolific re-bloomer? What is the source of your Sangreal Iris?

Michael Ronayne
Nutley, NJ 07110
Attached Photograph