April 23rd, 2003
Iris ‘Seakist’
Photo: tall bearded iris ‘Seakist’
2002-04-15. Austin, Texas (Zone 8)
I fell in love with tall bearded irises the first time I saw a photo of ‘Seakist’. The photo made me send off for Schreiner’s Iris Catalog and then I fell in love with a dozen more varieties of iris. I couldn’t afford ‘Seakist’ that first year or even the second year. But when the price fell to $15.00 a rhizome, I was determined to have it, even though it was the most I’d ever paid for a bulb of any kind.
Photo: tall bearded iris ‘Seakist’
2003-04-23. Austin, Texas (Zone 8)
As often happens with objects of desire, the reality didn’t live up to my expectation. No mistake, ‘Seakist’ is an extremely vigorous iris, often with multiple stalks to each rhizome. It needs plenty of room to spread and I’ve made the mistake of planting them too close together. The flowers are large and substantial. The standards are a deep linen white, almost ecru and the falls a watered silk of indigo and plum. But to my eye, when the colors run together, they seem muddy. Now I prefer the crisp striations of plicatas.
Photo: tall bearded iris ‘Seakist’
2004-05-13. Austin, Texas (Zone 8)
by M Sinclair Stevens