Description
In 1999 a very distinct orphan was noticed in Antoine Hoog’s old Van Tubergen stock of Iris hoogiana purpurea. This was suspected to have been either a new straight hoogiana mutant or a previously non-flowering, hybrid plant which remained unnoticed in the VT stock for dozens of years. The orphan was christened Antiope. The old VT stock had, in the past, contained other cultivars (as rogues) but Antoine’s research indicated that none of the old named cultivars matched the colour scheme of Antiope, which was clearly something new and different.
When the first batch of seedlings from Antiope flowered, they seemed very similar to each other, (Amphion is one of these). This perhaps backed up the suggestion of Antiope being a straight hoogiana mutant. In subsequent years however, the variability and colouring which displayed in further flowerings began to suggest that Antiope was perhaps a hoogiana x stolonifera hybrid and that the seedlings were displaying segregation, towards one putative parent or the other.
It is notable that all of the siblings lack a yellow beard, which I always accepted to be typical of hoogiana, but it matches stolonifera. Even Zethos, which most closely resembles hoogiana, has the white beard more typically thought of as being from stolonifera.
The exact parentage will, of course, remain as supposition but the seedlings seem to fit the hypothesis and the progeny are superb garden plants with superbly patterned, beautifully scented flowers.
Zethos has deeper violet-purple flowers with intricate, deeper violet veining covering the falls and the standards. The falls are a darker purple-violet than the rest of the flower and become distinctly plum-coloured at their base, whilst the standards become gradually paler in the reverse direction, presenting a beautifully graduated colour change. The beard, like that of I. stolonifera, is white. It has a blue base. This is the one, above all, that captures my own enthusiasm the most, it really is a lovely flower.
Zethos (you may see it as Zethus) in Greek mythology is a son of Zeus and Antiope. He is the twin brother of Amphion. Together they are famous for building Thebes.
