Hello! My name is Amy Fletcher and I live in central NC which has just recently been "promoted" to Zone 8a (booo, global warming).
I have started hybriding again and one of my goals is to create new cultivars with great fragrance, which I feel is lacking in most more modern introductions (not all, of course). I feel that irises should touch all of the senses it can. While most buyers just look at the flower (I am guilty, too, because who can resist them) in my garden, I want it ALL! Flower, form, branching, toughness, and delicious fragrance! I don't care if it is spicy, musky, or sweet--just wonderful but not so strong that it puts one off like a person leaving an elevator but their strong perfume lingers like that last shopper that just wont leave the store.
I am excited that this website exists and that Randy is putting his energy into finding the best smelling irises on the planet, making my job finding wonderfully fragrant irises to hybridize with a little easier. Wouldn't it be cool to end up in Venice, Italy and win the "best smelling" iris category? (Randy, you should definitely check out the winners, a lot are European iris, but there may be some that can be sourced).
Hi, I'm Suzanne Butler of Chillicothe, Texas (pop.700) zone 7 in NW Texas along the Okla. border. Upon retirement, my husband and I moved here (his hometown) from Corpus Christi (my hometown-zone 9) on the SE coast of Texas in 1999. There are very different growing conditions here. I was introduced to irises at that time and became a devotee. I have always loved older things and I eventually found the Historic Iris Preservation Society. I became active in that organization and a local iris club. I have started Breeders Collection of two local hybridizers: Z. G. Benson and L. E. Brooks.
Hello! My name is Amy Fletcher and I live in central NC which has just recently been "promoted" to Zone 8a (booo, global warming).
I have started hybriding again and one of my goals is to create new cultivars with great fragrance, which I feel is lacking in most more modern introductions (not all, of course). I feel that irises should touch all of the senses it can. While most buyers just look at the flower (I am guilty, too, because who can resist them) in my garden, I want it ALL! Flower, form, branching, toughness, and delicious fragrance! I don't care if it is spicy, musky, or sweet--just wonderful but not so strong that it puts one off like a person leaving an elevator but their strong perfume lingers like that last shopper that just wont leave the store.
I am excited that this website exists and that Randy is putting his energy into finding the best smelling irises on the planet, making my job finding wonderfully fragrant irises to hybridize with a little easier. Wouldn't it be cool to end up in Venice, Italy and win the "best smelling" iris category? (Randy, you should definitely check out the winners, a lot are European iris, but there may be some that can be sourced).
Cheers!
Amy Fletcher
Hi, I'm Suzanne Butler of Chillicothe, Texas (pop.700) zone 7 in NW Texas along the Okla. border. Upon retirement, my husband and I moved here (his hometown) from Corpus Christi (my hometown-zone 9) on the SE coast of Texas in 1999. There are very different growing conditions here. I was introduced to irises at that time and became a devotee. I have always loved older things and I eventually found the Historic Iris Preservation Society. I became active in that organization and a local iris club. I have started Breeders Collection of two local hybridizers: Z. G. Benson and L. E. Brooks.