I was looking over the AIS website and was surprised to find the Russian Iris Society Link and a Facebook group called Irises of Russia. If you love to look at new irises you'll have to check it out. Best of all, you can't order them. Here's the webpage:

https://www.facebook.com/group...

It has a lot of growers' as well as nurseries' photos from all over Russia as well as Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Many are 2019 Russian introductions and some are from US hybridizers. But even the US iris blooms seem so much better than we see them over here, that it makes you wonder what they're doing to make their blooms so much larger and frillier. I hope it's not all that Chernobyl radiation that is giving them an advantage(?) Most likely they have the more favorable growing conditions as in our Pacific NW. But they must know how to fertilize them well, too. And I'm betting it's from farmyard manures due to their economics and also since I've had some of my best vegetable gardens when they were fertilized with poultry or pig manures. I think I may have to clean out my chicken house and give it a try on a few irises, too.

Here's an example of the same iris, here and there.




IRIS SERGEY. (T.JOHNSON`16) from Irises in Ukraine.
Photo courtesy of Pushchinairis.od.ua

Thank you, Ivan.

Wow! The 2nd one is so much more ruffled, more color!

If you look in the data base, Sergey has a quite a bit of variability in color.

on the website of the Russian Iris Society there is a photo gallery of iris varieties of national selection. You only need to choose the first letter of the alphabet at the top.
http://ruiris.ru/Sorta.html
http://ruiris.ru/Sorta_TB_Otec...

See my photo album with last year's flowering, you can on Facebook (so far I have mostly American and Australian varieties)
https://web.facebook.com/media...
I live in the warmest region of Russia. The land is fertile and the first 5 years can not make fertilizers. If you grow a monoculture, in our case - it's irises, you will need to use some methods to restore the soil in the future.

In my area, the local garden center tested soils in various areas in" Tidewater" region of Virginia & produced & sold a fertilizer specifically for the sandy soil in this area. It wasn't exactly inexpensive but worked very well, for replacing any lack of specific nutrients. By this, I don't simply mean N, P & K. numbers.
I also noticed while casually researching morning glories, some research indicated ph affecting flower color, just as it affects Hydrangea panicles, if you wanted blue or pink.
While I do not know if it affects Iris flower pigments, or ruffles , (that may be more of temperature related, is just my guess) but it just very well could be a possibiilty... I do not know if some Iris are malnourished or probably may even actually be "starving" for some micronutrients or minerals in rather poor soils, that are intentionally very well draining to help avoid rotting of rhizomes.

Because the soil here in the area is usually rather sandy, it seemed I was always amending it with peat moss, & that is on the acidic side. I did so, because that was what was recommended to improve the soil. I didn't care too much for pine bark, & especially not pine needles... But it appears that the ph change occurs at the cell vacuole, where the color can be changed. A small difference in PH, from neutral to slightly acidic may be all it takes to make the difference...
As for ruffles, I've grown ruffled varieties of Pansy, for many years ( not just Iris ) & in cooler weather, the ruffled trait is best, but as the temperature rises & weather gets warms, the less ruffle, there is. I would imagine, that it is similar, with ruffled Iris. The Bay water helps keep spring temperatures more moderate.
Some flower colors, may also appear to have more intensity, at greater (northerly) latitudes, or retain them better during cloudy cooler weather., or receive some shade, than in warmer, full sun areas.
Therefore, the combinations of acidic soils, better soil nutrients , cooler temperatures & latitude, may all help to be contributing factors in the appearance of the bloom...Not forgetting to mention, the specific area where Serjio grows his Iris & those of other growers nearby, would seem to be nearly ideal., at flowering season time..

It was just by coincidence, that I had a planter box, with a Pansy having a yellow flower & moving it out, from under the eaves against the house, to stay warmer & drier. The rain is more acidic, than the water used provided by the City. It began, as yellow, was rained on ( becoming acidic) & turning purple. The next flower, was yellow & remained that way, as I used City water on it.... The third bloom developed, I used rainwater saved in the watering "can" & the next flower started out changing to pale purple. I double checked, to make certain, they are all one plant. That second flower, is still yellow...
So, it has to do with exposure to the extra acidiity (from Hydrogen, & ion exchange, occurring at the cellular level, at the vacuole- affecting- the color produced) , made available from rain, while the flower was developing, or still young, prior to being fully developed.
I can't explain it, any better than that..Unless your soil is also slightly more alkaline, than possibly even being neutral at PH ( of 7?) hth Added, to state another way. It doesn't take much change in acidity, to change the flower color.

Thanks, Shawn.
I also think that PH is important for flowering. Indeed, the hydrangea is the most evident. Together with other factors, such as climate, soil composition, we can observe different variability of colors.. Svetlana Pushchina (IRIS SERGEY in her foto) lives in Ukraine in Odessa, there is also soil - southern and ordinary black soil. They have the largest amount of humus, compared with other types of soil, PH - about 7. (depth shifting towards alkaline). Such soils have a minus - they have a dense structure. they have such a " fat " consistency "that they say about them - "can be spread on bread." In the heat of summer after watering the ground is covered with crust and very much cracked.

Thanks Steve and Sergey,
That helps a lot because there is so much variation among blooms. Unfortunately, I'm in sand which is mostly neutral but I haven't noticed much bloom differences at least in the few historics that I grow. This year I'm growing a lot of the newer varieties so will be able to tell better if I need to amend any nutrients to get the best blooms. I have found that sand is often deficient in iron and sulfur which also aids in lowering pH so I expect I'll have to add those if I want the best colors and frills. Manures and composts have a lot of trace elements but are in short supply. But like you said Steve, we have to add peat or some kind of organic matter in sand to hold the nutrients to boost the CEC or else they will just wash out. I believe it was Suttons facebook page where I saw him rotating his irises with a cover crop to turn under before he plants which helps to do the same thing.

I had an ag teacher in Soil Science that said that the blacklands like Sergey was talking about, is some of the richest land you can grow on. But for that reason all the farmers settled there first and now it's covered up by the big cities. Dallas is a good example and is why Debra and some of the others have such nice gardens. However at least in sand, we won't have as much root rot or fungal problems.

Serjio, I really enjoyed your facebook page. Lots of beautiful pictures. and for the link.

Yes, thank you Serjio!

And thank you for watching ))

While we're on the subject, here's a recent AIS blog on the Iris boom in Russia and Eastern Europe and it gives a short bio of some of the top growers and breeders.

https://theamericanirissociety...

One of these growers, Loktev, was so enthusiastic that he created over 800 new irises in 20 yrs in all categories!

After reading, I discovered that a Mego iris that I ordered from Suttons this year was from Slovakia in E. Europe. So it should be fun to see how it compares over here.

Ivan_N_Tx said:While we're on the subject, here's a recent AIS blog on the Iris boom in Russia and Eastern Europe and it gives a short bio of some of the top growers and breeders.

https://theamericanirissociety...

One of these growers, Loktev, was so enthusiastic that he created over 800 new irises in 20 yrs in all categories!

After reading, I discovered that a Mego iris that I ordered from Suttons this year was from Slovakia in E. Europe. So it should be fun to see how it compares over here.

• Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Western Edge')
• Uploaded by Riversdale1

Thanks, Ivan. Yes, Loktev headed the Russian iris society for many years, was a popularizer of irises in Russia and worked hard on breeding varieties adapted to the Northern climate. He was not only a good breeder, but also a wonderful person above all. it is a pity that he passed away early. Thomas Johnson called the variety of iris Sergey in honor of him.

AntonMego has It from Slovakia really a lot of wonderful varieties, I would like to have most of them in my garden. If anyone is interested, I can send an e-mail document in the format "Word" with its catalog (photos of varieties of its selection)

Wow, it looks like we've come full circle on this iris. Too bad about Loktev's passing but he must have left a massive legacy. You were right in a previous post about the US customs restrictions being so tough here. I checked and there's been a lot of changes in the past 10 yrs. You almost have to be a large nursery to import anymore. Evidently Suttons' does some importing as well as exporting, so maybe if they see a demand they will bring in some more.

I haven't heard if Australia has a pipeline yet, maybe Robin can tell us.

Anyway, we enjoy looking at the catalogs and we can also get ideas for hybrids of our own by looking at the parentage of these gorgeous blooms.

Not Russian, but I'd love it if Sutton could import this one. Rockytop had it at one time but it's not listed this year.

Ivan_N_Tx said:Wow, it looks like we've come full circle on this iris. Too bad about Loktev's passing but he must have left a massive legacy. You were right in a previous post about the US customs restrictions being so tough here. I checked and there's been a lot of changes in the past 10 yrs. You almost have to be a large nursery to import anymore. Evidently Suttons' does some importing as well as exporting, so maybe if they see a demand they will bring in some more.

I haven't heard if Australia has a pipeline yet, maybe Robin can tell us.

Anyway, we enjoy looking at the catalogs and we can also get ideas for hybrids of our own by looking at the parentage of these gorgeous blooms.

Australian quarantine rules are quite strict. I can't send plants to Tasmania and Western Australia. I've heard from credible sources that importing irises into Australia is expensive. I don't know the details but I believe the irises must arrive with a phytosanitary certificate and must sit in quarantine for a few months.

I don't know any Australian nurseries who export irises since Tempo Two closed.

Serjio said:See my photo album with last year's flowering, you can on Facebook (so far I have mostly American and Australian varieties)
https://web.facebook.com/media...
I live in the warmest region of Russia. The land is fertile and the first 5 years can not make fertilizers. If you grow a monoculture, in our case - it's irises, you will need to use some methods to restore the soil in the future.

Thankyou for the facebook link. Your photos are beautiful