Iris sibirica 'Salamander Crossing'
Words: Graham Rice
We tend to think of Siberian irises being blue but along with purples, pink, lavender, yellows and white some more intriguing colours and colour combinations are now to be seen. ‘Salmander Crossing’ receiving the Award of Garden Merit recognises this trend.
The award was made after the latest three-year Wisley trial of Siberian Iris which ended last year. It was one of only two irises to receive the award out of the 54 entries, the other is yet to be named.
‘Salamander Crossing’ has pale lavender standards with darker speckling while the falls are yellow with lavender speckles. It’s an early to mid season variety, reaching about 107cm (31/2 ft), carrying seven flowers on each stem and with the flowers held well above the slender foliage.
It was raised in Massachusetts by Marty Chafer and Jan Sacks who run a specialist Iris nursery. Marty told me how it came about.
'When it was first introduced in 1999, it's coloring was totally unique,' he said. 'It was one of the early 'overlays' in Siberians with a yellow layer showing through in some parts of the flower creating new colors. This feature was more extreme in its sibling, 'Sarah Tiffney', but ‘Salamander Crossing’ was the better garden performer with great vigour.
'The pollen parent of these two irises was 'Snow Prince', a white Iris sibirica. I was working to make better yellow siberians and was gathering as many sources of yellow as I could find. I saw 'Snow Prince' in a friend's garden and saw potential in its yellow buds, unusual for a white Iris sibirica.
'The pod parent was a lovely blue-violet bitone, a 'blue-over-yellow'. These overlays have been the key to all the new colors we are now getting in Siberians. While there is always pressure in the siberian world for larger and larger flowers, I find the small flowers also have great charm.'
And the name? Marty and Jan met when folk and contra dancing and like to use names of dances, tunes, and bands for inspiration in choosing names. They heard the bluegrass band 'Salamander Crossing' on the radio and just loved the name.