Is this Camellia cv. Michael in Winter garden started to bloom? Another question about this cute iris with shortest stalk I've ever seen, it is stone pot near hothouse
Looks like a Camellia japonica cultivar. If it is 'Michael' it should be presented that way and not as cv. Michael. The iris is liable to be Iris histrioides 'Katherine Hodgkin'.
Note re: the iris: Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin' with the parentage Iris danfordiae × Iris histrioides 'Major'
I had known about that, actually, but carried the wrong name over from a web site. The yellow component would be due to the influence of the first parent - the cultivar is derived from a yellow species crossed with a blue one.
Speaking of Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin', which is the first photo, from the Alpine Garden, what about the flower in the second and third photos? I posted this last year with the tag as shown, Iris histrio Subsp. aintabensis. Some of what I see when I search on that name have much darker flowers, but not all of them. I didn't see any other iris in the vicinity. Does this tag really belong to this flower, or is it for something that comes up later, and the flower is really also 'Katherine Hodgkin'?
Yes, they appear similar but not the same. I'd read descriptions of the second one to see if the garden specimens matched. Just looking at internet pictures alone is often not satisfactory. Keys, manuals and other serious discussions state what specific characters distinguish particular plants. If the UBCBG library has the same camellia encyclopedia as the CUH down here - they had it before the fire anyway, I haven't checked to see if it still present in the collection - the 'Michael' name could be checked in that. Several thick black volumes, with good descriptions.
