Breaking News About Iris Changing Color in the Wild

A year or so ago, I dug up and brought home some iris rhizomes I found growing on the grave of my gggrandfather in a long-neglected cemetery in East Texas and planted them in a container when I lived in New Orleans. When they bloomed they were a dingy white that looked like they may have been violet or pink at some time in the past and had faded while they were growing in the wild. I revisited the cemetery recently and dug up a few more to plant in Glynn's Farm. I wrote to Schreiner's gardens in Oregon to ask for information on my "wild" iris and received the following email from Tom Abrego at Schreiner's Gardens. He writes:

"There are no bearded iris native to Texas (or anywhere else in the New World) so I believe these are iris that were once cultivated and have now escaped. Iris do not change color, so the color of these new iris in your garden is the color they have always been, as you said, an older iris without vivid color. The makeup of the soil, its pH, water and climate may cause subtle shifts of color in an iris, but a pink iris will never be a blue iris. Even if this iris lacks vivid color, you know it will grow well with little help, as you have discovered at the cemetery and the area surrounding it. Believe it or not, there are people who are specifically interested in old iris. I had a friend (we've lost touch) from the rural Midwest who used to put ads in small town papers looking for iris like yours. They may not be the biggest and the brightest, but they are tough!"

Thanks to Tom for his help. I have also learned that there is no plural for iris: it's one iris, two iris, three iris, etc. Anyone out there want an old-timie iris? I've ordered a couple of sample packs from Schreiner's Gardens so I can have some splendid, vividly colored specimens alongside my old ones.