In 1987 Ben Hager registered an iris that was a cross between two species of iris.  This iris, ‘Roy Davidson’, was introduced the same year by Melrose Gardens.  The pod parent for this iris was Iris pseudacorus that was pollinated by some other species of iris.  There are a number of species crosses that have appeared which have Iris pseudacorus as one of their parents and they are considered to be sterile although viable seeds have been rarely produced.

‘Roy Davidson’

The blooms of ‘Roy Davidson’ are yellow and are lightly veined with brown on the falls.  The deep yellow signal is crescent shaded with a deep brown outline.  Under favorable conditions the plants can reach three feet in height.  In my garden it grows well without extra water, but I have seen plants growing in ponds in gardens featured on American Iris Society (AIS) National Convention tours in different part of the United States.

Interestingly, two hybridizers observed pods forming on ‘Roy Davidson’ in their gardens.  Both planted the resulting seeds and each introduced two of the seedlings they obtained.  One hybridizer was Terry Aitken who operates Aitken’s Salmon Creek Garden in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Barbara.  The other hybridizer is Region 2’s Dana Borglum who operates Borglum’s Iris Gardens near Geneva, New York, with his wife Sylvia.

Terry Aitken introduced ‘Roy’s Lines’ and ‘Roy’s Repeater’ in 2002.  It is thought that the pollen parent was Iris versicolor ‘Between the Lines’.  I first saw these cultivars in bloom at Salmon Creek Gardens at the 2006 AIS Convention and ordered them that fall.

‘Roy’s Lines’

‘Roy’s Lines’ has white flowers which are delicately veined with purple.  The signal is pale yellow and the style arms are white.  The overall appearance of the flower from the distance is a delicate pastel purple that almost shimmers in the breeze.

Its sibling, ‘Roy’s Repeater’, is supposed to rebloom and has white flowers heavily overlaid with purple veins.  The blooms have a dark yellow signal with purple veins running through it. 

‘Roy’s Repeater’

Both ‘Roy’s Lines’ and ‘Roy’s Repeater’ bloom from mid late to very late in the season and have a registered height of 42”.  In my garden their foliage is about three feet tall.   Although they both started blooming at the same time ‘Roy’s Repeater’ was in bloom a couple of weeks longer than ‘Roy’s Lines

Dana Borglum registered ‘Child of Roy’ in 2004 and it was introduced in 2005.  This iris is much shorter with a registered height of 23” and blooms midseason with white flowers with purple striping.  The signal is yellow with dark purple veining.  It has not been a good grower for me and I almost lost my plant this past winter.  It is still alive but failed to bloom.  It has much larger blooms than its sibling which Dana did not register at that time. 

When I purchased ‘Child of Roy’ from Dana, I also purchased its sibling which he has since registered as ‘Roy’s Surprise’.  This iris is a much better grower although it has smaller, more species like, white blooms that are heavily overlaid with purple veins.  The plant is similar in size to ‘Roy Davidson’ in my garden and blooms during the same time period as ‘Roy’s Repeater’.

‘Roy’s Surprise’

The four offspring of ‘Roy Davidson’ that have been introduced all have purple based foliage and extend the season of iris bloom. They bloom for me between the Tall Bearded and Japanese iris bloom seasons.   Three of them are good growers and they all provide different combinations of white and purple with yellow signals.