Iris ensata 'Kongosan'
13th June 2007
Very rich blue-purple flowers that have rather curled, undulating petals. As a consequence the flower is inhabited by
shadows and breaking waves of light. It is a very lovely thing. Unfortunately it is the wrong thing, it should be a double.
The AIS encyclopedia says;
'Kongo-San' (Toko-En Nursery, 1900 -1910). Double. Colour class - 6DB. Translation "Diamond Mountain"
Marx Gardens catalogue for 1955 says;
KONGO-SAN (Diamond Mountain) Each $2.00. An elegant variety of the same colour as our Higo variety 'Hisakata'. however the color is the only similarity.
'Kongo-San' is extremely ruffled and not as large. Its outstanding feature is the extremely tufted center forming a complete pompon at times. The flower then looks
more like a peony than an Iris. Very late.
It hardly needs saying that my delightful plant is not the real thing.
References:
The American Iris Society Encyclopedia, https://wiki.irises.org