■(TB) 'San Francisco'

1927, Mohr

'San Francisco' (William Mohr, R. 1927) TB 44" Midseason bloom. Color Class-W8. Purple and white plicata. ('Conquistador' x 'Parisiana') X 'Esplendido'. American Dykes Medal 1927.

See below:

• * References

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References:

From Carl Salbach catalog, 1927: SAN FRANCISCO. Tall stems, branching low and widely like a candelabra, carry the largE white flowers, of which both standards and falls are distinctly edged lavender. In size, shape, substance there is nothing to approach it among the older plicatas, only the color pattern tells us it should be classed with them. $ 25.00.
SAN FRANCISCO. A four-foot plicata that has been awarded the Dykes medal by the American Iris Society. No other plicata approaches it in size and grandeur, heaviness of texture, or wide and low branching habit. It is not an iris for severe climates, but is worth the protection of a box or glass covering during the winter. In warmer sections it grows perfectly and is one of the truly "greats" of the iris world. At the price quoted it is worth trying even if you fail with it. Each $2.00; three for $5.25; ten for $15.00. Cooley's Wholesale pricelist, 1932.
From the July 1928 Bulletin page 60: SAN FRANCISCO (Winner of the Dykes Medal in 1927) San Francisco, the big new type plicata, is not a break or accident of plant breeding, but was carefully planned for and its advent confidently predicted by Mr. Mitchell before its first flowering in his garden. Some articles by Mr. A. J. Bliss in the Gardeners' Chronicle on breeding plicatas and a suggestion by Miss Grace Sturtevant resulted in a discussion between Mr. Mohr and Mr. Mitchell on how to get bigger and better plicatas. The result was that Mr. Mohr made certain crosses between his seedlings of part plicata parentage but wholly self colors, and though his untimely death prevented his seeing the results, they were as expected. The plicata color pattern is a recessive, and in the second generation it appeared according to the Mendelian ratio. Theoretically at least it is possible to make plicates to order; indeed a big plicata with red purple instead of lavender markings has just flowered in Mr. Mitchell's California garden, and he expects colored ground ones to follow in later years. The parentage of San Francisco is [ (Juniata x mesopotamica) x Parisiana] x (mesopotamica x Parisiana). It is therefore only of three-eighths mesopotamica stock and fairly hardy, as it has passed two winters in the severe climate of Massachusetts and one in many other trying climates. Comparison vvith all earlier plicatas is futile, as it is in a class shared only by its own sisters and cousins, Los Angeles being the only other one yet in commerce. It is a great big flower of fine substance and lovely shape, its white ground standards heavily suffused and edged lavender, its wide flaring falls almost pure white, the blue reticulation being confined to the haft, where it merges into reddish brown. Its growth is similar to Esplendido, chosen last year for trial at Wisley, with forty-two inch stems and four wide branches so placed that the lowest of the nicely spaced flowers is about twenty-four inches from the base. A jury of American Iris·Society members rated it in 1926 at 96, not in comparison with older plicatas but with other fine varieties in the large flowered types.

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-- MichaelGreenfield - 2010-01-08

• TB San Francisco was blooming at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, zone 4b, approximately June 1-14, in 2017. During this bloom season, it only reached a height of 36". -- HollyJohnson2017-04-01 - 16 Sep 2017