Yeah, 'Mint Julep' is it. Have you seen the flower on that one Bob? Mine hasn't bloomed yet and I would be really interested to see what it looks like because the parentage of 'Intermedia' has always puzzled me. The registry lists two different hybrids with that name. The first is heiroglyphica x 'Viminalis Rex', which is the one pictured on the FCBS. That picture shows the inflorescence but you can barely see the foliage so I don't know if it's the same one. The other 'Intermedia' is fenestralis x barilletii. I don't know what the flower looks like on that one but I would expect it to be a single spike, since both parents are single-spiked, whereas both parents of the other one have branched inflorescences, so the offspring is branched. With me so far? Okay, the problem for me is that both of these crosses consist of a tesselated foliage type (with dull unshowy flowers) crossed with a plain green species (or cv.) with a nice colorful-bracted inflorescence. Most of the time when you do that the foliage markings fade considerably or disappear completely in the offspring (and usually the flowers aren't all that great either). It is apparently not a dominant trait and it is very very difficult to combine strongly tesselated foliage with showy colorful bracts. This is kind of the Holy Grail of Vriesea breeding, at least as far as I'm concerned, and I know plenty of people have worked on it. There have been some good combinations that have elements of both, but the markings on 'Mint Julep' are so strong that it makes me doubt either of those crossings as its true parents, although if it has a colorful flower like the one in the FCBS photo then I'm wrong. The foliage looks quite similar to the heiroglyphica x fosteriana plants that I have, though. I have a hard time believing that there is no fosteriana in there, although I'd buy hieroglyphica x fenestralis. To further confuse things, in 'Tropica' there is a picture labelled: Vr. 'Intermedia' (hieroglyphica x fenestralis), which would be fine by me except that the plant in that picture looks like it has green foliage and a branched red inflorescence and there's no possible way hieroglyphica and fenestralis together could produce a flower like that. It does look kind of like the one on FCBS, though, but......???????? Anyway..... don't mean to drone on but this has been bugging me for years and if I could see an inflorescence from 'Mint Julep' it would certainly help solve the mystery. Are you saying that 'Mint Julep' is a Bullis hybrid, Bob? If it is, then it may not have anything to do with either of the other two 'Intermedias', which were made much earlier. The name thing creates a lot of confusion. I don't know if there's a better system in place now to avoid cultivar name duplication, but a lot of this stuff is grandfathered in so there's not much you can do about it now. Maybe I should just go Florel my plant and answer my own (expletive deleted) question! ;-)

Ellix, What I am seeing in your photo looks more and more like a Variegated Fritillary as your pictures get clearer. Is there anyway you can crop you picture using Photobucket? Your last photo looks like it might crop O.K. Larry, I purchased a Canon Power Shot S5IS last year. After I got it home, I hated it. I couldn't do anything with it so I took it back. The guy gave me some quick lessons, and I decided to keep it. The main thing he told me was to use the P or program setting for pictures. When you are in the P mode, you can use the macro or super macro for your shots. I have had to learn to use it, but now I wouldn't trade it for my old camera. I was told that there are websites on the computer where you can go to learn to use your Canon camera. These websites are supposed to be much better than the instructions that came with the camera, which in my opinion, were absolutely pathetic. I've never had a fancy camera--just point and shoot cameras before this one. It's kind of a cross between a SLR and a point and shoot. Ellix, each one of your pictures has gotten clearer than the last one. Is it possible your caterpillar is like the one MissSherry posted? Have you checked out Variegated Fritillaries online? If your caterpillar is a VF, they make the most beautiful chrysalis of all. The only other chrysalis to rival it is the Painted Lady Chrysalis. Sandy

Thanks to an earlier thread on cameras that bobky had here, I bought a new Kodak Z740 which just released this year. It's a 5.0 megapixel with 10x optical zoom (effective range is 38mm - 380mm). I too needed a new camera and wanted a zoom to capture my little hummer visitor from a distance. I also wanted to be able to vary the shutter speed to capture something like a mid-flap (as opposed to a blur of beating wings) and this camera, as well as many of the equivalent digitals allow that (eg., I can set my shutter speed to 1/1000th of a second). The 2 drawbacks that I've seen with this camera however are: 1.) the camera is a bit slow to start up (ie., it going through its "splash screen" when first turned on, IMHO wastes valuable time where I am unable to shoot) and 2.) the zoom is a bit slow to engage using the rocker - with the very furthest part of the zoom being digital it appears, which moves in increments as you press and hold the rocker, further slowing it down). Of course for general picture-taking, the above is actually minor or even moot since the subjects are generally stationary and speed isn't necessarily of the essence. However for those like myself with only a solitary hummer who will only stay to nectar for perhaps 10 - 15 seconds at a time at most and they're gone - getting the camera up and ready quickly, let alone getting the hummer framed and in focus quickly, is a critical thing. Overall, the auto-focus is pretty good on the camera so once the hummer is framed, I can usually get a good focus lock - even at the 300 mm zoom and without the need for a special stabilizer (thanks in part to the ergonomics of the camera). I am still playing around with the various settings (need to work on some of the exposure ones as it will often over-expose the sky in order to capture a normal exposure of my shaded balcony - but that might be a function of a setting that I need to use). But overall, I'm happy with it, particularly since it is easily half the weight of my previous digital - a Kodak 3400 2.0 megapixel 3x zoom. I was able to capture my first clear shot of my little female from almost 25ft away. Ie., I managed to get this from the comfort of my sofa in my livingroom by zooming across my diningroom, through a window, then diagonally across my balcony to the rail where the feeder hangs: Because of the resolution, I could then use a graphics program to cut out a portion of the whole photo to get an even better look without much bluring: From a much closer position from the window, looking about 6ft away, I could capture this: Anyway... Good luck with your camera hunt! :-)

Thank you Iris-gal. I really appreciate your kind and informed attention. We have a close-packed perennial garden, which we tend to keep well watered; apparently not great bearded iris gardening. Those of the many irises I've previously bought, that survived more than a couple of years, tend to do so at the front of very sunny locations (likely more evaporation/ drainage), as expected. I'm very happy when bearded irises do survive a number of years, as that above. Some of the old mainly large bearded irises that I've planted and maintained, in better iris locations in other gardens, have already survived, with division, 10/15 years. I recognize that cameras "lie", especially when it comes to colour. For that matter my wife and I disagree on purple-blue colour identification in the expected direction (the fourth retinal colour receptor thing). I'd call the above colour blue, not purple; maybe towards violet. The plant (in a very summer location) is the earliest blooming of the half dozen or so bearded irises, other then dwarf irises, which we currently have. I notice that 'Rare Edition' is the only one of your four for which "early" is mentioned. I wasn't sure about the rock cress; have used so many over the years. Judging from the leaf (other pictures of the plant) it is an Aubrieta and not an Arabis. Love their colours, especially 'Whitewell Gem'. One more question re identifying established irises: do you get the phenomenon of degeneration, over years, in the direction of parental types with these sterile cultivars? viz. the plant is no longer a cultivar which can be named? I know, for a certainty, that this can occur with cultivars of perennials like garden phlox. For phlox, I've read that what is really happening is that seeding occurs and seedlings replace the original plant. However, I've definitely observed one phlox plant ('White Admiral') degenerate into a phlox ancestral dirty pink. Thanking you again.