The American Iris Society (AIS) announced the 2024 "Iris of the Year": tall bearded iris is 'Don't Doubt Dalton'. This outstanding iris is the result of work conducted by plant hybridizer Tom Burseen of Grand Prairie, Texas. He introduced 'Don't Doubt Dalton' to the public through his commercial iris garden in 2015. Tom named this iris for a friend's grandson who rides bulls. Tom is known for his tall bearded iris hybrids with unusual names. He also received the AIS Hybridizer Award in 2022.

About 'Don't Doubt Dalton'
The Iris Encyclopedia describes this iris as having early to late bloom; its standards (top petals) pure white with random red-purple splattering; style arms (center of flower) white, washed gold; falls (bottom petals) pure white, yellow-gold washed hafts (top portions of falls), random dark purple splatters; beards poppy orange with tattered and feathered white horns; flared and ruffled; slight sweet fragrance. When asked to describe his iris, Tom Burseen said 'Don't Doubt Dalton' grows and blooms profusely and is not only a color breaker (describing the unusual splatters of a different color on the solid color background) but a space ager also." A "space ager" normally has a horn, spoon, or flounce appendage at the end of the "beard". These are uncommon additions to a bearded iris flower. The combination of broken color and a horn appendage is highly unusual and 'Don't Doubt Dalton' is the first American Dykes Medal winner to display both. You can see other pictures in this database

It's a great Iris!!! Almost appears to have polka dots at times and it also offers up a huge variety in blooms.

to the Iris Forum sdayres2

I've had it for 5 years, it's bloomed once. It is nice though.

Another reason I am excited about Brad's intros is that they were bred in such a harsh climate that they should do well for we cold weather folk.

The flowers are so cute--I always think of a Dalmatian puppy when I see them. I finally acquired the plant a few years ago, and while I loved the blooms, the plant performed only so-so for me. I had it in two locations--one location it never bloomed; the other location bloomed but there were not a lot of blooms and the stalks were somewhat weak (leaning over). Darn!

Welcome sdayres2!

sdayres2

Well, that is a unique looking bloom. I sometimes wonder how some plants get awards. Hoping it does better for those that are growing it.

bluegrassmom said: I sometimes wonder how some plants get awards.

I'm with you on this one. I think the spots make the flower look diseased, but obviously the AIS judges don't share my opinion.

I think the judges seem to place high regard for new innovative features and colors, rather than for things like form, branching, fragrance, and bud count. I sometimes love the new colors but at the same time dislike the form of a particular award winner. And I am with you, Andrea, on disliking most "broken" colors, as looking diseased. The only one of those I have seen that I definitely want is Brad's Midwest Pizzazz.

I also find that the edging on luminatas unfortunately highlights even the smallest imperfections in form. And form is still a problem in the luminatas, including the award-winners among them.

It is interesting to watch the annual Tall Bearded Symposium popularity poll. The ones that seem to have lasted year after year in the top one hundred seem to have beautiful form, wheras many of the color innovations rise and then plummet. So I don't think I am alone in cherishing good form and branching. I am so glad that Ghio, and now Brad, put high emphasis on these in their breeding.

Check the AIS site and you will find all the irises which got an 2023 award for the year; i.e; 319 AIS judges voted (tho for not awards all the awards); The Dykes winner took only 33 votes to win.....a very low number.

DaisyDo said: I think the judges seem to place high regard for new innovative features and colors, rather than for things like form, branching, fragrance, and bud count. I sometimes love the new colors but at the same time dislike the form of a particular award winner. And I am with you, Andrea, on disliking most "broken" colors, as looking diseased. The only one of those I have seen that I definitely want is Brad's Midwest Pizzazz.

It is interesting to watch the annual Tall Bearded Symposium popularity poll. The ones that seem to have lasted year after year in the top one hundred seem to have beautiful form, wheras many of the color innovations rise and then plummet. So I don't think I am alone in cherishing good gorm and branching. I am so glad that Ghio, and now Brad, put high emphasis on these in their breeding.

I expect that the combination of broken color and space age form won the judges'
points for "Distinctiveness". I have no problem with a lot of the broken-colored varieties, but I think spots are just ugly. Here's another medal winner that I think is just horrible.

I thought Gesundheit was funny and appropriately named. Then I grew it for a couple of years and decided I didn't like it.

Some broken irises I like and some not. I like Batik and have it (or at least a noid that I think is Batik). Maybe because I love purple and white.



However, I do not care for the similar Peggy Anne or Fantasm:





I grew You're A Mess and didn't like it so much. Although this picture isn't too bad--others in my garden just didn't impress me.



Brad's Midwest Pizzazz looks good, and there is a possible future intro from MidAmerica that I saw on facebook a while back that I hope will be introduced. I'm also considering Sutton's Creative Confusion.

I'm not a fan of broken color on the whole. But the main drawback of them is they have poor form. I do have Peggy Anne. The colors are nice, I guess because I love purple, but the form is not very great. It's one of the first I'd cull if I need room. The only plus is that it is nice in bouquets because the broken pattern adds visual interest.

I was into broken color iris for a "minute" some years back when the idea was new and different.Today I am not a fan excuse the pun.
As you have pointed out,most all have poor form.

When I had Peggy Anne the form was fine. Bewilderbeast has great form. Millenium Falcon also looks to have great form. It is all in what you prefer as always.

Don't Doubt Dalton does have a nice scent. Almost every single Burseen iris I have ever had (and that is a whopping plenty) has had a nice scent. Though AIS judging does not usually include scent as a judged attribute.

Unfortunately, like many of you I have found Dalton to be an iffy grower in my garden. An older broken color of Tom's Holy Kosmoly grows like a weed so I had hoped for Dalton to do well.

Can't speak for the other folks idea about form, but for me: big, ruffly, round with closed standards. If an iris has those attributes, I love it in any color, and would love it if it had broken color too. Broken color as a term covers a lot of things - I do think the color of Peggy Anne is nice, kind of like a marble or maybe a bowling ball. I am not a fan of historics but for someone who is, the form disappointment would likely not be present. When I first got into iris, I was fascinated by the broken color, but as Derylin said, that passed rather quickly. Luminatas though have always remained the coloration that I can't resist. I suspect the form development is slower because they tend to lose the pattern when outcrossed with non-luminatas, based on the fact that I see the same luminatas in pedigree after pedigree. I ordered Moonglint this year, and am looking forward to seeing the form of it.

I think I liked the clean colors of Don't Doubt Dalton: clean white and bright purple. Some broken iris seem to have "grayer" colors. And as Leslie pointed out, DDD has a nice scent.
Looking at images in the database, there is some variability in form--sometimes with open standards, and variation on the horns (or lack of). I'm not a good judge of form, however.
Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Don't Doubt Dalton')

Some of Tom's iris, and a few other hybridizers as well, have a tendency to have the standards open as the temps go up. What might have tight standards here on a May morning will be full blown by 4 pm if there's heat and humidity.

I think that to tell if that is a possibility with a particular cultivar you can tell if you look at enough pictures of it posted by various people around the country. What I do is to Google the cultivar name, followed by the word "iris." Then switch to images in the browser. I just don't buy a cultivar if I see it has that tendency. It gets hot and humid here, so I don't want to see that happening in my garden. As a result, I avoid irises from certain breeders whose lines seem to have that problem. Often I can predict who has bred a particular cultivar just by looking at the awful wayward standards. I won't say who, but it seems to be excessively true of a couple of breeders.