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
