Thanks Loïc and Ann. It's mostly a stepping stone for
me (as a breeders iris) but I have to confess that
[especially with hardly any other irises in bloom] I
really enjoy seeing these little old-fashioned ones.
Ann wrote: "I've collected a number of Pallidas that I
have been trying to cross with others, so far
unsucessfully. Any advice you can give me?"
Ann, what have you tried crossing the pallidas with so
far? Crosses with most modern Tall Bearded irises
should be rather difficult, although not impossible. I
haven't tried very many of this type of cross, but did
get a few seeds once from "Odoratissima" (pallida) by
using pollen of an orange modern TB. The majority of
the pallida crosses I've been doing have been with
other diploid/24 chromosome types. These tend to be
other species (like variegata, suaveolens, cengialtii,
etc.) or older type Miniature Tall Beardeds (not the
newer type coming from Iris aphylla hybridizing) or
relatively old historics. Have you got any possible
mates of these types?
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