Mary Lou, if you look deep in the throat of Feed Back you will see the
tangerine. I grew Blue Moonlight soon after Monty introduced it. I'm
sure the problem came from the growing conditions, although everything
else seemed to grow to height in the Alvaton garden. (much more so
than here) I really should try it again. Rebloomers have a hard time
here.

Fertility can be fickle. Everything can suddenly line up, even in
those renown for being sterile. If you think it has potential, keep
trying.

Betty Wilkerson
Zone 6 K*@aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: MryL1 <M*@msn.com>
To: iris-photos <i*@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, May 25, 2012 12:36 am
Subject: [iris-photos] HYB: 2nd year sprouts for intense color

Â
What I have as Blue Moonlight apparently grows taller than what
Betty has as BM. What I have may not be BM, but was bought
under the name and matches the description, including "cream beard
heavily tipped yellow orange."Â
Â
Even though it's parents, Feed Back and Brother Carl, show no evidence
of t factor, recessives can, of course, carry along, unexpressed,
indefinitely.
Â
Sharpshooter has not been a notably strong grower here, either. As with
so many bred in different climates, settingÂa pod on it has not been
possible.
The stalk I brought home from a show was much better than any I've had
here, so may just not like my garden.Â
Â
It could be that the difficulty in setting pods stems from the plant not
being fully acclimated to conditions here. I know it can take up to 3
years,
but by that time, I've generally given up and moved on. I'm still
thinking
about that pod on Juke Box Hero. I had to have tried at least 30 blooms
the first 3 years with no takes, while it bloomed normally the whole
time.
We're having a very dry spring this year - maybe that's what it likes.
Â
Here's one of only 2 2nd year sprouts of Come What May X Lunar
Whitewash.
The other has a spent primary. All first year sprouts were white with
a little
yellow except one, which was the palest variegata I've ever seen.Â
Hafts
are darker than they look in this photo.
Â
Mary Lou, near Indianapolis
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