Thanks Ann, Bill and Loïc.
Loïc, maybe crossing with tetraploids
wouldn't be a bad idea anyway.
After some e-mail discussions with Harald
Mathes and then seeing your
own seedlings from tet X dip, I tried a bunch
more of such crosses in 2009. I have a few seeds that look decent and also
many smaller ones.
I haven’t germinated any yet, but it's the most
encouraging seed
yield I've gotten yet from mixed ploidy
crosses.
Bill, your questions about CRICKET SONG's pod parent were
attached
to the "HYB: Red margins and PBF" thread so I'm wondering if you
thought that these two PBF and RM seedlings were sisters of
CRICKET
SONG. Those sister seedlings (sisters of each other)
are from a totally
unrelated line of breeding [(KUPARI x Iris
suaveolens var. rubromarginata)
X (KUPARI x ROSEMARY'S DREAM)]
X Iris purpureobractea.
CRICKET SONG
is derived from Iris cengialtii (clone K23A, I
think it was called) X
CLOWN PANTS. I had gotten that species
clone from Terry Varner's Ohio
Gardens. I no longer have it,
but I think it's currently considered to be
a close relative
of Iris pallida. It never rebloomed for me and as far as
I
know that particular clone has not been reported to rebloom
anywhere
else either. CLOWN PANTS is derived from a cross of
two other species I
got from Terry, Iris variegata
(Beardsley clone) and Iris mellita (which
is currently
considered to be Iris suaveolens var. mellita). The variegata
was reported to rebloom in some regions, but never did so for
me. A
little less than half of the years, CLOWN PANTS however
does send up extra
stalks a few weeks after the main flush is
finished and already maturing
pods. It has never fall rebloomed
for me or anyone else that I know of.
Greg McCullough (Iris City
Gardens) introduced it for me in 2006 and was
most recently
including it as a gift with orders because it wasn't selling
enough to keep up with the increase. So I'm pretty sure he still
has
plenty. I still have a small patch myself but it needs to be
dug and
replanted to separate it from neighboring irises with
which it's mingled.
As for offspring, at the risk of sounding
biased, I highly recommend CLOWN
PANTS as a breeder.
It's been very fertile both ways and has given me a
wide variety
in its offspring. I've only seen one seedling (other than the
Iris cengialtii babies) that has shown any tendency to rebloom
–
KUPARI x CLOWN PANTS - but I think that the right choice of
parent could
very well produce others. I would suggest trying some other cengialtii clones
and/or pallidas.
Sorry for such a long-winded reply on the "Photos"
Forum
Best wishes, Tom
