Re: Kupari etc.

Hi all,

Finally I have I. pallida 'Kupari' in flower; it is potted, so no 
problems with rot and whatever else.  I took some photos, so 
hopefully some will come out well, and I will be able to post them. 
Still using a 35 mm camera with slide film though, so got'a get them 
developed.  [Since all our old cameras are failing, we may actually 
really get a digital soon - maybe.]

Anyway, I was wondering what the registered height is for 'Kupari'?  
It's too newly registered for me to look up in my lists, I'm 
definitely slanted to historics in my literature, and I haven't kept 
up a subscription to the on-line version of the list.  

My potted plant topped out at about 28 inches; however, with some 
minor frost and wind damage to the stalk, the top is bent and some 
buds were aborted.  It could be that my stalk and flowers are a bit 
stunted.

I now know for sure that it is not the same as the white I. pallida I 
already grow.  One wiff tells that for certain. 'Kupari' is strongly 
grape scented, while my other white is only very faintly so.  I've 
got the 'Kupari' inside now, and the whole place is perfumed with 
just one flower open.  Also, it seems that 'Kupari' have stouter 
tubers; it flowers earlier (my other white will be at least two weeks 
till flowers open), but also the spathes on 'Kupari' are more brown 
(a distinct hint of brown on my other white, but very pale; decidedly 
brown on 'Kupari').  The flowers on this 'Kupari', this year are 
equally smallish and very similar to those of the other white in 
color and form.  I will neet to dig out photos to compare details, 
since there will be no overlap in bloom this year.

Perhaps both fit under I. pallida var. illyrica best, but I still 
haven't grown and flowered plants that come with that name to 
compare.  They certainly don't look like my three cengialtii 
cultivars.

Wanted to cross 'Kupari' with another strongly grape scented I. 
pallida to get the white genes together with the fragrant genes into 
a taller plant with larger flowers.  Could be that such a cultivar 
already exists from the wild, but I've never found it yet.  

The only candidate that fits on both counts that I have flowers open 
on now is I. pallida 'Dalmatica'. Alas not a single flower 
of 'Dalmatica' has a single grain of pollen this year.  Guess I'll 
save some 'Kupari' pollen for later bloomers. I've never noticed this 
sterility in 'Dalmatica' before, but in retrospect I'm not sure I've 
tried to use it as a daddy before.  It certainly sets pods, so is 
definitely female fertile.  Has anyone else noticed if 'Dalmatica' is 
perhaps always pollen sterile?  I thought it had been used for a 
pollen parent in some of the old TB crosses, as with 'Amas' and I. 
trojana, but maybe I've got that backwards.  

All the other I. pallida with open flowers are loaded with pollen, 
and one, the smallish unnamed blue that I have, is equally fragrant, 
but the silly thing is no larger, and it has a tinge of brown in the 
spathes (wanted one with pure white spathes - it's just prettier).  

Not exactly what I was shooting for, but along with seeds from 
my "other white" (I think also pollinated by the same smallish blue), 
I should have a line of white I. pallida in a couple of generations. 
I just won't have the size I want yet.  

Still hoping to get the larger size, with the fragrance, and cross 
the whites with some of the "near pallida" yellow diploids to see if 
I can get to a bright yellow grapey fragrant Iris that looks like a 
tall I. pallida.  

I know the yellow I. pallida goal was worked on before, but it seems 
that they never got there, with the yellow pale, and the plants and 
flowers still looking and smelling "hybrid".  When the tetraploid 
TB's came along, were "much better", and took the breeders by storm, 
the yellow diploid "pallida" idea seems to have been abandoned.  I 
still like the charm of I. pallida though.


Well, enough rambling for now.

Dave





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