Re: Dolce & Petit Lion (not Gabbana)

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Dear Bill: I am delighted to see another person interested in hybridizing with species. Brad Kasparek also has a hybridizing program involving aphylla as well as Stephanie Markham and Cindy Rust. The Craigs have done some fantastic work but in my mind have not been adequately recognized for all they have done.

If you are looking for immediate recognition this is not the path to take. New ideas have been always been scorned by the establishment. Years ago people discouraged ruffles and lace as deformities. Horned Iris are still dismissed by some purist. Over a decade ago I campaigned to created the category SPECX. Many still do not understand the goal of this class is to encourage innovation. It also allows every plant to come into the awards system. I am constantly explaining that it includes every hybrid iris and with the species Iris, all Iris fall within these two categories, all other classes are refinements and have narrower paradigms. Enough of my soapbox.

I hope to do some hybridizing with aphylla also. I have no goals that I am trying to develop but just interested in experimenting to try to understand the species and see what it may do. Like Cindy I intend to do some crosses with Arils and also MDBs to groups that I have a great fondness for.

If you are planning to use aphylla be aware that the species is quite variable. The common purple-flowered forms, often carry dominant genes for that color so that if you want to have a lot of color variation, you must seek out the white or paler purple forms. Another problem I have as a species advocate is that, when one uses a cultivar name people assume the plant is no longer a species. Cultivar names are the best way of distinguishing the different forms of a species but of course they are also used for hybrids. It drives me nuts that many species forms are disseminated under collection numbers like B-12 instead of a legitimate cultivar name. A registered cultivar names provides an official reference to a description and other information whereas the numbers and letters often get lost or transposed.

I hope you are tolerant of my rants. I am working on a project for SIGNA that will show how species are distributed throughout the country. If you would like to take part I will send you a one page survey.