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I grew both when they were first introduced.
Alpha Gnu seemed much more in tune with the Spec-X category and, to
be frank, I didn't like it very much even during my broken colour
phase. Something about the substance and form of the bloom.
That's an aesthetic valuation btw; otherwise it grew like a weed, put up a
ton of stalks, excellent bud count, good clumping/quaternary
structure... and lots of other people took pieces of it. It
outgrew a borer attack, not something we see frequently here.
Blueberry Filly behaved much more like an IB in our garden. The
colours were different - somewhat stronger - and the form was
better. It did not grow as well; not that it dwindled
and died,
but it didn't need division every other year. It would not have
stayed in the garden if it hadn't been a BC.
My personal feeling therefore is that Brad made an honest decision to
place where each should be placed, and that he made the correct decision
in both cases.
I do want to point out the use of 'Ostry White' as a parent. I
have used this species as a parent as well and I have found its children
to be wildly variable even within the same seed pod. If I ever get a
breeding program back together for bearded iris, I think I would use it as
a parent for everything, just to see how extensive the variance can
be. Others can chime in here; however I remember it as
being recessive in many traits.
I did enjoy the typo "Blueberry Philly". I was thinking of one
of those huge Philly steak sandwiches... with blueberries
sprinkled on top. The combination sets my stomach heaving.
New Year's Greetings from a very wet Ottawa,
Sandy Ives | 
