Re: HIST: 'Susan Bliss' and other pallida pinks

--- In iris-species@yahoogroups.com, Joan Cooper <joan78@c...> wrote:
"Not sure if this adds anything to the discussion, but I. pallida is 
hardy in Zone 4 and Snow Flurry isn't."--Joan Cooper, Roseville, 
Minnesota        Zone 4


Joan, I had quite a time keeping 'Snow Flurry' going in SW Idaho 
(zone 5 to 6) also.  It retained enough of its Mediterranean ancestry 
that it would respond to warm-ups during the winter, making it 
especially vulnerable to Botrytis.  I'd lose half or more of my stock 
each year.  Since I replanted annually, dividing down to single 
rhizomes and old mothers, some of which I split to encourage growth, 
I made sure I had some with which to make crosses left over.

Mary Tharp, about five miles north of where I lived, couldn't keep it 
alive at all.  She had registered a seedling as 'Ice Maiden' from 
(Purissima X Santa Barbara) only a year later than 'Snow Flurry's' 
registration that resembled it so strongly she was convinced that a 
stray pollen grain from 'Santa Barbara'was 'Snow Flurry's papa.  She 
just would not believe the published pedigree.  One thing about Mary 
Tharp, she sure had opinions.  One could not argue the issues with 
her.

'Ice Maiden,' by the way, is in the remote ancestry of at least three 
DM winners--far to the right hand edge of a pedigree 
chart.  'Victoria Falls' is one of them. That fact is hidden behind a 
Jake Scharff seedling, the parentage of which does not appear in the 
Check List, but does show in the HIPS site pedigree chart 
for 'Victoria Falls' back as far as one of 'Ice Maiden's' 
grandchildren, 'Sun Lakes.'  Opal Brown's 'Silver Trail' and 'Violet 
Favor' are descendants a few generations closer to the present.

Our Idaho climate grew wonderful irises unless they were of nearly 
pure Mediterranean ancestry--especially those heavy to  
*mesopotamica.*  Oddly, I never had a bit of trouble growing 
*trojana* or 'Blue Rhythm,' which I am convinced has a fair amount of 
*trojana* in its ancestry, although that does not show in the part 
of 'Blue Rhythm's' ancestry that is published.  The similarities to 
the *trojana* clone I had were striking.  None of these showed the 
tenderness of many of the "California Blues" such as 'Santa Barbara' 
or 'Sierra Blue.'  They and their close relatives just did not like 
our winters.  I suspect they would not have thrived in the 
Minneapolis/St. Paul area either.

Neil Mogensen  z 7 western NC





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