I have one seedling from SIGNA 06S297, open pollinated seeds from
Darrell Probst's plants from Guizhou Provence, China. The first bloom
opened today. I'm attaching a photo. It is about 9 cm (3 3/4 inches)
from the tip of a fall to the tip of the opposing standard. It is
considerably larger than Iris confusa and close to the size of the
Johnson Clone. I'm attaching a photo of the Johnson Clone also. I think
there is still debate as to whether the Chinese plants are really the
same species as George Watt collected in Manipur, India, but SIGNA
06S297 and the Johnson Clone are certainly the same species.
I have both my clone and one of my plants of the Johnson Clone in 20 gal
pots. I've brought them into the kitchen out of the rain where I can
hand pollinate them. No flowers have opened on the Johnson Clone yet
this year but there are lots of buds. The Johonson Clone has a
reputation for being infertile. It will be interesting to see if it
takes pollen from my clone.
Ken Walker
Concord, CA USA
