Re: [ SPEC: CULT: Setosa seedlings]
Chuck Chapman wrote:
> The shorter plants and the taller ones are from the same cross allthough
> I
> also have very short ones from canadesis (or I hookeri) crosses. The
> crosses
> with the wide variation had as one parent a short canadesis (10") that
> has
> been collected from Newfoundland by a Canadian Iris Society (CIS) member.
> The
> other parent was a setosa from SIGNA seed growen by another CIS member.
> Her
> setosa must have been open polinated as there was a wide variation in
> plants
> and one of them turned out to be a sibtosa (interspecies cross of
> siberian and
> setosa) and sterile and no seeds.
Quite a varied parentage - the two extremes of the setosa spectrum. The
SIGNA seed parent: if it has some Siberian genes in its siblings, does that
mean your parent plant does too? Or does the siberian cross always produce
a sterile plant, so that the plant you used inherited no siberian genes?
> The short plants came from F2 generation of
> sib to sib cross. Thus the short size would likely to be from the
> canadesis
> form with some modifier effects. The short varieties can be very short of
> bud
> count and I focus on ones that have 5 or more buds. The very tall ones
> have
> 11-13 flowers on 3 branches plus terminal with occasionally 3 terminal
> buds
> and several double budded ends and occasional secondary branches.
I need to correct (or clarify) what I wrote you earlier about the above - I
used the term three branches when what I meant was the terminal flowers and
then two smaller branches below that. Is this referred to as tow or three
branches? You mentioned three branches above - do you mean three smaller
branches BELOW the terminal group? (I'll get this straight in no time - I
can tell...)
Also 11-13 flowers on 3 branches strikes me as very floriferous.
> I have
> several at about 20-24" in height with 9-11 buds. Each has to evaluated
> in
> comparison to others of the same general height. I continue to use these
> lines
> as they produce such a wide variation that gives lots of room to move in
> several breeding directions. I beleive that there are some Japanese
> setosa
> that are quite tall but still not as tall as some that I have grown.
40" is impressively tall, taller than I've ever seen, and also taller than
I've heard of. I imagine that size gives it real presence. I hope this is
one line you continue to pursue.
>
> There are also a tendency for some to produce flowers over a long period
> of
> time and this is also noted. I hadn't made any particular noes of branch
> count
> so I'm relying on memory.
Actually, I am somewhat also. I've been looking at my plant charts after
reading your email and realize I need to come up with bud and branch counts
on almost my entire inventory. It will be a good fall chore - I'll have to
give you a more correct and revised version in the fall.
> Could you provide some description of plants that you have seen and
> cultivated?
Mine sound very similar to yours, except for the very tall and very short
ones. My bud/branch counts on all except the most floriferous sound lower
too. I have the whites, pinks, lavenders, maroons, blue-purples, and
dark-podded you describe. Of the darks, the ones I've been marketing a bit
are a line without signals (a reduced yellow line coming out of the falls
instead). I don't think they have as good a carrying presence in a
landscape as one with a nice bright signal, but they are handsome and
dark-looking, and most importantly for selling, unusual. I've also been
marketing a few of the maroon or cranberry ones, which sell quicker than
any other. I have a six-petal, and a lavender colored bloom with dark
purple style-arms ( I believe you said you had that one), which is striking
looking, but mine has falls that always look kind of ratty around the
bottom, so I haven't done much with it (it has dark pods also). I have
several of the form platyryncha, with the little standards, but I really
think they are stump-ugly, though I am working with them anyway. I assume
they will be somewhat easy to improve, though that is supposition. I just
figure anything will be an improvement. I found a broken-color variety in
the wild last summer, but have no idea about whether it will be able to set
seed, or stay true, etc. for a year or more. I have various streaky, veined
semi-odd ones - you know, the gamut of all the types you can discover in
the field and drag home :-) Anyway, you get the idea.
Kathy Haggstrom
Southcentral, AK USA
zone 3
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