Re: HYB: Celebration Song seedlings

Lots of food for thought there Neil.  I really appreciate it.

Of course, all of your suggestions assume a lot of things that may or
may not come together - that the cultivars you mention will live here,
that the season will cooperate and let them bloom, that they will
produce viable pollen/set pods.

For example, one of the ones you mention, BREAKERS, is notorious for
living but not blooming throughout Region 7.  Ditto for me.  I got rid
of it after 5 or 6 years of watching the leaves grow.  Another one,
MOTHER EARTH, limps along here barely alive (thumb sized little
fragments of rhizome), has bloomed twice in however many years I've had
it (ten?), and there is no way it would set pods or produce viable
pollen.   Maybe on the ridge top.

Regardless, your suggestions would appy to future crosses.  What I'm
trying to figure out right now is what to use from the pollen stored
last year and/or available right now.  As others in difficult gardens
have reminded me, I better try to get pods this year - it may be the
best chance I get for who knows how many more years.

Pollen I have from non-plic rebloomers  - IMMORTALITY, TEA LEAVES,
HARVEST OF MEMORIES, ENGLISH COTTAGE, SUMMER OLYMPICS, VIOLET MUSIC, the
amoena IMM X CS, plus a few other really old ones that I don't want to
mix in with these seedlings.  Not a whole lot to choose from, certainly
nothing that adds much interesting to the mix.

More to choose from among the rebloom carriers and non-rebloomers
(especially older ones than I'd really like to be mixing with this
cross).

Just for the heck of it, I put some pollen from the SDB "Being Busy
lookalike" seedling....Talk about stirring the pot!

So, I'm not fishing for four t's in this batch of crosses, just would
like to keep from diluting things so much that there is no chance of
ever having any pink show up in future crosses.  Yes, I think I have to
live to at least 90 so I can see some children with all the traits I
want <g>.  And that assumes I get annual turnaround from seed set to
bloom!

Your post is making me think a little harder than my foggy allergic
brain wants to right now <g>.....but diet Coke & a nap will help that
situation.

Thanks again Neil - so good to have you back here talking again!!

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index