Re: Rot and borer resistant iris: a myth?

>  >> How about starting a breeding program with hardy historics...?
>  >> How about looking at the breeding that is in the cultivars that are
>  >> Duykes winners and other winners and see what is in their parentage
>  >> and figure out whether hardiness and resistance to rot is a factor?
> 
> I'm a HIPS member, and 90% of my iris order list for this season are pre-1940s
> cultivars.  With thousands and thousands of bearded iris in commerce, I have no
> intention of hybridizing; thought that might have come across fairly clearly in
> a previous message.  I'm hoping to select from what's out there.  I've

Well, while you don't have to hybridize, you *could* at least keep
notes on which cultivars did not survive your garden, and the
cause of their demise, as well as any anomalies (very hot, very cold,
dry, wet, etc.) and if enough people did this, perhaps a trend would
emerge that the purists could then try to explain with breeding :-)
and test their hypotheses by then attempting to breed in, rather
than out, resistance.  I think there's probably a large data base
of experience that could be compiled to chew the sausage from
the bottom up.

> warning against with daylilies are much more serious than simple lack of
> hardiness in the north; they include rot of established clumps and increased
> susceptibility to insect pests previously unheard of with hems. You're
> certainly right about newer iris being refreshingly inexpensive compared with
> the madness in the daylily world, but I'm sticking with the older cultivars in
> any case. (Though I wait with open ears to hear how Clarence's LADY BIRD
> JOHNSON does for anyone; what a stunner.)

I have to wonder about "planned obsolescence" :-) I mean, if you want
people to buy new clothes, new cars, etc. you must obsolete them either
through fashion, new and improved stuff, and / or the old one dies.
These all could apply to hybrids, when so many are introduced each
year at such high prices.  If the older ones died off to make more
room for the sexier new ones, that might be considered better.

Not being paranoid, just saying that breeders in this world do
not have to consider the cloth that their lilies are cut from ...
rather how fancy does it look and how much can I sell it for?

-- 
Amy Moseley Rupp
amyr@mpd.tandem.com, Austin, TX, zone 8b
Jill O. *Trades
Mistress O. {}
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