Hortus #2

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Here is part 2 of Hortus.

Dennis

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The Era of Iris Hybridizing Comes to a Close Part 2
Hortus Veritas

 =

By replacing one's soil with a few tons of sandy loam with lots of grit,
 using cloches or glass cold frames, and careful fertilizing and
 watering, the so-called tender lines of bearded irises can thrive in wet
 climates. And of course there is nothing to prevent anyone from
 moving to the sunnier areas of California. So why bother improving =

these lines to produce similar irises which will be less susceptible to rot=
?
People who have seen modern spuria irises growing at their best in
 areas such as California, and who know that most of these irises will
 not grow so well in the eastern and southern U.S., have hinted that =

spuria irises offer hybridizers challenging opportunities.  They have
 pointed out that many spuria species such as I. carthaliniae and
 I. musulmanica, and species hybrids like the cultivar BELIZE, do
 wonderfully in the Eastern U.S. =

One might ask: "Wouldn't it be worthwhile to develop strains
 of spuria hybrids that grow and bloom vigorously in the East?" =

 Surely trying to do this would be going against Nature! Anyone
 who has confronted Nature face to face knows you don't want =

to get into a fight with Nature. =

Iris authorities familiar with Japanese irises like to boast that =

all the many forms and colors of that type of iris come from a single =

species, i.e. Iris ensata.  By collecting from the wild as many
 different forms as could be found, and then breeding these
 various forms to get extremely large flowers of many different
 color patterns, the modern Japanese irises were made possible. =

 Some Japanese iris breeders seem to think that dwarf plants with
 all their parts in proportion would be nice - but would they? =

 Some people tend to think that it would be nice to develop cultivars
 which are more lime tolerant or have a wider spectrum of colors.  =

Do these objectives make sense to you? Get serious!
=00
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