Re: Are they really all different?

Donna; there are about 70,000 named cultivars.
Obviously many would look similar. It you can imagine
a ribbon that goes from pure white to black with all
shade of gray in between, then cut small pieces out of
the ribbon. In the 100 years of Iris hybridizing many
changes have been in small increments. These changes
would be very similar shades of gray on our ribbon.
But if you look at what the start was and where it has
prgressed to it is like black and white. A hybridizer
has to have the insigh, forsight, and good sight to
see the slight differences and their potential.
Usually there are 20-30 characteristics that are going
in different directions at once. The challenge is to
pick the right parents that will continue improvements
without loosing ground on other characters. You can
not always get where you would like to go in one giant
leap and so we have many irises that are necessary
similar flowers to make progress.
--- Donna Millican <donnamil@yahoo.com> wrote:

> As I said, I'm totally new to this so this might be
> a silly question, but here goes. I've been looking
> at many websites and catalogs and books and I cannot
> believe all the different irises. Yet so many look
> very similar. With many people involved in
> hybridizing, does it take a geneticist to really
> tell which iris is which or can a knowledgeable
> fancier tell them apart?
> 
> 
> Donna in WA zone 5
> 
>
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