Re: HYB: wide falls

wmoores wrote:

> Is it because
> getting such width is a challenge for hybridizers, or their popularity hasn't caught on
> yet?

I hope it's the latter.

> Is such width 'too much of a good thing?'  Do all irises have to be that wide?

I hope not!  I just want them for hybridizing with older but tough, strappy irises.

> Would a lacy one with such width open properly?  Are these just a passing fashion?I'm in the
> middle of the road, and don't think I would want  a garden full of 'fat irises.'  (I'd have to
> buy more fertilizer).  I like a variety.  ......I still like to see the identifiable fleur de
> lis form in an iris.

Me too!  I hope that as time goes on and we get more and more diversity of form in TBs that
there will always be room for new introductions with all kinds of forms - strappy, droopy,
horizontal, vertical (?) falls, open, closed standards, flat form (novelty).  Same goes for
substance (I really don't want iris blooms that are so stiff they imitate plastic), single vs
multiple socketed blooms, lace, ruffles etc etc.

My taste runs towards falls with hafts that are wide, but not touching.  If I hold my little
finger horizontally between the falls, with the tip of my finger touching the base of the
standards, that's about the width I like.  My pinkie is about 1/2 inch wide.  I don't like the
spatulate shaped ones or the ones that are too round - somewhere in between.  Right now, a
lot/most of my seedlings have a gap that is roomy for my thumb - about twice the gap I'd like.

So, I figure touching hafts crossed with my wide-gapped seedlings might give a width I'd like.
??

Linda Mann east Tn USA zone 7/8

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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