Re: Re: HYB: Rebloom

Well said !!!!!!!!
I'm trying to make heads and tails of all the chat lately. As reblooming
chairperson I feel I need to share at out next meeting and frankly I was
getting lost.  This clarifies. Thanks.

Linda in CW AZ
-------Original Message-------

From: J. Griffin Crump
Date: 02/07/08 13:09:42
To: iris@hort.net
Subject: Re: [iris] Re: HYB: Rebloom

----- Original Message -----
>
> Do I understand that no one is willing to introduce anything until they
> achieve this ultimate goal of "modern/Decedance form" and rebloom??Which
> zones??
>
> Betty Wilkerson/Bridge In Time/KY/zone 6 . . . talking about it.? >
>

Betty  --  I'll be introducing five irises this year through Winterberry
Gardens, four TBs and a BB.  Just one of them is a rebloomer.   None is of
"Decadence form".  They are:

POOH'S DREAM (Winesap X Opportunity), TB
ALLELUIA (Sldgs involving Spirit of Memphis, Wabash and Congo Song X
Saturday Night Live), TB
THAT CERTAIN SOMETHING (Robe of Royalty, Chief Quinaby, Dusky Dancer,
Wabash), TB
PETITE VIOLETTE (Summer Olympics x Lumalite), BB
STEALTH FIGHTER  (Titan's Glory x G95W2:(Holy Night x Sweeter Than Wine), TB
& RE

All of these are modern form, of course, but not of the "Decadence" style.
If you check the Registrations, you'll see that they've all been registered
for 5 or more years.  So, why have they not been introduced earlier?
Because, with the exception of Petite Violette, they have all been slow to
mature or slow to increase.  So, why are they being introduced now?  The
short answer is: Because people like them.  The longer answer is that, in
addition, each of them has a uniqueness.  With early-blooming Alleluia, it's
the color  -- just right for Easter.  Pooh's Dream is also the color --
big, tailored and blending light and dark honey tones.  That Certain
Something has a rare texture, something like suede, with a color that Keith
Keppel described as "smoky plum".  Stealth Fighter, a deep purple with
flaring near-black velvet falls, has repeat-bloomed once, in addition to
reblooming in the fall.  I don't think there are too many near-black velvets
in the reblooming ranks.

As Ginny Spoon and I discussed which cultivars to introduce, I hesitated on
Pooh's Dream, specifically because its flower form is not the latest
fashion.  Maybe, I said, its time is past.  But we agreed, in the end, that,
if it were not introduced now, a handsome flower would never see the market.

So, there you are  --  full disclosure, as the media types like to say.

I should add (full disclosure) that, although the rest have been good
increasers once they matured, I have found That Certain Something hard to
grow here in my own garden.  It grows better at Winterberry than here in its
home territory.  I'm at sea level.  Winterberry is in the mountains.  Its
sibling, BULBUL AMEER, is also hard for me to grow, but Anita Moran tells me
it's doing fine at her place in hilly Maryland.  Maybe the climate is the
difference.

By the way, look at the potential rebloom genes in Pooh's Dream, Alleluia
and Petite Violette.  I haven't tried exploiting them yet.  Some of you who
have them might think about it, if you're so inclined.

So, Betty, some of us are willing to introduce irises that aren't of the
latest fashion, but that we think have a particular merit.  I hope our
numbers don't decrease, because I, for one, prize variety.  --  Griff

Zone 7 along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, in Virginia

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