Re: Border Beardeds-

In a message dated 07/02/97  02:45:49, Rick states his opinion that:

<< most border beardeds
 are tall bearded runts and they grow like runts.  I know that there are
 a few hybridizers who deliberately breed for this class but most do
 not.  These usually are accidents of tall bearded breeding.  Small
 plants and stalks and sometimes oversized flowers. >>

I disagree.
Some BBs are excellent growers here (although I have not tried many) -
probably a similar percentage to other classes.
Perhaps breeders SHOULD be working with this class - I thought that some were
(Ensminger and Kasparek? - are you there Brad?). I feel that there is much
scope for "improvement" - they are very useful as garden plants, particularly
since they are not too large and bloom after the IBs here. IBs and BBs are
increasing in popularity at an exponential rate with our customers, as they
discover that they generally provide neat clumps with lots of bloom, and are
better suited to small UK gardens. One of my favorite all time irises is an
IB - AZ AP - can't be beat here (although I'm sure that many listers have not
found it to do so well in some climates).

Graham Spencer
Croftway Nursery,UK
croftway@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/croftway/
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