Re: mesopotamica influence, winter dormancy

Last fall (when it was more like winter with temperatures regularly
below 20oF), very few of my TBs looked completely dormant (for TBs),
with previous season's foliage dead to the ground and only tiny little
nubs of new foliage less than an inch or so high.  SULTRY MOOD, WABASH,
and GREEN-EYED LADY are three of the few that I remember.  Temperatures
have been much milder lately, only rarely barely dropping to 20oF at
night.  Yesterday, I noticed that GREEN-EYED LADY is one of the tallest
TBs in the row with bright, fresh green foliage, and what feels like
flower stalks forming in the fans.

So if I looked at GREEN EYED LADY today, I would say she had a lot of
mesopotamica genes, but if I looked at her in December, I would say she
was mostly variegata.  Pallida seems to be less inclined to go fully
dormant here and is an early bloomer, so perhaps she is strongly
influenced by those genes.

PINK BLUE GENES quickly died here - certainly never bloomed.  Too much
rain and humidity?

I don't like it, but I have reached the conclusion that you can't really
tell how an iris will perform based only on its ancestry.  Unless its
ancestry indicates it was line-bred in your neighborhood. 

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
one gorgeous day of sun on Saturday - treasuring every photon
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