HYB: Seedling metamorphosis
From: Sharon McAllister <73372.1745@compuserve.com>
Message text written by Linda Mann:
>
Would some of you who have had experience with seedlings and the way
they 'metamorphose' talk about this some? It's been mentioned here, but
not discussed enough for me to know what it means.
Are all seedlings different their first year of bloom? What's
different? How does it change (abruptly the next year or gradually over
several years)? Do some charactersitics take longer to change than
others? Are the changes only related to plant habit or do they apply to
bloom color and pattern as well?
And anything else you can think of.
Such as, does anybody know or care to speculate about <why> these
changes happen (re: plant morphology/physiology)?
<
First, I don't believe that iris are subject to the type of change we
normally call metamorphosis -- like insects that go through egg, larva,
pupa and adult stages. Iris are more like humans who mature & change
gradually. Just think of all the magazine & newspaper puzzles that have
been published challenging us to identify the baby pictures of celebrities.
I certainly see less difference in pictures of maiden & mature bloom of my
seedlings than in photos taken of me at ages 5 & 50!
But there often IS a difference.
Color can differ with growing conditions. For example -- pink isn't going
to change into blue, but a lavender pink can tend toward pink under one set
of condtions and toward lavender in another. I selected CLOSE APPROACH as
the pinkest I'd ever seen of the type -- but shade is at a premium here and
it had always been grown in full sun or filtered shade. When I later tried
it in a bed with almost full shade it was much more lavender. [Bear in
mind that "full shade" in southern NM is much like "full sun" in some other
parts of the country.] This also happens with named cultivars, but should
not be as pronouced as with seedlings because introductions have
theoretically been selected with stability as one of the important
criteria.
Those with biennial tendencies may manage a spectacular maiden bloom, then
need a recovery period before blooming again. Some years ago, the
unchallenged favorite of garden visitors was a seedling from KOKO KNOLL X
WHIRLWIND ROMANCE. It had the colors of KOKO KNOLL, the form of WHIRLWIND
ROMANCE, was much larger than either, with impressive substance. It did
not even bloom, however, the following year. It later stablized, blooming
reliably -- but was never again as large as on maiden bloom. It is still
under consideration, but I must say that it's hard to forget its early
performance and judge it objectively in its mature form.
Perhaps of greatest importance to the hybridizer, fertility may take
several years to develop. I treat viable pollen on maiden bloom as a
welcome bonus, but don't start testing seriously until the seedling has
reached the final stages of evaluation.
Sharon McAllister
73372.1745@compuserve.com
<
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