Re: HY:TB:Blue Beards

Betty, I think blue beards are hard to hang on to.  The number of light
colored irises with significatly blue beards seems fairly small.  Some
relatively recent outstanding examples include the DM awarded SONG OF NORWAY,
and an SA from England, ALIEN MIST, both in the tradition of LADY BLUE BEARD
and SWEET ALICE LEE.

In my seedlings from (Swingtown x Romantic Evening) all but one of the
seedlings (one out of eleven that bloomed) had medium to rich blue beards.
That one exception had a near-white beard.  It appears Romantic Evening has
both tangerine and blue beard genetics if this is as recessive as it seems to
be.  Swingtown itself has a very blue beard.

In the second generation outcrossed to tangerine-bearded cv's several medium
to rich blue beards appear in a cross with FOGBOUND, which has Honky Tonk
Blues in its ancestry, and whose beard is white, shading to pink in the
throat, and a significant number of very red ones in other crosses including
HAPPENSTANCE and VIENNA WALTZ.  The depth of color of these especially rich
red beards has probably been enhanced by a pale blue presence.  Others had
white or yellow beards.  So few seedlings reached bloom stage due to frosts
and wind plus hail snapping of tender bloomstalks before bloom that no attempt
to make counts was made.  That is a task for this year.

One observation, however, that was easy to make is that the depth of blue in
the beard directly correlated with the petal color of the flower as a whole.
Trying to separate the blue beard color out can obviously be fruitful,
considering the appearance of the several cv's noted in the first paragraph.
Perhaps locating modern-formed blue-bearded, light colored varieties to cross
with these has possibilities.  I look at Paul Hill's SDB's recently posted to
Iris-photos, and I think, wouldn't it be wonderful......  Just imagine the
sensation a pink iris with those blue beard colors would make in a good
quality 36-inch beauty.

Neil Mogensen   z 7  western NC

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