Blyth breeding-recent and otherwise

Juri Pirogov and others asked me what I meant about a hybridizer using the
more recent Blyth varieties rather than the older, as there is a substantial
difference in the breeding.

An article Barry wrote for *Tall Talk* cued me into this change, otherwise I
would have been depending only on what I was seeing rather than on data.

LOUISA'S SONG is an excellent example of what is under examination here.  The
ancestry comes from four distinct sources.

On the pollen side, ABOUT TOWN, itself a key breeder in Blyth's program, is
the result of a cross on Joe Ghio's BUBBLE UP, much used in recent years in
the production of top-of-the-line pinks in a number of different breeders'
programs.  It is, for example, one of the grandparents of Keith Keppel's LOTUS
LAND.

The pollen parent of About Town is ELECTRIQUE, one of the best to come from
the older Blyth line-breeding based on Sunset Snows and other materials.

The pod parent of LOUISA'S SONG is K. Turner's CLOUD BERRY from a rich
heritage of American pinks.  Its pod parent, CLOUD FIRE, combines the best of
D. Hall, Muhlestein, Vernon Wook and Nathan Rudolph pinks.  The pollen parent,
HOLIDAY LOVER, is from Keppel's MULLED WINE pollen on DANCE MAN, which in turn
is from Keppel's ORANGERIE used on Joe Ghio's SPECULATOR.

This gives an example of Barry Blyth's strategy in recent years.  Taking the
best of the best from his own earlier breeding he has outcrossed, then
outcrossed again to the best of tangerine-bearded breeding from U. S.
hybridizers.

I did not intend in my earlier post to mean that Blyth had abandoned his
earlier work.  What he has done is to blend it with strong, excellent work of
others.  LOUISA'S SONG represents a three-quarters out-breeding.  I have not
looked closely at the others I mentioned, but I believe they are similar.

By selecting the materials he has in LOUISA'S SONG he has included ancestry of
many and varied quality parents of the past, including SNOW FLURRY, NEW SNOW,
RIPPLING WATERS, GYPSY LULLABY, BABBLING BROOK--the list goes on and on
through many of the truly greats of iris history.  I believe it is this mix of
extraordinarily good ancestries that gives LOUISA'S SONG its awesome breeding
behavior and potential.

Neil Mogensen    z 7  western NC

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