Re: HYB: CULT: adaptability/microhabitat - long

Well said Neil.   I finally got around to reading thru some of
Mallorn/hort.net's newly archived posts from the space age and species
forums.  Reading your biographical summary, I was reminded of your
getting back into irises after your meeting with my dear friend Julie
Allen.  She came to the 'slough of despond' (despond <is> a better word
choice than despair) from California, near Maryott and Ghio, and still
is in shock after all these years here.  Like you, she remembers what a
really happy TB can look like.

I too love the TBs more than any other type iris, and have since I was
around 10.  I've been collecting irises here since the early 70s, when I
sent off my first order to Rancho de la Flor de Lis.  I still grow some
of the irises I ordered back then.

Some of the irises I bought grew more or less like germanica and pallida
here (blooming and growing in spite of total neglect), but I was
disappointed that some died almost immediately, even with some care.

That was the beginning of my passion for figuring out which cultivars to
buy that would be carefree here.

In 1996, when this forum started, I was delighted because I naively
thought that now I would be successful in figuring it out.  Hah.  The
rot queen in the kingdom of despond was crowned.

However, Lloyd Zurbrigg, Clarence Mahan and others convinced me that
pedigree study could help up the odds for survival of purchases here.
So one of the first things I did was track pedigrees of the irises I
already had that were doing the best here.

I found a number of ancestors common to all of them, purchased several
of those irises, just to see if they also did well here.  Not all of
them did well, & I couldn't find some, but most at least lived without
extra care.

By the time I tried most of these ancestral irises, I had abandoned
expecting new purchases to grow in mixed beds and was growing them in
'corn rows', herbiciding with Roundup down the middles.

Sharon McAllister encouraged me to breed my own, starting with my old
favorite, pallida, which had already given me one enjoyable seedling.
Clarence also encouraged me, warning that working with species is not
for the faint of heart.

These days, I rarely lose a new purchase <IF> it comes from lines that
have done well here in the past.  Not all of them do well (some may have
bloom frozen out, slow to increase, etc), but they usually live.  The
only <new> irises I usually lose to rot these days are my own seedlings,
and irises given to me or purchased from pedigrees I don't know much
about.

So, I will never surrender either! But I am convinced genetic adaptation
to my growing conditions is possible.

Howwwever...., the newest, best, most interesting, often recessive
breaks in form, pattern, color etc are rarely (never?) going to be among
those irises that thrive here.  My pallida cross descendants are
certainly not in that realm and that isn't my goal even for the more
modern crosses I'm making.

Neil, I expect you to be producing some award winning irises, & maybe
you already have with POWER WOMAN.  My own expectation is to have the
best of my tough weedy irises around in backyard gardens, never at the
cutting edge of hybridizing, but easier to grow in this climate, & maybe
now and then one worth adding to the gene pool of better things <g>.

<.....I can hardly believe how poorly bearded iris grow in western NC.
 I feel almost like I am being forced to choose--to fight the natural
habitat and work constantly to create the conditions needed for quality
bearded iris
 growth--or throw in the towel [sic, I'm sure he meant to say <trowel>],
so to speak, and go with what *does* thrive under our conditions--*Iris
verna,* *cristata,* and other Evansias, Siberians, and with ample water
seasonally applied, the LA's and JI's.  ...  That's not the direction I
want to go. ....bearded irises, especially TB's, are my first love and
have been since I was five years old.

......I must admit I do understand Linda Mann's "slough of despond," but
I refuse to surrender.  I doubt the solution lies in genetic
adaptation.  I think it lies simply in our response to the need to
create cultural  conditions favorable to our TB's. Neil Mogensen  z 7 in
western NC>


--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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