Re: HYB: old vs new & breeding tougher pinks

<A pollen dauber has to be an optimist with a lot of patience. Francelle
Edwards  in AZ>

Also stubborn! <g>  I'm curious - do you grow PINAFORE PINK (Schreiner
60s iris)?  It has been a very robust grower here - huge blooms, a bit
early to be safe here, but fairly resistant to late spring freezes.  Let
me know if you'd be willing to trial a start of it.  You too, Jeff
Walters.   I'd like to know how it does in other difficult environments.

I think a super cross would be HAPPENSTANCE & PINAFORE PINK, if kids
were properly tortured during selection.  HAPPENSTANCE bloomed here its
first year, without protection from late freezes, but has been a wimpy
grower for me also, with miniaturized stalks & blooms the first year and
none this year.  It is alive, but not happy.  I may try it on top of the
hill to see if I can get some children.  A few seeds from PINAFORE PINK
this year, but nothing really appropriate to cross it with for a first
generation pink.   Some other interesting crosses might be of TRAITOR &
PINAFORE PINK or KNOTS' LANDING & PINAFORE PINK.  The babies of the
latter would all be too early here, but would probably take over the
world.  KL is a super tough grower here, producing west coast sized
rutabaga rhizomes even in my gravel.

I agree with your observation that only the tougher oldies have survived
to become popular & see about the same bell curve for new ones that you
do, only shifted towards the left :-(  However, the 'better' ones here
usually are not rampant growers - too vulnerable to stress - but chug
along at a steady rate.

We are getting ready for our annual club feeding frenzy this Thursday
where we combine the current club order (from those wonderful folks at
Superstition) with increases from previous club orders and hand them out
to club members to grow for future meetings and public sales.  For the
first time I can remember, I actually had some increase from club plants
to donate the first year after planting - HOLLYWOOD NIGHTS, VIOLET
RETURNS (I thought it was going to die after the spring freeze), REFLETS
SAFRAN, SULTAN'S HONEY.  None of these bloomed - caught by the late
freeze - but at least the plants are tough.  Some club plants that had
increase from previous years - AZURE SEA, ANNE MURRAY (the most reliable
bloomer here of club plants), DIME A DANCE, KEEPING UP APPEARANCES.  And
among the 'try this Linda' gimmes from various people - ABBEY ROAD is
threatening to take over the place (and bloomed well too), ROMANTIC
EVENING, and KATHLEEN KAY NELSON have also been strong tough growers
(but also didn't bloom due to late freeze).

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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