Re: HYB: Seedling Color Characteristics

At 05:08 PM 7/14/97 -0600, you wrote:
>Dear List,
>He had a beautiful, golden
>yellow TB that he produced by crossing CHIEF HEMATITE x WHITE LIGHTNING. 
>My question is how could he end up with a dark yellow by crossing a dark
>red by a very white iris?  Do seedlings take after their parents in color
>in most cases or will you get who knows what?  He had a picture of this
>beautiful TB.  He also had a very white TB with a slight lavender tint that
>he got by crossing CHIEF HEMATITE with another color, I think it was a
>purple.  So there you have a red crossed with a purple and you get a white!
> Please, explain this.  We were under the impression that like produces
>something like.  It seems this is not dependably so?
>Sharlyn, anticipating what our seedlings might look like

Sharlyn,

I'm not surprised that he could get whites or yellows out of crosses with
darker irises.  It is not uncommon for darker colored flowers to carry the
genetic material necessary to produce lighter colored or white flowers in
the next generation.  This is just a genetic generalization which I would
make about many flowering plants.  Also most, if not all, modern TB's are
tetraploids and, as a result, have additional complexity associated with
the expression of various flower colors, shapes, and other plant
attributes.  I would guess that this is why serious hybridizers start their
own "inbreeding" programs - so that they can better predict the outcome of
specific crosses.:)

Anyway, I just loved CHIEF HEMATITE this spring.  It was one of the most
beautiful tall beardeds in my garden - a dark, rich "red".  The plant was
also very vigorous.  The moment I first say this one, I decided that it was
a keeper!  I wish that it would rebloom for me this fall, but I recall
others in colder climates saying that it often gets caught by frosts before
it has a chance to rebloom in the fall.  I live in a warmer climate, so
maybe there is hope.

-Donald (still digging TB's!!)


Donald Mosser
Member of AIS, HIPS, SIGNA, SSI, SLI, SPCNI, and IRIS-L
dmosser@southconn.com
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/5570

North Augusta, South Carolina, USA
On the South Carolina and Georgia Border
USDA Zone 7b-8
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