SPEC: Setosa - Progress report

From: Daryl/Kathy Haggstrom <hagg@alaska.net>

I hesitate to write a bloom report, as I know how boring these can be,
especially for a limited interest species, so I'd rather call this a
progress report :-) I wanted to warn people who might find this dry.

The bloom season is winding down, and I found several interesting
plants.

I made a flying trip into Atlin, British Columbia, Canada to stay with a
retired professor, and went on several iris expeditions in that area. I
never found large stands as I can here, but found them thinly scattered
with some consistency in various bogs. I was hard pressed to decide
whether these iris were I. setosa or I. setosa ssp interior, as they
seemed to possess characteristics of each. I dried several
representative plants to bring with me, where I can perhaps confirm the
type.

Flying back I followed the Alcan Highway through Yukon Territory, and
there found an interesting specimen. It was of typical height and form,
except the coloring and patterning was very reminiscent of I. hookeri
with the very heavy veining on a mid-light lavender base extending into
the throat and signal, obscuring the definition of the signal area. I've
never found this color patterning especially pretty, but it is
interesting on a tall plant, and was irresistable to me because of its
"hookeri" look.
Also, to add a note to the Canadian import/export question of several
months ago. At the Alaska/Canadian border, I declared four iris setosa,
and there were no problems with the plants. They were far more
interested in whether I carried firearms or potentially, drugs, though I
was treated very well.

I now have a streaky petalled setosa, which is a seedling from a cross
of two semi-ugly streaked wild ones. The new one is superior to its
parents, but far from what I envision for it, which is the wonderful
streaking of some of the I. ensata photographs I see. It is the first
step in that direction for me. Hybridizing is primarily one step at a
time, is it not? I have almost given up finding a plant that makes
several leaps at once.

I had received a report of a setosa found growing last year above
treeline by a mountain ridge. I went to check out this report and that
is all it turned out to be. There was no iris, only a gentian, which is
what I think our friend saw (I wondered how he could mistake them, but
decided he's a mountain climber, not a botanist, and all he was really
seeing was that mtn peak) On the plus side, it was on a gorgeous high
plateau with views of a large glacier across the valley. 

I have made several crosses among three smokey lavender/wines I found
growing in close proximity. The color is unusual for a setosa, being
somewhat sophisticated, but needs to be accentuated/strengthened. As
above, one step at a time.

I now have nine setosa with varying sizes of rudimentary standards. One
which finally bloomed this year has proved to be the most attractive,
and gives me hope that this might be a viable form to pursue. So far,
most I have rarely encountered in the wild have been semi-unattractive
oddities, but I've always brought them home and crossed them anyway. We
will see where it goes. I don't wish to lose the distinct setosa look by
giving it large standards (not that these could ever go that far).

I'm sorry this has been so long. There were other oddities etc, but it
would all take too long. I just wanted everyone to see what's going on
in setosa-land. I'd definitely be interested in what everyone else's
season has produced for them.

Best regards,
Kathy Haggstrom
Anchorage, Alaska (Zone 3)
hagg@alaska.net (do I need to put this here?)


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