Re: SPEC: Setosa - Progress report

From: "wstone" <wstone@volcano.net>

Kathy;
    If a bloom or growth report is to long for anyone they have a delete key. I
myself
enjoy reading  the various reports and hopefully can add to my limited
knowledge...
Bill....Please keep it up
wstone@volcano.net
Stone's Iris Garden...3500'elev...Zone 7 California Sierra Nevada 55 miles SE of
Sacramento and melting
-----Original Message-----
From: Daryl/Kathy Haggstrom <hagg@alaska.net>
To: iris-talk@onelist.com <iris-talk@onelist.com>
Date: Thursday, July 16, 1998 7:53 PM
Subject: [iris-talk] 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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