Re: HYB: traits passed on?

It's always hard to know what will happen with bearded iris crosses, but as you've already figured out, experimenting takes a <long> time to get results. And the <probabilities> of getting an improvement in bloom appearance get more and more stacked against you the more generations of deterioration of form, size, etc that you get.
In the "survivor" crosses here, especially those involving Zurbrigg tough rebloomers and older cultivars, the "default" traits seem to be small flowers, short stalks, lots of foliage and few bloom stalks. So my guess has been that those are recessive traits, more or less. If that's true, then selfing won't ever get me away from those traits, & even outcrosses with cultivars with 'the best' traits ('the best' usually refers to flower flower and stalk traits) will only give small probabilities of getting back to something as good as the original parents.
So I'd say yes and no (mostly no). In northern MN, I think you are in a climate where survival and performance might have some value worth keeping? Plus experimenting is always fun & educational, teaches you skills in observation and technique. But if your primary goal is to have blooms with modern appearance, definitely compost this bunch and keep exploring.
<What I am wondering is, could this hybrid pass on the better characteristics 
of either of it's parents to a future generation? Or will this cross likely
just further regress in future generations and just ruin anything better I
outcross it to.... steve m.
zone 4b n e minnesota>

Linda Mann
TN
survived another annual rhizome sale!

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