SPU: Seedlings

Hi Everyone!

The TB season is just about over here (the last one to bloom - the
appropriately named LAST HURRAH - opened its first flower on June 19) and
even the Siberians are fading fast, hastened on their way by the arrival of
our typical summer weather pattern - clear, sunny skies, moderately hot
temperatures, and bone-dry humidity. 

This clears the iris stage for the Spurias, of which I only grow a few
cultivars, but this year is also bringing the first bloom on my Spuria
seedlings. These are not the result of a planned cross, just the produce of
a spontaneous pod I collected from CLARK COSGROVE in 1991. This was almost
certainly a case of self pollination, as CC was the only Spuria to bloom in
my garden that year, and I am unaware of any other Spurias growing within a
radius of at least a quarter mile. Four of the 17 seedlings I have nurtured
through all these years (I won't mention all the mistakes I made in this
process that I am aware of, and can't mention the ones that I am unaware
of) are blooming. Two, not surprisingly, are light blue-violet like their
parent, one is white, and the last is a very pale, almost silver-gray,
violet. Nothing outstanding I am sure,
but it is nice to have something to look at after such an extended wait.

BTW, the common local name for Spurias among non-irisarians is *Japanese
Iris*, which gives rise to the irony that the iris whose true name in
*spurious* (i.e., spuria) is known here by a truly spurious name (i.e.,
*Japanese*). 

Jeff Walters in northern Utah  (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@cache.net
"This is the Place" - Utah Pioneer Sesquicentennial:  1847-1997
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