HYB: Chuck Chapman (long)

From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>

We made our second visit to Chuck's garden last weekend (minus kids and
minus migraine).

We spent almost all our time at the main planting of medians and ran out of
time to visit the seedling bed at the old place.

While Chuck is technically is zone 5, I think that he is really in zone 4a
if not zone 3.  The SDBs were just past peak, a smattering of IBs were in
bloom and few early TBs.

As Chuck wasn't home yet, I spent some time wandering the beds and checking
out some varieties that I have never grown.  Here are a few that caught my
eye.  VAVOOM I recognized right away.  This was the star at the Dearborn
convention.  I recall massive clumps of bright yellow amoenas.  In Chuck's
garden, they had just been transplanted but the colour still drew the eye.
Another yellow that caught my eye was OLADI.  This one is a yellow bitone
with blue style arms.  OVEREASY is a nice ruffled yellow amoena that is
diamond dusted.

For those who like contrasts, ACEY DEUCY has lovely mid-blue standards and
beards with honey glazed falls.  HUBBUB has fabulous variegation in blue and
blue.  This has been a good grower everywhere that I've seen it.  For some
reason, I still don't have it.  LIVE COALS is a bright ruffled yellow with a
large bright red spot and yellow beard.  The name says it all.

Then are the odd colour combinations.  You either love them or hate them.
TROUBADOUR'S SONG has a nice blue wash with green edges and standards and
white beards.  If you like blue and green combinations, this is a nice one.
Then there is SWEET THING.  I think this one is colour overload.  This is a
purple plicata with white ground on the falls and yellow ground in the
standards.  The falls are edged in tan and dotted purple.

PRINCESS BLUEBEARD was the last one to catch my eye when Chuck arrived.
This a pale diamond-dusted coral with medium blue beards.  Very nice
tailored form.

We saw more great SDB seedlings and some IB seedlings.  Some are worth
considering for introduction while others would make great breeding stock.
Chuck's hybridizing program doesn't seem to produce many really ugly ones
(like Sandy's Pink Pele beepod).

The SDB that I liked best had ruffled yellow standards and a yellow crinkled
edge on white falls.  This crinkling showed up on a few of Chuck's seedling
but this was consistent so that it didn't look like an odd fold on the
falls.  The standards are slightly open and it is diamond dusted.  The
flower size was highly variable from clump to clump though.  The smaller
blooms showed very intense colouring.  I'll be looking to see how this one
does next year.

Another SDB that caught my eye was violet with a darker spot, deep purple
beards and lightly ruffled.  This one was floriferous and vigorous.

Then there was the purple with a darker spot that had yellow style arms
flushed purple at the ribs -- what a contrast.  It was a great looking
clump.

The lavender SDB with a red violet spot and dark purple beard was still in
bloom from two weeks ago with promise of at least another week from the buds
in evidence.

I am not particularly fond of tan on irises but a purple plicata with tan
edges on the falls and style arms caught my eye.  It was diamond dusted too.
This one had just been lined out and each clump had a bloom stalk with 4 - 9
fans per clump.

Then there was the purple plicata that needed better form.  The fall were
rectangular -- but the colours & pattern!  The standards and falls were very
finely edged dark purple -- I am talking a millimeter or less and very dark
-- and lightly dotted medium purple at the edges.  The falls are speckled
red-violet at the hafts over yellow with the yellow extending out the veins
of the falls.  Really NEAT.  I am really hoping that he can transfer this to
a flower with better form.

And the blue-green SDB that was blooming two weeks ago was still blooming
but looked too tall.  If Chuck can get this one smaller, it would be worth
it.  The flower is sanded blue with blue style arms, green edges and green
ribs on the style arms.

Onto the IBs.  I love TRAJECTORY, so I am going watching Chuck's IB seedling
look-alike.  This is a deep purple with a white beard and a white area on
the falls that outlines the beard.  It is a startling contrast just like
TRAJECTORY.  I forgot to ask Chuck about its parentage.  It has 3 buds and
very rich in pollen.

A delicate looking plicata caught my eye.  It is lightly stitched violet at
the edge, heavier at haft with red-violet sytle arms (great contrast),
diamond dusted and ruffled.  It had 5 buds.  I'm going to be looking for
this one again next year.

There were a number of apricot IBs worth taking another look.  I liked one
that had very clean unfading colour.  While I thought this one had good
form, Chuck preferred the form of another seedling but whose colour faded
and was not as rich.

Then we had a quick look at some of Chuck's new acquisitions in the TB bed.
Blooming were Rick Tasco's CHOCOLATE MINT (arilbred), and Barry Blyth's
MYSTIC POTION, FLAVOURS and WILD something (can't remember the name for some
reason).  I'm afraid that describing these irises are beyond my capacity.
But they are going on my wish list.

I may try to make out to Chuck's again after the show next weekend.  He has
a whole range of Barry Blyth and Paul Black's newer TBs.  I have found that
the hardiness of their irises are highly variable.  If it grows for Chuck,
it should grow for me.

Maureen Mark
m*@ottawa.com
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4)

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