Re: HYB: Barry Blyth's seedlings
- Subject: Re: HYB: Barry Blyth's seedlings
- From: J* C*
- Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 09:55:49 +1100
Linda wrote:
>'50% of seedlings better than most named varieties on the market today'
>I would think that might be true of many hybridizers seedlings,
>especially IF you compare them to older cultivars, which make up most of
>the market.
>
>Heck, that's true even for MY seedlings - if you compare them to
>cultivars dating back far enough. Folks tell me even my firstborn (the
>one under 3+ ft of floodwater in the photo I posted) would make a good
>historic iris.
<LOL>
Yes Linda - you are right of course. It is far too broad a statement to
argue with. Such a broad statement needs a lot of qualifying. What does
'better' imply? Better colours? better patterns? better growth habits?
better form? Better bud count? Better show stalks?
Better than most named irises available on the market today only implies
better than over 50% of those other irises. 50% of the irises named and
'available' (if you look hard enough for them) for sale today were bred many
years ago. By that token one would expect a top hybridiser to be able to
produce a high percentage of seedlings that are better in some way than
these older varieties.
I know much of Barry Blyth's work has been in line breeding. One has only to
look over recent past catalogues to see predominant parents such as Magic
Man, Electrique, About Town, and the most recent one playing a big role
Louisa's Song.
Line breeding gives much more predictability and more consistency of colour,
form, etc. It also allows one to grow fewer seedings to be successful.
I imagine that Barry would harvest far more seeds per year than it takes to
grow 12,000 seedlings. Many crosses would be culled before they were even
germinated.
I have taken to doing this, as it saves growing those so-so crosses and
having them take up precious garden space for several years. I also wrench
things out pretty early in the piece. If they are extremely poor growers -
out they come. If the flower looks pretty uninteresting at first bloom - out
it comes. I have chucked out SDB's that look very similar to those Barry has
introduced and to seedlings I have seen on the iris-photo gallery. Mainly
because I don't like the murky colours that seem to be popular. With little
garden space I can afford to be fussy.
I have to agree with Betty that different goals would dictate different
approaches to hybridising. I also don't think there would be much
satisfaction in using someone elses seedlings unless your goals were very
similar to theirs. I think half the fun and challenge is in coming up with
something new and different, and patiently striving to achieve it yourself.
Cheers, Jan, in Aus zone 8ish
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