HYB: realistic expectations (was: "average uglliness"}

I'm really sorry this thread got tagged "average ugliness" because, the fact
be known, I've seen few iris I could even remotely call "ugly."  Even the
worst seedlings (let alone named iris for which I paid out hard earned
dollars) have at least some redeeming graces.

What Linda was asking about, and I was trying to make clear, was approaching
hybridizing with a realistic understanding of what emerges out of those pods
and seed pots.  Over the years I have found it easier and easier to let go and
rip 'em out if they aren't up to snuff.  But 10%?  Not on your life!  Well
selected keepers run far fewer than that by the second or third year.

The piles of rejects get pretty tall.  The weird part is, some crosses contain
a whole raft of keepers.  That becomes more and more likely as one gets to
know his or her bloodlines.  Then there're crosses that I'd bet almost
anything there'd be nothing but quality--and it is just the opposite.  The
whole lot are a dull thud.  Quick compost.

What "Regression Toward the Mean" as a concept does, hopefully, is to keep our
expectations realistic.  The average run of the mill seedlings don't add up to
the quality of their mamas and papas.  They are very, very forgetable.  By the
time the several worst get heaved out of the row the picture begins to change.
One can begin to see the rest of the bloomers well enough to weigh and
evaluate them realistically.  A few more pitched and the garden begins to look
better and better.

Once in a while there pops one that thirty trips a day out to the seedling
patch just to stare at it in disbelief isn't enough.  Awe barely begins to
describe the sensation.  Those are the ones that belie the "average ugliness."
Maybe a better tag would have been--"When averages fail....and the impossible
happens."  Those are the ones we live for.

Neil Mogensen   z  7  western NC

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