Hello Irislisters
- Subject: Hello Irislisters
- From: "* J* 2* <S*@medusa.unm.edu>
- Date: Wed, 6 Mar 96 08:09:36 MST
Hello everyone. I've been watching messages since early February and thought I
should introduce myself and throw some fuel on the OGB+ for NY fire. My name
is Scott Jordan. My day job is pathology professor at the University of New
Mexico here in Albuquerque. My wife Reita and I have been interested in irises
for about 10 years, the last 5 with increasing seriousness. We have both
become AIS judges this year and keep busy with many related activities,
especially with the Aril Society, which you have learned from previous messages
is an independent group affiliated with AIS. There has been a lot of progress
in the development of arilbreds in the last 20 years. As Tom T. Little has
explained, these are crosses of the exotic middle eastern aril irises and the
bearded iris we are all familiar with. OGB means oncogelia-bred. Half the
chromosomes are from regular bearded iris, half from arils. The half from
arils is a mixture of oncocyclus and regelia chromosomes, because regelias make
them much more gardenable. The New York question was really about OGB+. These
have more than one-half aril genes and are not happy campers in wet climates.
My recommendation for those in the wet zone is to try OGB's. These half breds
survive nearly as well as tall bearded and are generally taller and have more
buds per stalk. Also, tetraploid (amphidiploid) OGB's are usually fertile
whereas OGB+'s usually not. If there is interest, I would be happy to provide
a list of cultivars which should be both gardenable and esthetically excellent.
Let me know.
