Re: Seed or HybRumor

Thanks for the answer Tom!

I'd love to visit Amerika and study your Irisis, I think that is one thing 
I MUST do in life. Our garden association is planning an tour to US in 1997 
(california, oregon and washington) but  before
I am attending it I must see how much it is going to cost. ( I want my family 
to join me too) (They are also making an trip to the Pyrenees in july -96
and that would cost - hmm let see..  11000 * 5 = 55000 / 7 = 7857 Usdollars )
For that money I could buy a lot of iris!

I am otherwise rather busy with my garden and my family.
In the past before my gardening days I have been visiting Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany (West and East)
Great britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Italy, former Yugoslavia, Austria
chechoslovakia, sweitzerland, (spelling??), Luxenburg, Spain, Hungary, 
Tunisia and Canary Island.
  
I know I put out my cheak (or was it the nose) a little when I stated that 
question,  I hope that not anyone got offended, and I hope that you don't 
think that I am that categorical. I am certinly not! 
But I merely wanted to wake a debate.

I must explain my question further a little more so you understand.
The reason for the question was even this fact: 
 
Take for example daylilys, in an ordinary plantshop you can buy 2 types
here in Sweden; one red and one yellow, in a very very good plantshop 
nearby that have specialized in rare plants, I found 5 more hybrids 
(and bought them at once), I think that there are some specialized 
daylily grower somewhere in Sweden aswell, that have about 20 more hybrids. 
About The Iris I think it is the same thing.
So you can say I got very surprised when I understood how many Iris hybrids 
you got. Can you explain why your hybridization work is not spread more 
outside the US. Maybe I am wrong, maybe you have done that already.

Maybe there are a lots of Iris amongst growers in Holland (but I haven't seen 
any yet) and many of the plants bought from there get very bad hardiness in 
sweden. From the same latitude but for example in caucasus you can get very 
hardy  plants. But there you cant find any Iris growers.

It looks like hybridization is a local affair only and is not very much 
spread outside their own countrys.

Recently The SClS (Swedish Clematis Association) has begun cooperation with
Estonia and Latvia, where many growers are doing exellent work. 
The SClS had brought home many new delicat hybrids, new to us.
(I have been editor for their magazin 90-95).

So it the same history there, their work are not spread at all outside their
own country.

So in the end I think that Internet and all this thing has done a great thing
by letting us share information in a simple way.
and it so interesting to 'get inside information' from you all.

Regards

Gunnar Andersson, Stockholm 


> 
> Mr. Gunar Andersson asks a very fine question: "are US gardeners crazy
> about hybridization."  In my opinion we Americans, especially iris
> fanciers, pay far, far too much attention to hybridization, at least among
> the tall beardeds.  I think there is still plenty of room for hybridization
> work with some of the beardless (not that they can be "improved"--merely
> that we can stand more variety among the beardless).
> 
> Having been a member of the American Iris Society, and being a judge, for
> several years, I have come to the conclusion that many iris fanciers are
> not gardeners at all.  They are iris farmers, all too often growing nothing
> but irises (and, sometimes, only tall bearded!), usually in rows, and
> making no attempt to create a garden.
> 
> But, Mr. Andersson, do not despair!  There are many Americans who love
> plants for their true nature, and we do not feel compelled to rearrange
> horticultural genetics.  Many members of the AIS, and especially in this
> listserv, are very knowledgeable--and irises merely serve as the
> springboard from which to study botany and horticulture in detail and with
> no small amount of passion.
> 
> If Mr. Anderson ever gets a chance to visit America, I hope he will go to
> see a variety of the thousands of public and private gardens that dot
> America.  I think he will be surprised by the variety--a variety that
> prevents easy answers to stereotypical questions.  That's my opinion.
> 
> Tom Dillard
> Little Rock, Arkansas
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