Re: HYB: Lady Friend (fertility)

I had asked about PRESTIGE ITEM & LADY FRIEND fertility and several of
you posted on- & off-list that LADY FRIEND was fertile, but maybe
PRESTIGE ITEM isn't.  Thanks all.

Chuck Chapman in.. Canada? wrote			
> I have checked my records and found Lady Friend to be pod and pollen fertile..... Actually the crosses made on a warm evening
> seem to get the best takes, when there is no    rain.

I was getting a really high success rate here roaming thru the garden
staring at flowers & growth & thinking about pedigrees as the sun was
going down, then madly rushing around making crosses before it got too
dark to see what I was doing.  The humidity here rises sharply in the
evening - cool air rushes down the ravine behind the house picking up
moisture from the trees and stream.  Laundry on the clothesline is too
wet to bring in if I don't get it taken down well before sunset.

But once the days got hot and windy, hardly any pods.  

LADY FRIEND was THE modern iris that bloomed the first year I went to a
'local' show (Lebanon TN, 3 hr drive one way, where I met Betty W from
KY).  It was one of our bad late freeze years for nearly everybody in
Tennessee and the folks there were much distressed that they had mostly
only oldies for their show.  There were several stalks of LADY FRIEND
from different exhibitors, so I thought it would be a good one for my
frost pocket.  That hasn't been the case - this has been the first year
it has made more than a half frozen, badly damaged attempt at bloom.  It
was spectacular.  Huge clump after all these years.  

So even tho it bloomed well, it may still have had some stressors
affecting its fertility.  Even DUSKY CHALLENGER, which does really
wonderfully for me, has yet to produce any pollen, fertile or otherwise,
and all the earliest blooms that opened on everything had shriveled
anthers.

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA 
there MAY actually be a pod forming on CELEBRATION SONG X PRESTIGE ITEM
(I'll believe it when I see seeds)


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