MED: Chuck Chapman's seedling bed

From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>

Within 10 minutes of arrival, I wished that I had something stronger for my
migraine and that we had made arrangements for the kids.  We needed double
the time that we had -- we were en route home from the in-laws who are about
1½ hours from Chuck's.  We ended up spending about two hours just in the
seedling bed.  And I blame my migraine for making me forget the camera.

Folks, if you aren't into medians yet, you will be tempted.  We saw a
smorgasbord of different and exciting seedlings.  We saw SDBs with feathered
edges on the falls, startling bi-colours, tri-coloured falls, diamond
dusting, sanded colours, blue and pink on the same flower!  We saw ruffles,
crinkling, open standards with gorgeous style arms!  

There wasn't time to take notes on everything that caught my eye, but here's
a sampling.

There are a good number of Ruby Eruption seedlings.  A lovely purple on soft
yellow plicata caught my eye.  It had 3 stalks and 13 fans!  Another one was
a dainty study in contrasts -- very dark purple on bright yellow with an
orange beard.

One line Chuck is working on are blue and green combinations in bi-colours
and blends.  These ones are a matter of personal taste.  The one that caught
my eye had blue-green standards, olive green falls, purple beards and very
round form.

I haven't made up my mind about the tri-coloured falls.  In one seedling,
the colours provided sharp contrasts and in another, more muted tones of the
same colours gave the illusion of blended colour.  The third colour on the
falls is the entire area from the throat of the falls and ends at the level
of the tip of the beard.

There were a host of blue-bearded pinks with varying forms other pinks and
oranges.  I would be hard pressed to decide which ones to introduce.

In experimenting with the luminata line, Chuck has come up with some
interesting plicatas -- I think similar to Gnu Rayz.  These plicatas all
have purple stripes emanating from the beard area.  One seedling was a peach
plicata with these purple markings -- pink and purple genes expressed on the
same plant?  Another similar seedling was a light tan colour with stronger
purple markings and some purple splotches -- imagine drawing a line with a
fountain pen....  The one that I think will be most popular (and growing
very well) is a purple plicata with the purple lines going most of the
length of the falls -- very clean colours and lines.

Then there is the Klingon Princess line.  It looks like she might be another
Chubby Cheeks.  Almost all her progeny have her highly ruffled form.  And
the colours are indescribable.  What looks to be an interesting purple that
glows is a blend and streaking of a multitude of colours.

And Sandy has already mentioned the "black" plicata.  This was a small clump
and the first time Chuck has seen it in bloom.  It is very dainty (2 inch
flower on 10 inch stem) with very clean white ground, purple-black standards
and edges and a few dark purple markings on the falls.  We'll be back next
year to check this one out.  Maybe Sylvia Chapman will babysit the kids and
we'll bring a picnic basket.

Maureen Mark
m*@ottawa.com
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4) -- where the migraine is receding and Ian Efford
gives a talk today on irises to the hort society

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