Re: CAT: HYB: PHOTO: Kathleen Kay Nelson & her children

And for those who don't have a  paper copy of the Cooley's catalog, they
have a web version

http://www.cooleysgardens.com/index.html

Thanks Ernie - I plan to be at the potluck, as they say - good Lord
willin' and the creeks don't rise.  But I've found that a single
rhizome, trimmed and stuffed into a small padded envelope (like they
sell at the post office) with a few air holes poked in the sides can be
mailed first class for about $1 US, if you want to mail it instead.  & I
will pay you back.

My interest in this iris has to do with what Fred Kerr mentioned about
it - that it passes on its wide falls to its children.  If it is a tough
grower and bloomer as well, I will try to use it with some of the older
irises to 'fatten' the form a bit, thinking of the GP Brown rebloomers
especially, but also some of the tough oncers.  & I figure the ancestry
adds some possibilities for non-blues.

Keeping in mind that my primary goals are for the toughest, reliable
bloomers in my often crummy climate (NOT award winners necessarily), I'd
be interested in feedback from more experienced hybridizers.  So far,
the gene pool of irises that meet my standards of performance is pretty
small and isn't giving me much to work with, and most of the really
tough ones are historics, some whose names I don't know.  I like
moderate ruffling and moderately wide petals, so have also been avoiding
making crosses between cultivars that won't 'improve' form in those
directions.  Crosses I've made with marginally good growers have
produced a lot of worse seedlings, most of which don't survive
outplanting.  So far, I have a lot of really tough seedlings from
IMMORTALITY x CELEBRATION SONG (mostly white) and from GOLDEN APPLE X
CRYSTAL GLITTERS (mostly yellow or orange).  Pretty boring palette of
colors & patterns so far, but some potential for some more interesting
bicolors down the line & maybe some pinks some day.  I've been focussing
mostly on the non-blue/purples because there are already a lot of good
bleu/purples that do well here and many/most of them come from all
blue/purple ancestry, so won't give me much diversity in color/pattern
genes.

Well, I am talking too much (again)...

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
squashing hoardes of cucumber beetles that are finding each iris bloom
as it opens.



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