Re: HYB: good things from old (was newbie hyb)

Steve M said:
<it's never advantageous, from any point, to cross back to the 'dated'
varieties because the improvements in the new bloodlines would regress
(more or less). And without rambling too much on genetics advantages,
etc... (which i have limited knowledge of) the newer varieties would
never get anything good from a backcross to something that dated?>

I would be the first to disagree, but would love to hear discussion
about this topic from the 'newest & "best" moderns' perspective.
Please, let's hear from those who would never use anything more than a
few years old for hybridizing.  I have raised so few seedlings to
blooming size, I have no idea what I'm getting into.

My growing conditions (part gardener (can't/won't), part microclimate
(frost pocket, gravel soil, naturally rich soil), part macroclimate
(severe early/late freezes, drought/flood), seem to encourage wimpy
growth, no bloom, fading away, and/or rot on many (most?) new
cultivars.  I think that this would have been true for irises from any
era I might choose, but since the older cultivars have been around
longer, have been tried by more people in more climates, it is often
easier to find older cultivars that will thrive here.

I see little point in trying to keep the newer puny ones alive to use in
my hybridizing efforts, tho I might at some point want to add some new
'weak' blood to try to improve form or other traits.. If that means I
have to back up and reinvent the wheel, so to speak, so be it.  If I
live long enough... (hence the interest in speeding up the seed to bloom
cycle)

You are also planning on hybridizing in a somewhat extreme climate?
(winter cold), so may run into the same kinds of problems.

Also, some/many? new introductions (including some that even grow for me
<g>) are offspring of old crossed with new, often first generation.

So, my advice (like I know what I'm talking about) is don't abandon the
irises you are most familiar with and know will give you traits you
want.

Some recent whites that have been impressive here (which may not grow at
all for you) AVE, KNOT'S LANDING.  I really liked COLOR ME BLUE here
last year, but don't know how it will hold up in the long run.  KELAT
SKIES (or something like that) has been a good blue here.  And VICTORIA
FALLS doesn't fall over everywhere (rarely falls here) & has added some
good toughness to some rebloomer lines.

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8

Tennessee Whooping Crane Walkathon:
<http://www.whoopingcranesovertn.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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