Re: HYB: Pink Formal kids - long

Neil - Thanks for all those details re: PF kids.  Much to process and
mull over!

My interest in seeing a list of the PF kids is in several directions,
most of them food for the intuitive side of my brain, rather than
identifying cultivars to buy.  I'm not sure I can articulate this very
well, & not at all sure it's worth sharing, but...

In pedigree surfing, some cultivars show up repeatedly in family trees
of irises that do well here. PF is one.

I like to try growing most of the older cultivars that are common to
these pedigrees, partly out of general curiosity, partly to see if there
is anything there that I like better than what is available or that does
well in more modern iris.

GOLDEN EAGLE is one of those common ancestors - finally found a source,
& was new here last year, got left on a table buried under papers in the
living room, so didn't get a fair trial last spring, but seems to be
doing well now. MAY HALL is another one that I couldn't find anywhere
several years ago, and haven't gotten around to getting it yet.
STERLING SILVER is another that I haven't tried.

After growing a lot of these ancestors and reading a lot of pedigrees, I
learned that how one of the common ancestors does here won't always help
too much with how descendants will do - prime example is EDITH W, HONKY
TONK BLUES, both terrible here, have some good healthy kids.

Back to PF.  Pinks in general don't do very well here.  VANITY continues
to be about the best, but even she doesn't have the best health (re
fungal & bacterial leaf spot & rot).  So I tried growing several of the
pinks that show up in a lot of pedigrees, looking for ones that might
give me some idea of which modern lines might be worth trying.  Can't
remember what I grew, but can look them up if you are interested.  Grew
some for others curiosity as well as my own.

Most did not do very well - exceptions were MARY RANDALL and PF.  MR had
kind of a muddy look, plus it was miniaturized (small flowers, stunted
stalks).

PF, on the other hand, has been amazing here, especially for a pink -
tall, normal sized blooms (for a 40s iris) & stalks, reliable bloom, and
much better substance than many of the most recent iris I grow.  Lots of
faults, but a performer, and absolutely <loaded> with good pollen every
year.

After blooming a couple of bee pod babies, it seemed worth trying some
crosses with the "best" modern stuff I can coax into fertility here.

But I wondered if there might be some other, more recent descendants of
hers that might still have her good traits - super substance, reliable
bloom, normal sized flowers & normal stalks and fertility here.  I don't
really expect to learn of anything new that I didnt' already have
identified from previous pedigree charts that led me back to PF in the
first place, but wanted to make sure.

I guess the main thing I hope to learn from the pedigrees is who was
using her, what climate they were doing their selections in, how did
they go 'wrong' re: pinks in our climate, what do I have available now
that is fertile here that combines all the traits they were trying to
improve but is more suited to our climate.  Which combinations of lines
got award winning results...etc..

I have seedlings from three intentional crosses with PF that are huge
now and should definitely see some bloom this spring.  ENGLISH COTTAGE,
to see how PF's super substance combines with EC's poor substance &
maybe get some rebloom, CELEBRATION SONG, to get some pinks, improve
stalks, form, etc, and FOREIGN KNIGHT ... not exactly sure what I had in
mind with that one.....

I will keep poking around at the data, seeing if I get inspirations for
new crosses to try (or avoid).  Winter fun.

If these seedlings turn out to be total trash, not much improvement on
PF, I will probably go do something else <g>

-
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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