Re: Silver Illusion
I would like to respond to the 'SILVER ILLUSION' comments. Yes, it was a
guest in 1985 at AIS- Indy and growing beautifully! I have about 5 slides
of it. Yes the color is unique and different. Julius Wadekamper purchased
stock from Dale Johnson who I understood had grown it and 1-2 others from
SIGNA seed (however it might be as interbreed as others- I think there is
feeling that it was probalby from 'White Swirl', which is not one of the
stronger white siberians everywhere. He purchases 12 plants (as I rmember
and lost most of them and had to get them replaced. Many people all over
the US have planted this iris and not many of them grew- Ensata had it and
bred with it and I also believe Bob Hollingworth used it. It didn't grow
for me but I am not sure I'd have used it after I realized so many had
troubles growing it. Two more that are not strong growers in MI are Butter
& Sugar (we all love it!) and Augury ( its a McGarvey pink, short and
probably a better pink). What I think needs to be done is some more color
forms collected in the wild planting of both I. siberica & sanguinea. I used
to correspond/ a young fellow from Switzerland and he said they grew on his
family farm, I believe he may have been in the Zurich area--I am not at home
yet- visiting my son in Ft. Smith AR so can't look up the address. Anna Mae
----- Original Message -----
From: <Jpwflowers@aol.com>
To: <sibrob@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 8:08 PM
Subject: [sibrob] Silver Illusion
> Howard Brookins brought up Silver Illusion as an example of a weak modern
> siberian. There is no question that we have had difficulty getting it
> established and growing it well. We paid an arm and a leg for our first
> piece of it and it died before the first summer. On the other hand, Marty
> used the pollen from its one bloom and has produced some really great and
> vigorous siberians in further generations from it. It was truly a new
color
> and a great tool for a hybridizer in spite of its poor growth habits.
> Sometimes it is valuable to introduce problem plants with special
features,
> though it is certainly hard on the gardeners who pay a lot of money for
them
> and they don't grow. Many times a hybridizer will label such a plant as a
> "breeder's iris". I don't know why Silver Illusion is so finicky - (we
have
> heard of a magnificent clump at the Indiana National Convention), but I do
> not think it is caused by a long line of in-breeding since the parentage
is
> listed in the checklist as unknown. We wish we knew more about the
> background of this interesting iris.
>
> Jan Sacks in Massachusetts where we are on the front end of three days of
> heavy rain - hence time to write.
>
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