Anja,
Sorry to be so slow in replying. About seeds of your I. sibirica
clone: even if there are other plants nearby which can potentially
cross with it, you can still donate seeds to SIGNA. You just mark them
"OP" for open pollinated. Hand pollinated seeds would also be very
welcome, of course. Either way, someone is likely to want them. Most
of us live in an area where at least one iris species is native, and we
tend to take them for granted. But those wild collected seeds are very
popular, especially when you can give a little description of what the
parent is like.
The best way to make sure your cross isn't contaminated is to go out
early in the morning and find a bud that's just about to open. Open it
manually, and then remove the standards and falls, leaving only the
styles. Remove the anthers too. Then you can hand pollinate the
styles, and have confidence that your pollen is the daddy. Bees may
still visit the bud but the pollen on their backs won't touch the
stigma. The stigma is most receptive to pollen on the second day but
you can pollinate earlier if you want to; I usually do.
Best of luck,
Ken
Anja Pansin/Wolfgang Zirkel wrote:
>
>
> Hi Ken,
> yes, I do know the SIGNA seed exchange and I have already ordered
> seeds twice (my third order is in the mail). I had a very high
> germination rate with these seeds (only two packs of seeds did not
> germinate so far) and I might see the first flowers next year. This is
> very exciting.
> Do you think people might be interested in an Iris sibirica L. x Here
> be dragons cross? I did not protect the seeds so I can not be sure
> if it was really the Here be dragons pollen which pollinated the
> blossoms. But I made the crosses very early in the morning before I
> went to work so there is a chance I have beaten the bees.
> Should I self the Iris sibirica L. next year for the people who are
> interested in species irises? I am not sure if it is the wild form but
> judging from the flower form and the small flowers it might at
> least be very close to the wild form.
> I live about 80 kilometres away from the Lake Constance (in German
> language Bodensee) in Southwest Germany. In the meadows around the
> Lake Constance you can find wild iris sibirica growing. I wanted to
> visit these meadows this year but unfortunately I did not have the
> time to visit when the sibiricas flowered.
> If you want to see pictures of these irises you can do a google search
> with the words Eriskircher Ried Irisbluete
> My iris resembles the Lake Constance irises but it is not exactly the
> same.
> I do not think I can collect seeds from these irises as they are
> protected by the German law.
> Anja
>
>
