shelves and such

Browsing through pictures collected from all sorts of sources I've noticed it is a lot easier to see probable shelved-varieties than non-shelved in published photographs.
 
One in particular that catches my attention is SWINGTOWN.  Much like its ancestor AMETHYST FLAME, it has a definite white dart under the end of the beard and there is a conspicuous lifting of the beard near the end due to the dart-shaped formation.  If Swingtown is "shelved," it would be a wonderful choice for our project.  Not only is the flower wide, well-formed and beautifully finished, it also has excellent branching and bud count.  My own experience with it is that it can throw some remarkably good seedlings.
 
I've gotten some of my orders in place, both for some non-SA ongoing projects and for some that are being purchased or traded for because of the SAGE project.  I'm also trying to look at the growth in the garden (which is just about to start once the weather warms up just a little more--we're still having some snow flurries occasionally, but frosts at night are minimal).  I keep looking at the number of fans and trying to spot probable bloom fans, while hoping this spring is not such a disaster as last year's was.
 
So far we've not had a yo-yo winter with 70's followed by 20 degrees in a matter of hours.  It has been steadily cold enough to keep the iris stopped in their growth, so I'm not expecting much winter damage.  Now, if the spring will just co-operate.....
 
I'm wondering how the rest of you are getting on, about orders and all.  I might remind you all that Sutton's have said they will work with us if we let them know what we're interested in.  I'm waiting to hear what their counts are going to look like on some of the 2003 introductions.  There were some of those I would love to have.  They've put out some very good things lately, and I'd like to see more of them.
 
Neil Mogensen   z 7   western NC near Asheville

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