[SpaceAgeRobin] Blyth irises

I have DECDENCE here from Keppel, MACHISMO from Blyth (that one is still in its pot a year later, as I have been taking a lesson from Bill and been "Lazy" (snort!).  My excuse has been I just didn't get out and get work done last year.
 
LOUISA'S SONG was almost lost on the first round--soft rot hit it--but the surviving sprig took off and grew well.  I got a second one from KK and it is growing well.  Jerome, your remark about rot-susceptibility is noted.  I'll take that into consideration in making crosses.  It is possible Blyth things enjoy a higher lime application than we are used to.  Calcium is necessary for strong cell walls.  I shall remember Barry's counsel--put lime on like it were snow--twice a year!
 
MASTERY is growing very well but did not bloom last year.
 
I have a lot of Blyth line seedlings with other things.  In our outrageous weather I lost many of them.  They just rotted off at the cown.  That was true not only for Blyth-blooded babies alone--many crosses had extensive losses in the same manner.  Despite the losses there are a number of crosses on which I should have bloom this spring involving Keppel, Ghio and Blyth ancestries mixed.  These should have been up to blooming size a year ago--but our summer in '03 had so little light and so much rain many things just did not get the energy input they needed for growth.  For months on end we were running about eight inches rain per month.
 
Then last summer three successive hurricane remnants dumped massive rainfall in our higher elevations, causing catastrophic flooding in low-lying areas near here.  For us, the rain merely tried to wash us away.  Many rhizomes and even roots were left exposed.  I'm still at work (occasionally!) repairing damage.
 
BARBARA MY LOVE that Bill mentions is one that Maryott highly recommended to me for a particular project on which I'm working.  I also acquired PURE AND SIMPLE, one of its offspring, last year.  I'd like to see this pattern in a white falled-banded yellow to apricot, standards a blend of pink, yellow and charteuse tones--or even simply white with narrow yellow band as in REVERE or in the historic DEBBY RAIRDON.  A number of crosses toward this goal should be blooming this year.
 
The POWER WOMAN seedlings this past year were fascinating.  I'm anxious to cross it and its offspring with SOLAR FIRE and DECADENCE/LOUISA'S SONG and SILK ROMANCE seedlings from the same family.
 
A number of SA acquisions last year should give me an opportunity to get some crosses made that will contribute to the SAGE data.  None of my attempts last year were productive of seeds.  But hope never fails.  There's always another year--just about upon us!
 
Neil Mogensen  z 7  western NC mountains
 
 

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