----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 8:44
AM
Subject: [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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