Monday, March 28, 2016

Children of 'Over and Over' Part 2- Breeding Reblooming Irises in Zone 6, Kentucky


by Betty Wilkerson

Just a reminder for those that are following this blog about 'Over and Over': many breeders do not consider 'Over and Over' to be a good plant due to its tailored form.  It's my intention to change some opinions, if I can. My approach on these crosses was to use well formed seedlings with 'Over and Over.'  In this crosss, the pod parent is seedling 2016-03 ('Lunar Whitewash' x 'Romantic Evening') and the pollen parent is 'Over and Over.'  

2016-03 (Wilkerson seedling) 

'Over and Over' could and does produce plicatas, but only if there are plicata genes in both parents.  While there are some plicatas in the background of this one, they are far enough back that they are unlikely to produce plicatas.  There are still many seedlings from this cross to bloom, probably this spring, which I expect to be loads of fun.


'Over and Over' (Innerst 2001)




2603-01Re (Wilkerson seedling)

Seedling 2603-01Re, above, contains both 'Lunar Whitewash' and 'Over and Over,' two of Sterling Innerst's last introductions. 'Lunar Whitewash' has terrible branching, so I've been taking a chance with it, but this one was born with nearly perfect branching.  'Romantic Evening' has been added to my lines to improve color depth and variety.  I hope to breed some pinks to these in 2016.

As stated in my August blog, some breeders don't want to use 'Over and Over' due to form and branching. Again, I took a chance.  This picture shows maiden bloom and branching of a seedling.  In the years to come it can change, for better or worse. The bloom was late this year, but it this too will change as years pass.  I've no way to see into the future. This set of parents should be good for rebloom, so stay tuned for more chapters from this mystery.

In summation, my garden is filled with seedlings that are only half rebloom.
On Facebook, I have an album full of the earlier ones that I may still use in this program. In the future, my breeding time will be spent trying to combine these "out crosses" to improve the overall quality of my reblooming seedlings.  Most any strong rebloomer, older or modern, may show up in these seedlings.  I'll report it all.

Several months ago, I found I'd run out of photos.  I've rerun some and used others that didn't make me proud, with the old stalks and everything.  I figured if the perfection of the pictures was more important than the content of the story, that someone would let me know.  Starting with the next post, I hope to have new and better photos.







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