Working Towards Our Goal

By Melissa and Bailey Schiller

As we head into autumn and winter we are frantically getting replant done. We have had no rain which makes the mind wander as to what is in store for this coming spring at Smokin Heights.

When this blog is published we will be enjoying bloom season in Oregon. As always we are extremely excited to share time with our American friends and dabble in a bit of hybridizing.

In our last installment we started to delve into our goals and current achievements in hybridising. We will continue with this theme for this installment.

E12-2: (Blyth X150-A: (Sunday Concert x Smart Money) X Quaffable)

Let's start with E12-2 (pictured above). This would have to be one of the best seedlings we have bloomed to date. A gorgeously ruffled white with a slight lemon flush at the midrib and beautiful frosted blue beards. At 33" stem with 8 buds, this Iris easily passed 1st year bloom protocol with ease.

E41-1: (Italian Master X Captain Thunderbolt)

You can see both parents coming into play with E41-1. The pattern is very reminiscent of 'Captain Thunderbolt' and the colour reminds us of 'Italian Master.' Nice and tall with 40" stems that carry 10 buds.

F44-2: (Colours of The Wind X C46-D: (Blonde Response sib))

We have been working the lined pattern for a few years now and we are finally starting to see hybrids that excite us. F44-2 is one of them. Super wide, overlapping falls make this a standout. The pattern itself is quite unique with the veining localised to the centre of the fall and is really set off by the bright apricot hafts and orange beards. Will be used quite a bit in years to come!

Finally we are going to write about some of the novelties we have been working on.

F23-1: (Striptease X Avenue Of Dreams)

Variegated foliage is one of Bailey's favourite traits. He has been working on expanding the different patterns and colours that non-variegated Iris have into Iris with variegated foliage. F23-1 is the start of a bicolour line with variegated foliage. We were more than pleased to see this bloom for the first time. Wonderful form and nice amount of ruffling add to its appeal.

F32-1: (Chaos Theory X New Perspective)

In our first installment we spoke about our goals in hybridising flat (6-falled) Iris. Here is one that had its maiden bloom in 2018. Lovely form and ruffling and also very consistent. We are very excited for what the future has in store for this form of Bearded Iris!

In our own minds what we are looking for in the blooms we want to register are wide overlapping hafts. Stems that are not overly tall as in our garden we have a lot of windy weather and stems get knocked over easily.  Standards that are upright. And we like different....different colours, patterns and variegation....What would you consider to be a standout bloom?