A Long, Long Iris Trail a-Winding

By J. Griffin Crump

In my post of this past October 6 ("What Happens If You Cross These Two Irises?"), one of the featured irises was 'Entrancing', which is scheduled to be introduced in 2015.  Of course, its pedigree is much longer than just the parents, which were also shown. I thought that it might be interesting to trace it back as far as the record goes, along with some explanation of why certain things were done.

Like many of my seedlings and several of my introductions, the trail winds back through 'Wabash', the iris which first lit the spark that started my hybridizing.

'Wabash'

This beauty was developed and introduced in 1936 by Mary Williamson, who gardened and hybridized near the storied river of that name in the north central portion of my native state of Indiana.  'Wabash's own parentage was 'Dorothy Dietz' X 'Cantabile' (Latin for "praiseworthy").  In turn, 'Dorothy Dietz'' parentage was 'Wyoming' X 'Lent A. Williamson', and Cantabile resulted from 'Lent A. Williamson' X unknown.  Thus, there were two "doses" of 'Lent A. Williamson' in 'Wabash''s breeding. 'Lent A. Williamson' resulted from a cross of 'Amas' (introduced in 1885) X unknown.  Of all of these ancestors of 'Wabash', the only photographs I have been able to find have been of 'Lent A. Williamson'.  Unfortunately, two of those photographs  --  one in our own Iris Encyclopedia and the other contributed by our late friend Mike Lowe, of the Historical Iris Preservation Society, to another late friend, Clarence Mahan's "Irises and the Men and Women Who Created Them" are differently colored, but clearly are the same flower.  The difference in color of the background, as well, suggests that there was a difference in lighting or in the film, or both.  I include both of them here.  (Note the nick in the fall on the lower right in the second photo.)

Lent A. Williamson (Iris Encyclopedia)

Lent A. Williamson (Mike Lowe)

There are nine other photos of 'Lent A. Williamson' in the Iris Encyclopedia, all of which show the flower as blue-violet.

In 1992,  hoping to bring 'Wabash''s velvet falls into (then) more modern form, I crossed it, as pod parent, with a yellow bi-tone seedling of unknown heritage (though it may have been from the lines of Jean Stevens of New Zealand, some of which I had) which had broader falls.

Yellow bi-tone seedling

The cross produced Seedling 93L6, which reversed the color pattern of both parents, giving basically white falls and solid yellow standards, with a yellow ring on the broad, ruffled falls.  At this point, I felt I was making progress.

Seedling 93L6

I crossed 93L6, as the pod parent, with Barry Blyth's 'Chinese Treasure', hoping that it would interact with the 'Wabash' genes to restore the amoena (pure white standards) factor and velvet texture of the falls.  

Chinese Treasure

I was quite surprised by the resulting Seedling 952G8.  It was smallish, but the colors are rich.

Seedling 952G8

Meantime, still working with amoenas and dark velvet falls,  I had crossed the amoena 'Margarita' by the exotic bi-tone 'Momauguin' (which I had never been able to photograph well and no longer have).

'Margarita'

'Momauguin'

'Momauguin' certainly wasn't going to win any beauty contests, but I was intrigued by the crushed velvet texture of its falls.  I saw it growing in Charlie Nearpass's garden one spring, and he ripped it out of the ground and gave it to me.

The cross of 'Margarita' X 'Momauguin' produced six seedlings, of which only three survived, but the graceful form of their stalks added a new focus to my hybridizing efforts.  The best of the three was 93RR6.  In the following photo of a clump of this seedling,  there are three stalks shown.  The stalks on the left and right display the graceful S curve of the entire plant as well as the lower branch, probably indicating aphylla ancestry.  The S curve is present in the center stalk, of course, but is more difficult to trace in the picture.  The plant normally carried 9 buds.

Seedling 93RR6

I treasured 93RR6, but could never get a cross involving it.  Happily, there was its sibling 93RR2, smaller overall, but with the same seductive branching and velvety falls.  I crossed it, as the pod parent, with another smallish iris, 'Fringe of Gold'.

Seedling 93RR2

'Fringe of Gold'

These two produced Seedling 952H1 which, unfortunately, seems to have eluded the camera;  I crossed it, as the pod parent, with 952G8 (shown above), and that resulted in Seedling 20Q5, again somewhat on the small side, but keeping the desired branching.

Seedling 20Q5

I waited for a long time to find a suitable match for 20Q5, as noted in October's post. Eventually, after acquiring Sterling Innerst's 'Lynsy Alexandra', I found it to be so similar in shape and patterning that it invited the cross.

Lynsy Alexandra

 Among the several good seedlings resulting, I found Seedling 07S9  to be entrancing, so it will be introduced under that name in 2015.

'Entrancing'

 And the branching?  

'Entrancing'

So, in the pursuit of initial goals, we may find other avenues also worthy of exploration.  So much the better.

"What Happens If You Cross These Two Irises?"

By J. Griffin Crump


At our recent Chesapeake and Potomac Iris Society picnic, we were treated to an excellent presentation by one of our youth members, Colin Campbell, on the basics of hybridizing.  As part of the program, he illustrated various types of irises, from the long-standing descriptions --selfs, neglectas, amoenas-- to later emerging differentiations such as glaciatas, luminatas, etc. Inevitably, the question arose, "what happens if you cross such and such with so and so?  What might you get?"  There was a good deal of discussion about what might be expected of crosses between certain color combinations and/or between different patterns. Colin put a couple of  hypothetical crosses up on the screen and invited us to speculate as to the outcomes.  Unsurprisingly, there were various opinions.

So I thought I'd post here a few of my own introductions together with their parents, and you can judge whether the progeny is what you would have expected.  Try to just look at the two parents and speculate about the outcome before scrolling down to the next photo.


Here are 'Blackbeard', a border bearded,  and 'Betty Dunn', a tall bearded:

And their progeny, 'Blackbeard's Daughter', a tall bearded:

'Blackbeard's Daughter'

Interestingly,  'Blackbeard's Daughter' came out a tall bearded, whereas 'Blackbeard', the pod parent, was a border bearded.  I would have predicted a border bearded offspring.

Next, we look at a result of a cross between TB seedlings 02P2 and 01S2:

02P2

01S2

                                                                         
And their TB offspring, 'Prince Igor':

'Prince Igor'

Not too surprising, eh?  The pod parent is a strong red self, and the pollen parent also has rich mahogany red falls.  Its amoena factor is probably recessive.

We turn now to Seedling 02F6 X 'Starring':

 02F6   

'Starring'

                                                                                          

And the result:

'La Cumparsita'

Very much like its pod parent, but with a fuller shape.  It picks up Starring's red-orange beard.

The result of the next cross, 'Lili Marlene' X 'Cherry Glen', surprised me greatly.

'Cherry Glen'

'Lili Marlene'

 Here 'tis, and a rebloomer, to boot, though neither of the parents is:

'Autumn Nectar'

Sometimes, I get a seedling that I like but don't know what to do with.  That was the case with 20Q5, which I held onto for several years before acquiring Sterling Innerst's 'Lynsy Alexandra', which is very similar in bloom form and overall flower structure.

'Lynsy Alexandra'

20Q5

Both of these are what the late Dick Sparling used to call "small talls" with slender, nicely curved stems.  So, I was very happy when 'Lynsy Alexandra' X 20Q5 yielded a similarly shaped, but taller seedling which I will introduce in 2015 as 'Entrancing'.

'Entrancing'

'Entrancing' clump

A cross of Standard Dwarf Bearded 'Lumalite' by Tall Bearded rebloomer 'Blazing Sunrise' produced an outcome that surprised me.

Lumalite

'Blazing Sunrise'

Namely, 'Spring Again', an Intermediate rebloomer.

'Spring Again'

What surprised me was the complete dominance of the pollen parent's pattern.  Without the sun's backlighting, this flower has nice, solid apricot falls and pale apricot standards.  It's a reliable rebloomer.

Continuing to play with SDB 'Lumalite', I crossed it with TB 'Summer Olympics', i.e., 'Summer Olympics' X 'Lumalite':

'Summer Olympics'

'Lumalite'

And got IB 'Coral Chimes':

Who knew?

Pressing on, I made the cross IB 'Coral Chimes' X SDB 'Lumalite',

'Coral Chimes'

'Lumalite'

 and got SDB 'Bradán Eolais' (Irish: The Salmon of Knowledge):

Enough for now, and I trust you have noted that although you may set hybridizing goals, you never know for sure what may result.

What Do Iris Hybridizers Look For?

by Griff Crump

In suggesting topics for this posting, Renee Fraser remarked, "One thing I always wonder about hybridizers is which new intro caught their eye and why?"

The first attraction for me is, simply, the beauty of the flower itself.  The second motivator is its being of the patterns that I prefer, which are predominantly amoenas and near amoenas with velvety falls, usually dark.  The third consideration is whether it might fit into my breeding goals.

Here are some of the recent introductions that have caught my eye:

Judy's Smile (Skaggs 2014), offered by Stout Gardens At Dancing Tree.  From Starring x Kitty Kay.  I have both of the parents, so might try the cross myself.

 'Judy's Smile'

Another beauty, which I won't use in hybridizing (because it doesn't fit within my goals), but which I admire and would like to grow just for its handsomeness, is Mike Lockatell's  reblooming border bearded Double Dare.  I saw it when he first exhibited it at a Region 4 fall regional show.  I and others thought it should have won best seedling, but one of the judges just didn't like plicatas.

'Double Dare'

I always like a good red, and Don Spoon's Red Hot Momma (Rogue X Dynamite) falls in that category.  I can't seem to keep either of those parents alive (or, at least, blooming), but Don has, so maybe I'll approach him for a start.

'Red Hot Momma'

Lesley Painter's Midnight Rose (Napa Country Iris Garden) is the kind of iris that I really like, a near amoena with dark velvet falls.  As a hybridizer with limited space, however, its unknown parentage gives me pause, i.e., will it work with the genetics of my existing stuff?  If I had more space, I'd grab it.  (And if you have space, I think you should, too.)

'Midnight Rose'

Keith Keppel's Gambling Man (Silk Road X Roaring Twenties) caught my eye, as does anything with the Edith Wolford color pattern.  This, though, is from quite different lineage.

'Gambling Man'

I am particularly impressed with the introductions of Robert Piatek, of Poland, and those of Anton Mego,  of Slovakia.  I have Mego's Slovak Prince and seedlings from it, and I hope that others of  their cultivars will soon, if not already, be available in the USA.

'Slovak Prince' 

Which newer introductions caught your eye this year?

Surprise!

Griff Crump

Renee suggested that I might share some of this year's surprises.

The biggest and best surprise was recovery of an introduced variety that I thought had been lost.  Two years ago, I dug and lined out La Cumparsita, introducing it in 2013.  Luckily, before I sold any of it, it bloomed in two convention gardens and wasn't the right flower.  I saw photos and was mystified until some of the lined-out plants bloomed in my own garden and also were the same nondescript purple seen in the photos.  Clearly, the marker had been switched before the digging, probably during weeding, and an adjacent clump had been dug.  I was tempted to rip out the whole planting, but, since some of the lined-out clumps hadn't bloomed, I tossed only those that had bloomed and left the rest in place.  This spring, two of those which had been spared bloomed and were La Cumparsita!  It will take a couple of years to build up stock again, but I said to some of my fellow irisarians that if nothing else good happened this year, it was still a good year!

La Cumparsita

Other surprises were winning Best Seedling of Show at the Fredericksburg Area Iris Society's spring show, the Chesapeake and Potomac Iris Society's spring show and the Region 4 spring show at Timonium, Maryland.

The winner at Fredericksburg was tall bearded 062D1:

062D1

and at Chesapeake and Potomac, standard dwarf seedling 092B4:

092B4

At the Regional show at Timonium, I counted on the judges adhering to the judges' handbook, which requires only one bloom to be open on a seedling.  Although I must admit that I was surprised by my wins at Fredericksburg and Winchester, I felt that my entry at Timonium was a real winner, but would the judges vote for an entry which had only one last bloom and the shriveled remains of the other eight buds drooping from its branches?  Yes!  They went by the book and chose it. 

082L13

This is a product of Coffee Whispers X Blackbeard's Daughter.  It's a dramatic introduceable, and I'm looking forward to good things following from it.

Another very pleasant surprise was the appearance of a first-year seedling, 13P20, which displayed a remarkable  progression of blossom form, opening to resemble an iris of many decades ago:

 13P20

But, as a day passes, a later-in-time form develops:

 

Finally, a modern form is achieved.  At the right moment, all three forms are displayed on the branches.

If this seedling prospers and blooms true to its initial performance, it will be quite interesting.