Iris Stories: April Melody 2

By Bryce Williamson

In “Iris Stories: 'April Melody,'” I wrote about the hard work over many years Jim Gibson put into the creating of the iris. Being so difficult to achieve a good pink plicata flower, it was much to everyone’s surprise that 'April Melody' proved to be a prolific parent from him, leading to the creating of many fine and interesting variations of the pink plicata pattern. Needless to say, other American hybridizers quickly realized that 'April Melody' was a great parent and could be used in a variety of ways to create new colors and patterns.

Just as she had done with the early Paul Cook neglectas and amoenas, Melba Hamblen in Roy, Utah quickly used a first generation child of 'April Melody,' 'Porta Villa,' with a plicata seedling out of her yellow and blue bicolor breeding. The resulting bicolor plicata, 'Capricious,' was a hit, moving the warm toned plicatas into a new direction. It went on to win an Award of Merit from the American Iris Society.

Capricious image by Barry Blyth

On the East Coast, Dr. Charlie Nearpass had been making crosses with 'New Adventure,' the iris that started Jim Gibson on his quest for pink plicatas. He in turn took his work and crossed it directly to 'April Melody,' producing 'Rose Tattoo.'

'Rose Tattoo image' by Rosalie Figge

Perhaps the person, beyond Jim Gibson, who has made the greatest use of 'April Melody' is Keith Keppel, once of Stockton, California and now living and hybridizing in Salem, Oregon. He took his 'Montage' and crossed it with 'April Melody,' resulting in 'Roundup' (the iris, not the chemical). Some of us can remember the 10,000 seedlings Keith raised from 'Roundup.' From that line, I will mention only four of the warm toned children. 'Gigolo' is brightly colored and was popular and much used by other hybridizers. More recently, Keith has introduced other pink plicatas such as 'Musician' and his Dykes winning 'Drama Queen.'

'Roundup' image by Bluebird Haven Iris Garden

'Gigolo' image by unknown photographer

'Musician' image by Perry Dyer

'Drama Queen' image by Russian Iris Society

Using the Keppel and the Gibson irises, Joe Ghio of Santa Cruz and Australia’s Barry Blyth went into the pink plicata business. A recent examples of Joe Ghio’s warm toned plicatas include 'Epicenter' and his 2016 introduction 'All By Design.'

'Epicenter' image by Jeanette Graham

 'All By Design' image by Brad Collins

Barry Blyth produced 'Waiting for George,' an iris that I found useful when combined with the pink plicatas that I had created out of the Gibson and Keppel lines.

'Waiting for George' image by Barry Blyth

While the focus recently has been on the lined and the multi-banded wave varieties, other hybridizers have produced lovely pink plicatas including Terry Aitken’s 'Celtic Woman.'

'Celtic Woman' image by Terry Aitken

While it might not appear to be an 'April Melody' descendant, one of my all-time favorite Schreiner plicata introductions, 'I’ve Got Rhythm,' traces back to 'April Melody.'

'I’ve Got Rhythm' image by Schreiner's Gardens

And today’s irises continue the legacy of 'April Melody' either directly or indirectly. As Keith Keppel wrote to me in email, “And how far beyond 'April Melody' do you want to go?   It's a mini-version of trying to list 'Snow Flurry' descendants!  All the Gibson stuff that is descended from it, virtually all of my tangerine (and some other) plic (and luminata, glaciata) stuff.  And then Ghio began using mine, as did Barry and it went on from there (as well as their using Gibson stuff direct).”

Iris Stories: 'April Melody'

By Bryce Williamson

Iris stories can be made up of several related, interlocking, overlapping stories—if the story is about a hybridizer’s creations, there may be stories about the names, why the cross was made, or other issues; less known is that often the hybridizer is influenced by or helped by other people who often are nameless, though those side stories are of interest. That is the case with Jim Gibson’s 'April Melody,' the first good pink plicata and the foundation parent of pink/orange toned plicatas today.

And the story of Jim Gibson and 'April Melody' actually starts in Utah with 'Tell Muhlestein' taking a plicata seedling from Loomis’ 'Seashell' and crossing it with his 'Pink Formal'. 'Pink Formal' was from a Loomis pink seedling and iris 'David Hall.' From that cross, he obtained 'New Adventure' and introduced it in 1953. We now know that the Hall pink irises had plicatas in their background and 'Seashell' certainly had them. 'New Adventure' was an interesting color break—a lavender-pink plicata with a tangerine beard, but, as you can see from the image, it did not have good form.

 'New Adventure' -- image from the Iris Encyclopedia 

When Jim Gibson in Porterville, California grew 'New Adventur'e he realized it had great potential, but it also needed a lot of work on the form. Thus started his quest for a well formed pink plicata. As you can see from the complicated parentage, he made many crosses and brought into the breeding both the best pinks of the day and his own well-formed brown plicatas. And he raised seedlings and then another generation and yet more generations.

During one of my visits to his garden, Jim explained that he thought about giving up—the desired result was not showing up, but he did not give up and finally a flower appeared that met his high standards. As you can see from the parentage, many generations of hybridizing went into the creation of 'April Melody':  ((37-57: (54-55: ('Taholah' x 45-53: ('Ballerina' x (('Gibson Girl' x ('Madame Louis Aureau' x ('Sacramento' x red brown))) x ('Gibson Girl' x ('Tiffany' x 'Siegfried'))))) x (45-53D x ('Ballerina' x 'Happy Birthday'))) x 'New Adventure')   X   (37-57 x ('New Adventure' x 54-55))).

But that was not the end of the story. At that time, the Gibson irises were being introduced by Cooley’s in Silverton, Oregon and they were hesitant to introduce this new colored iris. Enter the stranger in the form of Hazel Stewart of San Jose, a longtime member of the Clara B. Rees Iris Society.

'April Melody' image from HIPS archive

Region 14—Northern California and Nevada—had a spring meeting in Porterville. In the Gibson garden, the pink plicata seedling was in bloom. During the garden tours, Hazel stood by the planting and kept pointing out, “This is good. This is different.” She was right, it was good and different.

When the result of the voting for best seedling from a Region 14 hybridizer was announced, Hazel’s campaign had paid off—the pink plicata was named best seedling. With that award, Cooley’s did introduce 'April Melody.'

And 'April Melody' went on to be a major parent for Gibson and other hybridizers. From 'April Melody,' Jim introduced a series of new plicata colors -- 'Rippling Rose,' 'Summer Silk,' 'Casino Queen,' 'Mod Mode,' 'Porta Villa,' and 'Frosty Blush' are all first generation 'April Melody' children. The second generation produced 'Lilac Love,' 'Pink Ember,' 'Happy Halo,' 'Smoke Rings,' 'Lasting Spring,' and 'Frost Kiss.' In the third generation, along came 'Pink Confetti' and 'Anon,' among others. Further down the line, one of the most important and lasting of Jim Gibson’s iris is the wonderful 'Queen in Calico.'

'Porta Villa' image by Sunshine Iris, Australia

'Pink Ember' image by Glenn Corlew

'Anon' image by Country Delight Iris

'Queen in Calico' image from Iris Encyclopedia 

This is just a partial list of Gibson irises stemming from 'April Melody' and, needless to say, other hybridizers realized the potential of the iris and used it heavily. In fact, 'April Melody' not only opened up a whole new group of color plicatas, but also 'April Melody' appears in the background of so many differently colored irises that it is hard to believe including the 2017 Dykes Medal winner 'Montmartre.'

'Montmartre' image by Schreiner's Gardens

When Jim could have given up on the line, he did not; he continued to work for the goal, finally reaching and not only achieving a wonderful flower, but also a wonderful parent. 'April Melody'’s story also points out the importance of other people in making sure that wonderful and different irises are recognized. While the judges of The American Iris Society did award 'April Melody' an Honorable Mention, they failed to vote it an Award of Merit — a huge oversight on their part. In another blog, I will show how 'April Melody' and its children were used by other hybridizers to produce fine irises.

My thanks to Keith Keppel for reading, correcting, and suggesting ideas for this blog.

Stricken by Irises

By Bryce Williamson

You grow to love some irises over time, but others strike you upon first viewing.  In my case, two of the times I was immediately stricken by the beauty of an iris were in Clara and Ruth Rees's gardens.

I gained my love of velvet-falled irises from seeing their huge clump of "Amigo", an exceptionally beautiful flower.

"Amigo" Courtesy of Mike Lowe from original HIPS website

Another time, I rounded the lattice-work that defined a "room" in their home garden, and found a lovely stalk of "Swan Ballet", showing off why it won the Dykes Medal.

"Swan Ballet" Photo by author

"Swan Ballet" is an important iris in other ways besides being merely beautiful: it won the Dykes Medal, its child "Pacific Panorama" won the Dykes for Neva Sexton, and a child of "Pacific Panorama." "Shipshape," won the Dykes for Stafford Babson.  (I only know of one other example of three generations of irises winning the Dykes:  "Pink Taffeta," "Vanity", and "Beverly Sills.")

"Pacific Panorama" photo by Roland Dejoux

"Shipshape" photo by Colleen Modra

Another iris that struck me the first time I saw it was "Helen McGregor" in the garden of Mrs. Hobbs in Orland, California. She grew mainly older varieties in long rows stretching out through her pecan grove. With a little luck we would also find some of Truman Capote's “windfall pecans” while viewing the flowers.

"Helen McGregor"  Photo by Bluebird Haven Iris Garden

"Helen McGregor" impressed me as so very blue and I was later pleased to find that almost all of the very best current “true” blues go back to this variety.

"Anon" photo by Country Delight Iris

Jim Gibson's wonderful iris (and wonderful parent) "Anon" is stuck in my mind from the San Diego National Iris Convention where it was growing in Archie Owen's yard by a lemon tree. I knew that I had to have this distinctive variety instantly, and I grew it for many years. In one of the great mysteries of iris growing, "Anon" really liked the town of Campbell—it would bloom 10 inches taller here than for Bill Maryott who was just 5 miles away.

The last time I saw Jim Gibson was at a Porterville Regional Iris Tour, at the home of George and Margaret Sutton.  Sprung from his retirement at the rest home, he graced us with his presence and knowledge.  We had a good talk, but it was a little sad to hear him say "I only can make crosses in my mind anymore."  That was the last time I saw the kind man who produced so many lovely and famous flowers. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his work, he was very famous for producing glorious diversity in plicatas.


Are there any irises that struck you from the first time you saw them?  I hope you do- please feel free to tell us about them in the comments section.

*******

This will be my last scheduled post for the blog, but I will occasionally be back as a guest blogger.  I have a few final words about the world of irises.

First, I have enjoyed giving you the history of my local iris society on this blog. When I learned that my local society, The Clara B. Rees Iris Society, had only one picture of Clara, I grew a bit concerned about the loss of history in the world of irises.  This is partly my own fault—I could have and should have done a better job in my younger years taking pictures of people and gardens and preserving them for posterity.  So please, take photos and record the history you are in the process of making in the iris world.

Second, my life has been immeasurably enriched by visiting the iris gardens of others.  Sometimes, though, I worry that fewer people are visiting the gardens of other iris growers and gardeners. How can anyone expand a healthy and thriving iris collection if they don't see the newer varieties in real life? I encourage everyone to get out, meet the interesting people growing irises, and see what the flower looks like in their gardens. Furthermore, hybridizers used to send their seedlings around the country before introduction to test them in various climates. There has been a decline in that practice, which concerns me, since it is a healthy practice for the production of good garden irises.  I'd like to encourage hybridizers who have not tried this to begin, and to thank those who do.

Third, as gardening and agriculture have become more commercial, we are finding that new garden chemicals are not tested on irises; moreover, we don't seem to have many iris growers of a scientific bent who are willing to do that testing.  It's expensive, and of course, a whole post could be written about the horrible effect of the current US depression on iris gardens and plant nurseries in general.  Ten years ago who would have believed that a famous name such as Cooley's Gardens would be closed?  Consider sharing your experiences with these new chemicals and methods with others so that we can continue to enjoy irises for many years to come.

Napa County Iris Gardens, photo by the author

Finally, when I first started growing irises, irises were the favorite perennial in the country. That is not the case today, sadly. With so many fine qualities all of the iris species need to regain their rightful places as pre-eminent American perennials. Toward than end, I am proud to have served on this blog to help re-popularize this magnificent flower.