A View from Russia of Gypsy Lord and Children

I am glad to welcome all fans of irises! My name is Sergey Stroganov, and I live in the South of Russia (USDA zone 6B). In our country, there are a lot of fans of beautiful flowers, and many of these gardens grow bearded irises. The most popular iris in those gardens is tall bearded, which are grown from 3 to 8 zones. Here and in my garden I grow mostly tall bearded irises. I am very grateful for the kind offer to blog, and my first photo post I want to devote to all known variety of iris 'Gypsy Lord' and varieties obtained with his participation, which are more than 90 (in our I garden grow some of them).

So- 'Gypsy Lord' (Keith Keppel, 2005) - a posh iris, winner of honorary reviews and medals - Honorable Mention 2008; Franklin Cook Cup 2008; Award of Merit 2010; Wister Medal 2015, American Dykes Medal 2015! Conspicuous long bright beard, contrasting falls, good shape and branching and great growth. In the spring, before budding, thanks to its advanced growth of green mass it is pleasing to the eye.

Now presenting irises with Gypsy Lord as a parent.

Largely inherited the qualities of a parent - 'Brilliant Idea', Keith Keppel, 2008 (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X 02-185D: (Restless Heart x Queen's Circle)): the same long beard, only orange; shaded edge on the falls and abundant and powerful growth:

Iris  ‘Giorgio’ Paul Black, 2013 (Parentage: Kiss of Passion X Gypsy Lord) – excellent shape, contrast and good growth:   

  

Iris 'Royal Orders' Barry Blyth, 2008 (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Decadence) – a direct descendant of two legendary masterpieces:   

                

A very effective amoena with contrasting beards, 'Snaparazzi' Barry Blyth, 2011 (Parentage: Legerdemain X Gypsy Lord):

Dramatic neglecta with contrasting beards: 'Honourable Lord’ Barry Blyth, 2009  (Parentage: Legerdemain X Gypsy Lord):

The next sample of beauty is the neglecta 'Big Spender' Barry Blyth, 2014 (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Keppel 04-71D: (98-181E, Naughty Nights sib, x Decadence), wide, very ruffled flower with a deep, rich color:

Iris 'Girls Got Rhythm', Barry Blyth, 2013 with a long parent list (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Keppel 05-114A: (01-99A: (96-28B, Mysterious Ways sib, x 98-122A: (Shoop 91-26: (Summer Fashion x Coming up Roses) x Lotus Land)) x Decadence)). As you can see, Gypsy Lord was good as a parent plant and as a parent.

A contrasting iris with gold edging on the standards, looking very rich  is 'King's Reign’ Thomas Johnson, 2015 (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Edge of Heaven):

Next, I would like to Supplement my post with some wonderful photos of other Russian collectors in order to further expand the picture of the ideas about irises that came from the Gypsy Lord.

Frequently requested variety - 'Colour Bazaar' Barry Blyth, 2012 (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Carnival Capers); the color of the flower resembles the color of a tropical butterfly! Photo by Victoria Myrova in her garden:  
  

Iris 'Paris Memory' Barry Blyth,2013 (Parentage: Let's Romp X Gypsy Lord). Photo by Victoria Myrova in her garden:

Repeatedly attracting the eye iris – ‘Tango Express’ Barry Blyth, 2010   (Parentage: Gypsy Lord X Keppel 02-177XY: (Brave Face x Parisian Dawn):

And, finally, one of the varieties of the Russian hybridizer – 'Kozyrny Tuz' Olga Riabykh, 2011. Bright, memorable, good and abundant growth.

Photo by Nadezhda Zotova in her garden. All other images by the author.

Greetings from Down Under

By Melissa and Bailey Schiller

Today marks the day that we publish our first post for the American Iris Society blog. We would like to thank the editors for offering us this opportunity to be part of the blogging team all the way from Down Under!

Smokin Heights Spring 2016

We are Melissa and Bailey Schiller, mother and son owners of Smokin Heights Nursery. We specialise in bearded iris, with a further interest in hybridizing novelties. Melissa started collecting iris about 25 years ago after acquiring 5 iris from her grandmother. The iris virus soon took a hold and it became an obsession for Melissa. She soon discovered Tempo Two Nursery and started to increase her collection.  Every Spring she would open the garden to the public and offer excess varieties for sale.

Barry, Lesley and Heidi Blyth soon became mentors to what Melissa wanted to grow and use in her own garden and to achieve in her hybridizing goals.

Bailey at the age of 13 watched on while Melissa dabbled in the iris field with replant and hybridizing, and just like that Bailey took the tweezers from Melissa’s hand and started doing his own crosses.

Bailey and Barry Blyth back in  Spring 2013 at Tempo Two

The Spring of 2013 Barry invited us to Tempo Two. This was a quick day trip with a bored dad and husband in tow. We remember being so overwhelmed with the view in front of us. Being allowed into Barry’s seedling field was a soul fulfilling experience…..frantically we rushed around doing so many crosses with the little time we had. On this our first trip Barry spent only a little time with us as the Barn was open with people everywhere. Barry, Lesley and Heidi were flat out. We even met Tim Blyth this day too near the end of our visit. This is where Bailey and his photographic memory was first recognized. A very useful tool but can get annoying when he gets going. Bailey has the ability to read the pedigree of iris and remember it, as well as where it is positioned in the garden. A very useful tool for everyone who spends time with him in the iris field! This visit we met with Roland Dejoux and also Kirk Hansen.

In the spring of 2014 we were invited again to Tempo Two. We spent several extremely busy days hybridizing and spending special time with Barry, Lesley and Heidi Blyth. We were also privileged to meet and begin our friendship with Thomas Johnson and Kirk Hansen. WOW.

Thomas Johnson and Bailey in Spring 2014 at Tempo Two

This particular year Barry spent a lot of time with Bailey discussing the iris with a focal point on genetics. Over the next few months any questions that Bailey had he would email Barry. Barry and Bailey discussed everything iris related. Seedling pictures were exchanged and more discussion ensued. Bailey would offer ideas to Barry and vice versa. I think Barry got the idea pretty quickly that Bailey’s style of hybridizing was much like his own. Have a go with this to that and who knows what you will get! This rule of thumb applies to the Blyth genetics where Barry’s lines are criss crossed and then crossed together. Does that make sense?

The mentoring continues to this day but now has branched out to include Thomas Johnson, Paul Black, and Keith Keppel. We love the frivolity and guidance we receive from these gentlemen in the iris field.

We would like to finish off the blog with a couple seedlings and just a brief overview of our hybridising goals which will be continued in our next installment.

F74-1: (Chaos Theory X Fiasco)

Bailey is a lover of all things weird and whacky, and this shows in his hybridising. With a particular focus and interest in breeding novelties. F74-1 (pictured above) was his favourite seedling to have its maiden bloom in Spring 2018. Coming from two 6-falled (flat) parents is this consistently flat iris. Bailey has been working on flat iris for a few years now and this is the best to bloom thus far.

F50-4: (Blyth A117-1: involved pedigree X Boston Cream)

If you look closely at the photo of  F50-4 you will notice some white colour breaks on the falls. Very interesting to see the plicata pattern and broken colour pattern in the same bloom, neither one dominating the other. We definitely plan on exploring this further!

In our next blog we will delve deeper into our hybridizing and show everyone what we have been working on and where we would like to go with our breeding lines.

Editors' Note: Barry Blyth, along with Graeme Grosvenor and John Taylor, are the best known to the rest of the world of the Australian iris hybridizers. For many years, Mr. Blyth operated Tempo Two, but two years ago, he retired. His introductions are now listed at Mid America Gardens in Salem, Oregon. Thomas Johnson and Kirk Hansen run the business. Please note that we leave UK spelling of English words alone.

A Trip of a Lifetime

By Maggie Asplet

I guess it is fair to say that my recent trip to Salem, Oregon began in 2017 at the NZ Iris society Convention in Palmerston North where Thomas Johnson was the guest speaker.  On a couple of occasions I discussed with him the frustration of working with our “older” cultivars, and he said come over.  Didn’t give it much more thought at the time, until early 2018.

With not much time from when my final decision of “this is what I really want to do”, I was off to Mid America Iris Garden in Salem, Oregon.  This was the start of two and a half very busy weeks, mainly spent looking at iris, hybridizing iris, talking iris then more hybridizing iris.

Just where does one begin to talk about such an awesome experience?  Perhaps the most logical place is the iris.  Arriving in early May, the SDB’s were at their best, perhaps some just past their best.  Being allowed to walk through the seedlings was just jaw dropping.  First year seedlings had your mind spinning, and then to be allowed to play in the second and third year seedling, this is before they have even been introduced was just awe inspiring.  At this point, it is fair to say that it was overwhelming, daunting and exciting all at the same time.

 Discussing IB's with Paul Black, Bailey Schiller (AUS) and myself

Without much delay, well a whole day just walking around with my jaw touching the ground and wondering where to start, I pulled out my notebook, my tags and my pencil then got the tweezers in hand we I began.  The first few days were mainly spent doing SDB and a few AB crosses.  I delightful iris that is named after Thomas and Kirk’s little dashhound (one of two) Alaia caught my eye, but only time will tell if any of the crosses I have done with this one are successful.

'Alaia' the SDB and Alaia (on the left) and her best buddy Tula

Once I had gotten through some of the SDB’s the TB’s were starting to come out in full bloom.  NOW this was totally overwhelming, just awe inspiring.  Questions like – where do you begin, what do you put with what, which garden do you look at first.  It was really easy to spend too much time thinking and not enough “just getting on with it”.  When you finally get on with it, it is really hard to stop.  In fact I did a total of 180 plus crosses and all of them were done twice.  Again, just how many were successful, I don’t know yet.

Mid-America Iris Garden in full bloom (photo by Thomas Johnson)

The ability to have discussions with internationally renowned hybridisers would have had to been the highlight of my time away.  When you have Thomas Johnson, Barry Blyth and Paul Black all standing together, just how could you not be asking questions.  And it didn’t matter how strange your question might appear, they were happy to answer.

One of my strange questions was – If you had only one flower on a very special iris, could you or would you mix pollen to get as vast a range of crosses as possible.  Simple answer really – YES you could, but it would still only be a cross with the pod and pollen parent, just difficult in some cases to know the pollen parent.  As the iris has 3 chambers, you could isolate each chamber and have three “proper” crosses.  Not such a silly question after all.

From left – Paul Black, Barry Blyth and Thomas Johnson

Before I proceed any further, it must be said that Thomas was more than generous to me.  He had four other people staying – Time and Maria Rose Taylor of Riverdale Irises in Vicotria, Australia and mother and son duo Melissa and Bailey Schiller of Smokin Heights Irises in South Australia.  It was usually Melissa and Bailey that I got up to mischief with and would visit other nurseries with.

We were also very fortunate to spend some special time with Schieners, both in their display gardens and social time.

Group at Schreiner's Iris Gardens. From left, Steve Schreiner, Maria Rosa Taylor (AUS), Maggie Asplet (NZ), Bailey Schiller (AUS), Thomas Johnson, Melissa Schiller (AUS), Michael Barnes (AUS), Kirk Hansen and Tim Taylor (AUS).

Another special time, was visiting Keith Keppel in his garden.  There he was down on his knees toiling away.  Always willing to spend time and talk.  When asked if I could take some blooms back to Mid-America, his very quick response was – “Can I see your breeding programme.”  If you didn’t know Keith, you might think he was being serious.  Then again perhaps he was?

Again, awesome time spent sitting and just talking irises with Keith, Barry, Melissa and Bailey.  It made me very aware that there was so much to learn and so little time.

Apart from making numerous crosses, we did have an outing thanks to both Paul Black and Lynda Miller of Miller Manor Irises.  Paul was kind enough to take us up to Chad Harris’s place.  This was my second visit, as I was there in 2015 at the AIS Convention.  The Siberian irises where in full bloom; just stunning.  Perhaps the best was the little treasure that was blooming right when we arrived.  We were escorted straight to look at this particular iris as the bloom only last a short time.  An iris that as yet has not been given a botanical name, and so is currently know by its code name - Azure Iris. 

The alluring “Azure Iris”

From here, we travelled around to Multnomah Falls.  Not as stunning as when the group visited in 2015, but still beautiful.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch here thanks to the generosity of Paul Black.  From there it was a drive to Paul’s house in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Multnomah Falls

Our second outing was a girls’ affair – Melissa, Lynda and myself to the Japanese Garden and the Rose Gardens.  I don’t think you can visit the Japanese Garden too many times, just so much to see, such a peaceful place.

From left, Melissa, myself and Lynda

Perhaps one of the most treasured time of this trip for me was catching up with Lorena Read.  Many of you will remember Lorena as she came and visited us in 2016 for our convention.  She was attending the regional meeting and I had enough time to share some special moments with her.  Thanks also to Bernard for the awesome photo he took of us both.  Bernard will be writing a separate article about the meeting.

Lorena and myself (photo by Bernard Pryor)

I now feel like the mantle has been set on my shoulder to make sure that we now have new cultivars for all in New Zealand.  It is a long process, as my seed will arrive this year, be germinated in April 2019, planted out in October/November 2019 and may flower for the first time in 2020.  It will then take at least two years before there is enough to market.  It is now a waiting game.

A very special thank you Thomas Johnson and Kirk Hansen, for putting up with me even if I did have you in hysterics at time.  Thanks also to Paul Black for your time and willingness to your years of experience.  Keith Keppel, Barry Blyth thanks for putting up with me and I will see you all again in May 2019.