On the Road Again: Aitken’s Salmon Creek

By Bryce Williamson

At this time of year, I should have just returned from my annual Oregon/Washington trip to the iris gardens, but this year, sadly, is not normal. I am writing, instead, about my trips in 2018 and 2019 and the focus is Aitken’s Salmon Creek.

M. Smith 14-16E

Terry Aitkens showing me some of Siberian seedlings from a different bloodline.

A lilac that was almost a small tree.

Ah, if they would only grow in California...

In 2018 I was scheduled to meet my sister, her oldest daughter and family for dinner, so I went to Aitken’s last, but in 2019 I went there first since I thought I had shorted the garden the previous year. I always enjoy this garden not only for the irises—and a wide range of irises are gown there—but also for all the other flowering plant materials including Terry’s orchids.

Many of us wonder about the next generation of American hybridizers, so I was delighted to learn that Markie Smith’s grandson is now hybridizing and introducing irises.

Here are some irises and some other plants from the last two year’s visits.

Aitken 14-T-ZZA

'Black Cherry Blast'

'Cabbage Patch'

'Catching Fire'

'Soul Mate'

'Sunny Morning'

'Unconditional Love'

'Visigoth'

Some Siberians were looking good too:

'Judy, Judy, Judy'

'Lemon Blush'

'Simon Says'

Dykes Medals in New Zealand

By Maggie Asplet

The New Zealand Dykes Medal can be awarded every second year by the British Iris Society on the recommendation of the New Zealand Iris Society.

This medal is awarded also in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia.  The Australasian Dykes Medal was first instituted in 1985 and allowed a medal to be awarded to New Zealand and Australian irises in successive years.  However the process of sending iris out of the country to be tested in Australia proved unworkable and as a result in 1992 the New Zealand Dykes Trial Garden system was set up.

 Frances Love holding her Dykes Medal

Picture thanks to Piki Carroll

Frances Love won the first New Zealand Dykes Medal in 1995 for the Siberian iris ‘Emma Ripeka’.  This iris is registered as 91 cm (36”) in height, with a mid-season bloom (October/November in NZ).  Standards are medium blue, style arms are sky blue and the falls are dark blue.  This is a seedling crossed with self.

It would take another 10 years before another Dykes Medal was awarded in New Zealand.

Iris 'Salute D'Amour'

Shirley Spicer first registered her iris “Salute D’Amour”, a Tall Bearded iris in 2001, and was awarded the New Zealand Dykes Medal in 2005.

This iris is described as being 84 cm (33’) in height and late season flowering (November in NZ).  The standards are light pink blush, styles arms soft coral pink and the falls are warm pink blush with soft white haft marking and a coral beard. This iris has a sweet fragrance.  Parentage is ‘Elysian Fields’ X ‘Flirtation Waltz’.

Seven years later the third Dykes Medal was awarded.

Iris 'Norma of Irwell'

Having registered his first iris in 1969, Ron Busch would have to wait until 2012 to be awarded his Dykes Medal for ‘Norma of Irwell’.

‘Norma of Irwell’ is a Tall Bearded iris first registered in 2008 and named after his wife.  It is described as being 86 cm (34”) in height, with late midseason flowering (Late October/early November).  The standards and style arms are deep purple and the falls deep violet-purple with white around the beard.  Beards are bronze tipped violet.

Finally, our fourth Dykes Medal was awarded just two years later in 2014.

Alison Nicoll holding a stem of Iris 'Atavus'

‘Atavus’ a Tall Bearded Iris bred by our very own President, Alison Nicoll, was awarded the Dykes Medal, at our Convention in Hamilton (2014).

Originally registered in 2006, ‘Atavus’ is 72 cm (28”) tall, a mid season flowering iris.  It is cream flushed lilac in the centre, style arms creams and lilac, the falls are strongly washed violet, has tan hafts and border; the beard is red.  This iris is flared with slight spicy fragrance.  Parentage is ‘Prince George’ X ‘Outrageous Fortune’.

How does our Dykes Medal System work in New Zealand?

Eligibility - Any New Zealand bred iris is to be eligible for testing.  Each enter is allocated a number, which is it knows as for the duration of the trial period.

Iris which have won the Begg Shield, McLachlan Trophy or the Lucy Delany Memorial Award should be sent to the Sykes Test Garden.

Entry – To enter plants for assessment send 1 preferably 2 rhizomes to each Dykes Test Garden.  No more than three different iris per breeder will be permitted in one cycle.

Judging – In the first year the iris will be allowed to settle and will not be judged.  In the following two seasons they will be judged by a panel of three judges which must include a senior judge, co-opted by the Director of each garden.  This may require several visits over the bloom season.

A copy of the judging papers is sent by each Test Garden Director at the end of each season’s judging to the Test Garden Co-ordinator for collating.  The average of the two seasons judging of each trail plant will be used to determine its performance in each of the Test Gardens.  The co-ordinator will then average the best two results from the three test gardens to determine the final number of points of each plant.

Growers will be given the results of their iris from the first year of judging on application to the co-ordinator.  Points are not published.

An iris which receives 70 points is eligible for an Honourable Mention; 75 points for an Award of Merit.

A Dykes Medal winner should receive 80 points or more.

2019 Morgan-Wood Medal

Morgan-Wood Medal 2019

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Morgan-Wood Medal 2019

'Paprikash'

This medal is restricted to Siberian irises. It is named in honor of F. Cleveland Morgan (1882-1962) and Ira E. Wood (1903-1977). F. Cleveland Morgan was a pioneer Canadian breeder of Siberian irises and a founding member of AIS. Some of his magnificent cultivars still enhance gardens around the globe. Three of his best known irises are 'Caezar,' 'Caezar's Brother' and ‘Tropic Night’. Ira E. Wood, hybridized Siberian irises, but he introduced only one cultivar 'Ong's Hat.' He also served as a director of AIS and as its second vice president.

'Paprikash'--image by Bryce Williamson

'Paprikash' ( Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks, R. 2012) Seedling S06-91-10A. SIB, 20" (51 cm). Midseason bloom. Standards pale ground with red-violet veins and dappling, yellow at hafts; style arms light apricot, bright red-violet heart; Falls apricot ground, heavily speckled red all over, bright yellow signal with self speckles and veins; slight sweet fragrance. S03-56A-10: ( 'Humors Of Whiskey' x 'Cream Of Tomato' pollen parent) X 'Miss Apple'. Joe Pye Weed 2012. Honorable Mention 2015. Award of Merit 2017.

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day all of the medal winners. The entire list of winners can be found at the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

Siberian Irises: The Greatest of Them All – White Swirl

by Bob Hollingworth

The first blog I wrote for AIS in 2011 about Siberians gave the background on 'Caesar’s Brother' and was entitled The Greatest of Them All.  After a long gap, let’s return to that theme and consider the other, very strong, contender for this title – 'White Swirl'.  'White Swirl' was introduced by Fred Cassebeer in 1956. Mr. Cassebeer was a pharmacist in New York who ran the family pharmacy store in Manhattan and also made many contributions to AIS including serving on the Board of Directors, editing the AIS Bulletin, and designing the Distinguished Service and Hybridizers medals – both of which he was later awarded.

The lovely form of White Swirl

                              

'White Swirl' wasn’t always called by this name. When originally registered by Mr. C. it was called 'Frank Stubbs'. As I remember it, Mr. Stubbs was a longtime gardener/horticulturist for the Cassebeers. When it became clear that this was a very special flower, Mr. C. was prevailed upon to find a more attractive name and thus 'White Swirl' was born – and poor Mr. Stubbs’ shot at eternal glory was, rather unfairly, nipped in the bud.

                                Fred Cassebeer (left) shows one of his bearded iris introductions

The origin of 'White Swirl' is a mystery which has led to considerable speculation regarding its parentage. Mr. Cassebeer said that he planted four coffee cans full of bee pod seeds from existing Siberians in his garden, and 'White Swirl' stood out among the thousands of resulting progeny. His best guess at parentage, based on its appearance and his existing Siberians at that time was ‘Gatineau’ and ‘Snowcrest’.

Whatever its origins, it rapidly became clear that 'White Swirl' was novel and unusually attractive. A sparkling white with a touch of yellow in the center and quite large for its times, its form was most notable – horizontally flaring falls with an interesting curvy (swirled) form that was unlike most of its peers which had pendant falls. Perhaps as another thought on the source of this, then unusual, form  a similar flaring white Siberian has been reported as a naturally-occurring rare variant from Japan – I. sanguinea var. albiflora.  ‘Snow Queen’, a form of I. sanguinea collected in Japan in 1900, is described as having “horizontally-poised falls” and is the pollen parent of 'Snowcrest', one of the putative parents of 'White Swirl'.

'White Swirl' received an Honorable Mention award in 1957. In 1961 Ben Hager wrote “This one (White Swirl) is such an advance that it doesn’t look like a Siberian Iris …. almost …. The Morgan Award should be revived for this one alone if necessary”, and in 1962 'White Swirl' did in fact receive this award (then the equivalent of an Award of Merit) which had not been given since 1954.  Even more impressive, in 1987, 12 years after Mr. Cassebeer’s death, it received the AIS Board of Directors Award given to an iris that has had an extraordinary influence on iris breeding but never received the highest AIS award, the Dykes Medal. This award no longer exists (unfortunately to my thinking), but 'White Swirl' certainly earned it.  

As soon as it was introduced, hybridizers jumped all over it, despite the fact it produces little pollen, and it’s rounded ruffled form became the standard for Siberian irises for several decades and is still seen very frequently today. It was clearly a very significant factor in the rise of interest in Siberians in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, a search on the AIS Iris Registry shows over 100 Siberians with White Swirl included specifically in their parentage, and many more where it exists in the background of named varieties which were then used further as parents.

                                          'Ego' - One of 'White Swirl's' many winning progeny

                                                    Another example - 'Ruffled Velvet'

Just a list of some of the major awards to its progeny shows it’s influence – 12 of the 15 Siberians receiving the Morgan Award (then the highest AIS award specific for Siberian irises) or, later, the Morgan-Wood Medal from 1970-1987 had 'White Swirl' prominently in their parentage, including Bill McGarvey’s 'Dewful' in 1970, 'Supergo' in 1971, 'Ego' in 1972 and 'Pink Haze' in 1984, Ben Hager’s 'Swank' in 1973,  Sid DuBose’s 'Vi Luihn'  in 1977, Currier McEwen’s 'Ruffled Velvet' in 1980 and 'Butter & Sugar' in 1981, Harley Briscoe’s 'Steve Varner' in 1982 and, later, Calvin Helsley’s 'Mabel Coday' in 1991. It was also the parent of two British Dykes medals winners in Marjorie Brummitt’s 'Cambridge' in 1971 and 'Anniversary' in 1979. Now that is some record of success!

                                    'White Swirl' in the gardens at Michigan State University

Like 'Caesar’s Brother', 'White Swirl' is still readily available from plant nurseries and has garden value well beyond its considerable historical significance. Reportedly Fred Cassebeer in his later years requested that when he died he wanted 'White Swirl' planted on his grave – we can only hope that it was.

So, which was the greatest? 'Caesar's Brother'? 'White Swirl'? Or are there other contenders such as Currier McEwen's yellow  'Butter and Sugar'?

Did You Miss Us?

For the last three weeks, a software glitch has prevented automatic notifications of The World of Irises blog. The coding error has been found and fixed and Monday you should have received notification about Bonnie Nichols’s blog on soft rot.

You may have missed several blogs with interesting information and good images. Just click on the link and it will take you to the blogs in questions.

Mike Unser’s blogs are always full of great images and the recent blog “The Beauty of Siberian Irises” is no exception.

Anna Cadd has been hybridizing Spurias for many years and her guest blog provides historical and current information about the important parent Wadi Zem Zem.

Photo Essay: The Beauty of Siberian Irises

By Mike Unser

A small sampling of Siberian iris photos I've taken in years past showcasing the beauty they bring to the garden.  Siberian irises make exceptional garden plants and are easy to grow and care for. They are especially beautiful when grown in large masses. For many decades the color range was limited, but recent advances have opened up entirely new color classes for them and amazing new varieties appear every year in reds, golds, pinks, oranges, browns, and blends. New forms and patterns are being explored by hybridizers as well, including multiple falls, heavy ruffling, and edge bands that give a plicata effect. Exciting times for fans of this iris species.

Morgan-Wood Medal 2018

The American Iris Society

Announces

The Morgan-Wood Medal 2018

'Miss Apple'

This medal is restricted to Siberian irises. It is named in honor of F. Cleveland Morgan (1882-1962) and Ira E. Wood (1903-1977). F. Cleveland Morgan was a pioneer Canadian breeder of Siberian irises and a founding member of AIS. Some of his magnificent cultivars still enhance gardens around the globe. Three of his best known irises are 'Caezar,' 'Caezar's Brother' and ‘Tropic Night’. Ira E. Wood, hybridized Siberian irises, but he introduced only one cultivar 'Ong's Hat.' He also served as a director of AIS and as its second vice president.

'Miss Apple'--image by Brock Heilman

Miss Apple' (Marty Schafer & Jan Sacks, 2009). Standards medium red blended with yellow; style arms medium red, some violet; falls deep, rich red blended with yellow, signal showy warm yellow (RHS 13B/C), dark widely spaced veins; slight sweet fragrance. 'Hot Sketch' sibling. Joe Pye Weed 2009. Honorable Mention 2012. Award of Merit 2014.

The World of Irises blog will be posting once a day all of the medal winners. The entire list of winners can be found at http://irises.org/About_Irises/Awards_Surveys/AIS_Awards.html, the AIS Encyclopedia and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES. Pictures can be found at http://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards2018.

IRISES, the Bulletin of the AIS - Fall 2016 Edition

By Andi Rivarola

I hope you enjoy the new edition of IRISES, cover below, which you will receive via U.S. Mail very soon. 

A warm welcome to those who are seeing the gorgeous cover of this issue of IRISES, the Bulletin of The American Iris Society for the first time.  

The Fall 2016 issue of the AIS Bulletin will be available soon for online viewing within the Emembers section of the AIS website. Note: to access this area of the website you must have a current AIS Emembership. AIS Emembership is separate from the normal AIS membership. Please see the Electronic Membership Information area of the AIS website for more details.

Some article display news: page 2 and 3 have some awesomely large pictures of the 2016 Award Winners. It's a welcome change from New Yorker and guest Editor Jane Milliman, who has become the new Editor of IRISES starting with the first issue of 2017. 

Don't miss a wonderful recap of all the activities in the various AIS Sections, such as The Novelty Iris Society, The Median Iris Society, the Species Iris Group of North America, The Reblooming Iris Society and others. On pages 12 & 13. 

What a tender obituary on dear Jean Witt, on pages 14 and 15. If you didn't know her, you will know much more about her after reading this. Don't miss the note about her watercolor work. It's fascinating. The obituaries continue on page 16 on the passing of Rholin "Keith" Cooley, from you guest it, the famous Cooley's Iris Gardens in Silverton, Oregon. 

On pages 18, 19 and 20 you will find a wonderful and very descriptive article by Sheryl Campbell, called, "Shenandoah & Potomac Iris Society Beautifies the Valley" You will be visiting two wonderful gardens, the State Arboretum at Boyce, and the Glen Burnie Gardens at the Museum of Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, both in Virginia. Enjoy. 

"To get to the irises, you walk through the Pollination Garden observing butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds visiting their favorite flowers."

Tom Waters, from New Mexico, knows his Arils/Arilbreds and this impressive article on "Classification of Arils and Arilbreds," will provide you with much information about their nomenclature and perhaps inspire you to grow some in your garden. On pages 21, 22 and 23.

Joe Ghio gives us his take on "Tall Bearded Iris Future," and what will motivate upcoming hybridizers to continue the work as did Joe, Keith and others. Wonderful article, on pages 24 and 25. 

Meanwhile in Virginia, Mike Lockatell writes about reblooming SDBs and how "SDB Seedlings Save [the] 2015 Fall Season." Lovely images of some of his seedlings accompany the article. Don't miss it. On pages 26 through 29.

The 2016 Award Winners are listed commencing on page 31.

Young and wise, Colin Campbell, describes his introduction to iris hybridizing with amazing close up images. From removing pollen from the pollen parent, to placing the pollen on the stigmatic lip of the pod parent iris. You can read about it on pages 38 through 40. Colin's article is called, "An Introduction to Hybridizing Tall Bearded Irises."

"A little bit more about pollen. Exposure to bright sunlight can be harmful to the pollen grains, so it is important to keep your pollen containers covered when you are out hybridizing in the garden."

There's a lot more to see and read in this edition of IRISES, either in digital or print formats. If you are an AIS member know that you will receive the print edition soon (it's in the hands of the U.S. Post Office), or if you are an e-member, then that version will be a available online soon as mentioned above. 

Happy gardening!

Dreaming Pink Siberians

By Bob Hollingworth

Clear pink is a color we do not much associate with Siberians. There is white, blue, violet, lavender, red-violet, purple and now red/yellow blends, but not really a true pink. Pink is the poor relative as a color. Pink in irises can come from one of two sources, either from carotenoid (yellow, orange and pink) pigments or anthocyanins (blue, red, lavender and violet colors). Bearded irises have both types, and so clear pinks are not uncommon – think 'Beverly Sills' for instance. But, so far, there is no evidence for a carotenoid pink in Siberians (or other beardless irises to the best of my limited knowledge). So pink has to come through the anthocyanins, and of course this can give pinkish Siberians, but always with a bluish cast (lavender-pink, orchid-pink) – e.g. 'Pink Haze' (McGarvey, 1980) or 'Mary Louis Michie' (AM Miller, 1995). The fact that there has been little advance in achieving clearer pinks in Siberians in many years suggests that this is not necessarily an easy field to cultivate, but for that reason it is tempting as well as challenging.

'Pink Haze'

As with so many other things, working in this area came to my mind as an afterthought a few years ago when a batch of seedlings seemed to give some marginal improvement in “pinkness”. These still tend to the blue side of pink, but truly I think could be termed peppermint pink. One (09F3A3) is under evaluation for introduction. Perhaps line breeding can slowly improve these further, but I have a few other thoughts about where cleaner and richer pinks might come from.

09F3A3

The pinkest Siberian I ever remember seeing was Pink Haze growing in a far part of our garden in Indiana years ago. It was almost flamingo pink and seemed quite different from the usual color, so I checked the soil pH. For some reason it was 7.5, about the upper limit for Siberians to grow. Maybe that could explain the unusual color shift. So this brings us to the first thought. The color of anthocyanin pigments is quite complex and can be greatly altered by soil pH. Just think how the color of hydrangeas can be changed from pink to blue by adding aluminum salts to the soil. The pigment is the same but when it is complexed with aluminum, it changes from pink to blue. And, to make a hydrangea pinker, increasing soil pH helps, since this limits the uptake of aluminum. Could this be an explanation why Pink Haze looked so pink growing at an unusually high pH?  I guess we’ll never know for certain, but certainly the soil pH can greatly affect flower color. Which raises another question - are pink Siberians pinker here in the Midwest (with generally neutral soils) than on the east or west coasts (often quite acid soils)? A study of the effect of soil pH on Siberian flower color would be an interesting thing to try.

Just as external pH changes these colors, so does the pH inside the cell (which is not directly affected by soil pH). Also, different metals and the interaction with other co-pigment molecules can change color in a complex way that goes well beyond the bounds of this blog. Subtle change in cell pH (as small as 0.1 unit) can cause a surprisingly large change in the blue-pink color balance of flowers. Several tactics could work in theory to take advantage of this to give purer pinks - increased cell acidity, greater uptake of metals (aluminum) etc., but there is no obvious way to control these as a hybridizer, so you can only make promising crosses and hope for a lucky break in seedlings. Perhaps this is not just a pipe dream. There are quite clear pink Japanese irises with similar pigments to those in the Siberians.

10J4A5

I’m hoping that we saw such a break this year with one seedling (10J4A5). This stood out quite strongly in a group of new seedlings as a stronger, clearer deep pink than the others. One year does not a breakthrough make, so we will need to see this bloom again to be sure it wasn’t just a weird aberration in what has been a very weird and nasty growing year, but that’s what makes hybridizing so addictive.

'Fiona'

'Fancy This'

The other means to brighter, pinker pinks is to play a subtle game of combining the current lavender pinks with a light yellow underlay. Too much yellow makes brownish shades that can be interesting but are not the objective.






I think this effect may be what lies behind two recent introductions from Jan Sacks and Marty Schafer, 'Fiona' (2010) and, particularly, 'Fancy This' (2012). To my eye these have a distinctly richer
pink color than previous Siberians. Even more exciting is the thought that if you can get purer pinks with less blue influence through mechanism 1 and then combine this with yellow in mechanism 2, you could head towards true orange. Dreams, dreams.