Diversifying Six-falled Tall Bearded Irises

by Mel Schiller

It may come as no surprise to some people that Bailey loves to work with novelty irises. Six-falled tall bearded (TB) irises fall under this bracket. Bailey prefers to use the term six-falled instead of "flattie" because you wouldn't refer to a six-falled Japanese iris as a "flattie'" so why apply this term to bearded irises? Here are a few seedlings that have shown up in his seedling patch over the last few years. 

F58-ZZ: Painted Caravans sib X Bold Pattern

This seedling came as a surprise from this cross. Neither of the parents are six-falled. Although the flower pictured is not completely open, you can see the nice haft pattern with the lighter band on the falls. A really pleasing combination. 

H14-A: Chaos Theory X Fiasco

Bailey made this cross before but it had only yielded two seedlings. So, he decided to repeat the cross and successfully germinated over sixty seedlings. Quite a few seedlings have yet to bloom. Of those that have bloomed, every single one has been six-falled. It was well worth repeating the cross!

H14-D: Chaos Theory X Fiasco

A sibling to the one above. Of note in this cross is the stability of the flowers. Nearly all blooms open with six falls that have six beards and three style arms. This is very useful as Bailey has had no success using flowers that have more than three style arms. This is no doubt due to the pod structure being compromised when there are multiple style arms in the centre of the flower. 

H14-L:Chaos Theory X Fiasco

Again, another sibling to the two above. This cross yielded so many quality seedlings that it was hard to decide which to select. As the pool for six-falled TBs is limited, Bailey feels there is no harm in keeping as many as possible. Although most will never make it to introduction, they are good stepping stones to achieving stable and quality six-falled TBs. Just like F58-ZZ, this one exhibits a nice haft pattern with a lighter band on the falls. 

H17-AA: Untamed Glory X Full Disclosure

These next couple seedlings are from a cross that was made at Mid-America Gardens in 2018. Thomas Johnson sent the seeds to us in Australia. This very beautiful, heavily ruffled pink had its maiden bloom this spring. The heavy ruffling caused flowers to stick a bit when opening. However, Bailey is a sucker for ruffles so this seedling had to be kept.

H17-C: Untamed Glory X Full Disclosure

This was Bailey's favourite maiden bloom seedling of 2021. The pattern reminds him of a seashell. This one exhibits good growth habits with disease-resistant foliage and nicely branched stems that carry seven to nine buds. 

H18-A: Fiasco X Zip Zing Zowie sib

This cross was made to eventually get six-falled broken colours. Bailey wasn't expecting to get a six-falled iris in the first generation. Bailey may use this one to backcross to broken color or other six-falled irises he is breeding.

I43-5: Sergey X Full Disclosure

This is one of the less interesting seedlings to come from Bailey's six-falled TB hybridizing program but is still worth keeping. Nearly every seedling from this cross was a blue, six-falled TB. You wouldn't expect 'Sergey' to give such a high percentage of six-falled seedlings. However, the results Thomas Johnson has had with 'Sergey' led Bailey to believe that it would be a good iris to incorporate into his program. Although 'Sergey' seems to be a difficult parent, Bailey still tries every season to get seed from it. 

Most of the seedlings that Bailey produces will never make it to introduction, including the ones pictured here. With a lot of patience and perseverance, the underrepresented six-falled bearded irises could become just as diverse as other types. 

From Smokin Heights we send warmest wishes and Happy Holidays from Down Under!

A New Iris Season is Just Beginning

by Mel and Bailey Schiller

 Season 2022/2023 is upon us! 

Our family has been frantically getting the field cleaned and the gardens ready in preparation for hosting open garden weekends here at Smokin Heights throughout October. Over the past couple of days, we were finally seeing some sunshine; but the weather forecast is for more rain in the coming week. 

Our new imported irises are settling in nicely, and we are not concerned about them blooming this year.  We would rather see rhizome increase as plants adjust to their new surroundings. 

We finished replanting irises just after Easter this year, which is very early for us. Taking this into account, we believe our season is running two to three weeks behind. Winter has been cold, wet, and windy . . . much like our Oregon iris family experienced last season. As winter drags on, we haven’t experienced as many warm days as we normally have in years past. However, daylight savings time begins today and with it has come beautiful sunshine.

Iris fields at Smokin Heights

Bloom started with our standard dwarf bearded irises. Intermediates and arilbreds with some very early tall bearded irises are blooming also.

Seedling H98-2

Seedling F5-3

New import 'Royal Flame' (Tasco 2021, AB/OGB) 

Just looking at the downloads from our camera we have already taken well over 500 photographs. We are well and truly into hybridizing with around 50 crosses completed already! 

A new iris season brings new hope of better times ahead. Last week was the one-year anniversary of the loss of our son and brother Braiden. Every iris season is going to be marked by Braiden's loss. 

Grief really is a huge burden to carry.  The irises give us a focus and something to work towards. When bloom is happening we are running around with our pencils, tweezers, and labels plus the camera. Spreading iris love where ever we go!!

Seedling G-3

                                                                          

Seedling I4-A

                                                                

Closeup of Seedling H98-2

Seedling H2-1

Seedling H5-A

                                                                                

Seedling H7-1

Seedling C91-2

Our fields have a lot of fun iris and we are enjoying hybridizing with them. One thing we have noticed is that our hybridizing goals change each season. As the different seedlings emerge, our minds wander to more far-off goals. Each bloom keeps us driven for success and focused on achieving the very best in irises we produce. 

If you would like to keep up to date with what is blooming at Smokin Heights please follow us on our Facebook page! 

We hope that our overseas followers enjoy our bloom pictures from Down Under. We hope the winter months are kind to you all and before you know it spring will be knocking on your door!

Stay warm.

Developing New Pacifica Iris Hybrids

Kathleen Sayce

January 1, 2017

This could be titled the Frustrations of Developing New Hybrids. 

The current issue of Pacific Iris came out two weeks ago, and it includes sadness:  well-known irisarian Jean Witt died in 2016. Jean cast a very long shadow over many decades of iris breeding, including PCI and wide crosses between PCI and Sibiricae species. This issue celebrates her life, including decades of her work hybridizing, guiding generations of irisarians, and looks at the future of iris hybridization from the viewpoint of several current growers.

The last time we spoke, Jean told me that the world of iris breeding is still wide open. As much has been done, we have only scratched the surface, she said. New patterns, new colors, and new genetic crosses await us. 

My own perspective has changed greatly over the years that I’ve been growing PCI. I began with the desire to grow sturdy plants with flowers in a rainbow of pure colors in an ever widening range of flowering months. Local climate constraints [growing on the coast of the Pacific Northwest] became clear over several frustrating years of failed crosses, and even lack of seed set on open pollinated flowers during particularly wet springs. This reality led me to rethink breeding goals. I started other beardless Iris species from seed, with a goal of wide crosses with PCI. Several of those plants immediately picked up a virus, so out they went. It was time for rethinking. 

Iris tenax in the garden, grown from seed and showcasing the sturdy flowers, held well above leaves and in this case, with nicely rounded petals. 

I offer my modified goals here, as we enter winter in the northern hemisphere. 

Goal One: Well-shaped flowers that don’t melt in the rain. 
The pale yellows I developed a few years ago have fragile flowers. One good rainstorm, and the petals are gone. White and other pale flower colors often have the same issue. Richard Richards’ very sturdy white-flowered hybrids from southern California, bred for heat tolerance and long summer droughts, hold up to my local rain. Largely ruffly flowers with wide petals and abundant frills also tend to do badly in wet weather, as do most flat dinner-plate type petals. I have a new appreciation every wet spring for those narrow, sturdy falls on species PCI that bend down rather than out. 

Floppy pods! Snails and slugs may chew on the pods when they are flat on the ground. 

Goal Two: Flowering stems that stand up and flex in high winds, and hold their seed pods up, weeks later.  
While stems that flop over undoubtedly help with seed dispersal in nature; in the garden, this makes it hard to find and collect seeds. I started with green organza bags to enclose pods, only to find that they vanish in the garden, sometimes for years. Brightly colored bags do better, but upright stems are better still. 

One of the sturdiest PCI in the coastal garden is this dwarf Iris douglaisana selection. The flowers are plain, and yes, this one stands up to rain and wind nicely. 

Goal Three: Plants that are strong, vigorous, and sturdy, with a variety of heights. 
Too many current hybrids are all the same size. Historically, PCI had very short plants, well under 12 inches (25 cm) in height, as well as tall plants, more than 30 inches high (76 cm). Bring back the full range of heights! I’m now selecting, as much as I can, for taller, stronger plants. Each climate has its own constraints and opportunities, and in my climate, sturdiness is an important goal. 

An I. douglasiana selection from Cape Blanco, Oregon, has plain lavender flowers on sturdy stems, and is taller than most PCI. 

As for colors? Ha. I’ll take what I can get, to get started on the next century of PCI hybrids. It's back to the drawing board for me. Jean is right:  the field is wide open for new irises of all kinds.