Russian Hybridizing

By Sergey Stroganov

This season, many new irises bloomed, but the most important thing for me personally was that for the first time, seedlings from the 2018 pollinations bloomed. Since I used the method of germinating seeds during winter indoors, it allowed me to get half of the seedlings to bloom in the Russian climate in the second year after sowing. I can not boast of having any strategy or specific goals, since this was my first experience of hybridization and often used the flower pair that was at hand and the flowers were in the phase that was suitable for pollination.

Perhaps someone will find the result interesting, because it is very interesting to watch how Nature mixes genes and gives out a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. So I decided to share some photos of the seedlings blooming here.

The cross 18-27 ‘Smart Money’ X ‘Sherbet Bomb’ was made because both parents are wonderful varieties from Ghio and Blyth. A year before the pollination, I read in a 2014 article by Barry Blythe that Joe Ghio recommended ‘Smart Money’ as a good parent. I agree that a lot of time has passed since then and even more interesting varieties have appeared, but ‘Smart Money’, in my opinion, still remains a masterpiece. That is equally true of ‘Sherbet Bomb’ with its unusual color.  From the 20 seedlings sprouted from the seeds, 10 of them bloomed, all quite different. I must say that of all the seedlings, irises from this crossing showed very early flowering. First photo of the parent couple:

'Smart Money'

'Sherbet Bomb' 

And now the seedlings are from these parents (the letters in the numbers are assigned in chronological order of blooming):

18-27A: It turned out to be a huge flower in diameter (about 7.5 inches).

18-27B: this color scheme also has quite a lot of irises, although I liked the bright beards and red strokes next to them.

18-27C:

18-27D: bluish-tinged standards and mustard-yellow fouls are not a frequent combination. It is also quite ruffled.

18-27E

18-27F: another yellow, more red pigments on the falls.

18-27G: it turned out quite an appetizing color.

18-27H: colors are also quite rare here.

18-27I: I admire the color scheme. But the standards disappointed me-they were misshaped, so this iris will definitely not be registered. However it is interesting to see.

18-27J color of falls turned out this way most likely thanks to ‘Sherbet Bomb’

I also liked the fact that you can see a pattern of veins in the standards.

Editor's Note: Part 2 of this post will appear next week.

 

 

 

Planting Iris Seeds

By Hooker T. Nichols

Planting iris seeds in our warm Texas climate occurs this time of the year for me.  Usually we have very mild winters in North Texas.  I have found that if I plant the seeds either in the ground or in one-gallon black plastic pots and the seeds germinate before mid-January and we have a cold snap where the temperatures dip into the single digits, they baby iris will die from the extreme cold.

Hooker getting ready to plant his iris seeds.

The seeds have been air-dried after ripening on the iris stalks.  Next, I place the seeds in the miniature plastic bead bags and freeze them until I plant (typically now).  The soil in the pots is comprised of landscape mix topped off with a good potting mix (such as Miracle Grow).  The seeds are planted 1 inch deep.  The soil is kept moist.  The seeds start germinating around mid-March.  When the baby irises reach 3 inches in height and the danger of freezes is past, they are transplanted into the garden with spacing being approximately 4-5 inches apart.  I get 50 to 75% bloom the following spring.  This is a tried and true method for me.

Who knows what will come from the seeds?

On the Road Again: The Keppel Garden

By Bryce Williamson

My second stop on the 2019 tour of iris gardens in Oregon and Washington was the garden of Keith Keppel in Salem. For many years, Keith Keppel’s garden in Stockton was a must visit destination. With his retirement from the US post office, Keith made the huge move to Salem, Oregon. While he was in California, it was easy to visit the garden several times during bloom season, but it is not so easy now with the added distance. The last few years I have made it up to Oregon—part of this On the Road Again saga—and I especially was interested in seeing his progress with plicatas. In addition to that work, Keith has spent a lot of time and energy creating endless variations of dark top irises.

Considering that Keith still does all his work, he remains spry and I cannot believe the energy he has to maintain his acreage--I looked at the work involved and was ready for a nap. 

The last two years, I have made a beeline to the plicatas to see what is new and different.

Kepple 12-015-A

Keppel 13-16-E

Brass Lamp brings the dark top patterning into a new color range.

'Brass Lamp'

And taking dark tops into a totally different color range:

Fashion Event 2020

Other seedlings of interest:

Keppel 13-51-A

Keppel 13-54-A

Remare L-22-B

Keppel 12-41-G

Named varieties that I liked:

'Clean Energy'

I did not expect to like 'Dancing on Ice' and it is subtle, but has lots of personality.

'Dancing on Ice'

This was the first time to see Thomas Johnson's iris with the amazing shoulder colors.

'Elite'

Oddly, there has been a lack of good neglectas of late and 'Major Issue' is bold and has huge, crowd pleasing flowers.

'Major Issue'

'Ocean Liner'

'Sugar High'

Barry Blyth's 'Flauntress'

After a too short visit to the Keppel garden, it was On the Road Again, again in a shortcut that Kevin Vaughn provided to the Vaughn and Lauer gardens south of Salem.

Our Future Iris Hybridizers

by Ginny Spoon

Who will carry our iris hybridizing program into the future? One way we can insure new varieties of irises in the years ahead is to nurture our young members of the American Iris Society and teach them how to hybridize.  As a retired professor, Don still enjoys teaching, and he finds time to teach anyone who wants to learn to hybridize an iris along with a genetics lesson as well.

Don Spoon (left) teaching Ray Jones to hybridize in May of 2007.  Photo by - Ginny Spoon

'Kaw' (Ray Jones 2014) Photo by - Ginny Spoon

As you can see, that lesson was well taken. Teaching them to make careful records of their crosses, how to mark the cross and how and when to plant the seeds is also important.

From the left: Don Spoon, Ramon Jones and Mac Shawe. Photo by - Ginny Spoon

Ray and Mac may not be our youngest members, but they inspire others with their enthusiasm to learn.

Kristen Lang with her mother. Photo by - Ginny Spoon

Kristen Laing, who is now 19 years old, became our youngest garden judge in Region 4 at age 12. She also does some hybridizing. 

 Colin Campbell first learning to hybridize in 2012. Photo by - Ginny Spoon

Colin became and AIS judge at age 15 and he has been teaching other youth members how to hybridize. He has also registered and introduced his first irises at age 19. Anyone who has met Colin knows how enthusiastic he is about irises. 

Colin's first introduction, 'My Missus Carter' 2018. Photo by - Colin Campbell

No, the fairies don't make crosses, but sometimes an insect can pollinate it. These young people inspire us.  Photo of Winterberry Gardens with our local dance troupe. Photo by - Ginny Spoon

Ross Eagles (left) and Don Spoon enjoying the irises in the rain. Photo - by Ginny Spoon 

Ross Eagles came with his family to visit us one day and caught the iris virus. Don taught him a few things about hybridizing and now Ross has his first seedlings. One of them garnered an EC and Best Seedling at the spring show in Fredericksburg, VA.

Here is the iris that was Ross' Best seedling and EC winner. Photo - by Ross Eagles

Our youth members at work. Photo by - Ginny Spoon

No matter what your skill, be sure to teach our young people what you know. They can't learn everything on the internet and our world will be all the poorer without the skills being passed along.