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).”
