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!