Tall Bearded Iris "SLOVAK PRINCE "

WHEN EASTERN EUROPE MEETS EAST TARATAHI
From Eastern Europe to East Taratahi, it's an absolute pleasure to have 'SLOVAK PRINCE', growing in my garden at home.
Most pleasing to see a Slovakian bred Iris rank number 46 in the 2009 AIS Symposium results, a great position among America's Tall Bearded heavyweights. This iris has a distinctive gold embossed edge on the standards a trait that has breed through to newer seedlings in Tony's breeding program. Prince George' a very fine introduction from the superb plant breeder, the late George Shoop also shows this Gold embossed edge. This appears to be an inheritable trait in both cultivars.

In an recent email to Anton I informed him of my intention to feature a post on Slovak Prince, and would he like to comment on his breeding program and this is his reply
"I am very glad to hear that SLOVAK PRINCE got as far as to New Zealand. I grow and/or cross breed irises for more than 20 years now. The cross-breeding of SLOVAK PRINCE (Edith Wolford X Queen in Calico) dates back to 1993. That was in my early times when I had no breeding plan yet. Those were times of "wild cross breeding", when I used to cross-breed everything with anything. In those times (of socialism and totality) I had no access to new irises. Nowadays, everything is so different. I have a system which I follow. I have several 'PARENTAGES' that I use for cross-breeding. The cross-breeding system can be seen on new seedlings, too."

Sold in New Zealand by Amazing Iris Gardens , in Canada it is available from Chuck Chapman Iris, and in the US of A listed by Schreiners and sorry but its already sold out at Blue J Iris.






AIS Checklist 2003
SLOVAK PRINCE (Anton Mego 2003) 33" M; S. white shaded orchid lavender, slight blue veining, 1/8" gold rim; F. dark velvety blue purple, slightly lighter rim, white area around gold beard with purple veining; ruffled; slight sweet fragrance.(Edith Wolford X Queen in Calico) HONORABLE MENTION (HM) AIS 2005 AWARD OF MERIT(AM) AIS 2007, THE JOHN C. WISTER MEDAL 2009.

As my recent posts indicate I am working in Wellington at the moment which has allowed more time to visit the National Library for research but also visit MAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry) for some face to face meetings concerning Import/Export of Irises to and from New Zealand and it was at one of these meetings that I took the opportunity to suggest that our country seems to have swapped our previous import policy with Slovakia's previous import policy(of socialism and totality), and and vice-versa.

Clicking the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
 Photo Credit and Copyright Iris Hunter