RONALD WILLIAM BUSCH 1935-2012

RONALD WILLIAM BUSCH 1935-2012

New Zealand iris breeder Ron Busch passed away peacefully on the 21 August 2012 at the age of 77.

Earlier this year he was awarded the Dykes Medal, the highest iris hybridising accolade, for his 2008 introduction 'Norma of Irwell' named after his lovely wife, Norma.

Ron worked at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) at Lincoln, Christchurch, improving potatoes and other vegetables. As a passionate plantsman, Ron's interest extended from plant breeding at the DSIR to his efforts at home. He first started breeding irises in 1958, after reading the chapter “Breeding Bearded Irises” in Jean Stevens’ “Iris and its Culture”. He thought 'I could do that' and there is no doubt he did. He registered his first Iris in 1969 a Tall Bearded he named 'Open Country'.

Ron joined the Christchurch Iris Circle (CIC) in 1964 and held office at various times. He was always very happy to give advice on hybridising and the group were most pleased to have a quality hybridiser among their membership. His breeding interests covered Siberians, Cal-sibs, Standard Dwarf Bearded and Tall Beardeds He also imported Arilbred and oncobred irises in the sixties and his garden at that time contained many Aril and Arilbred varieties and seedlings.

His aim was to improve colour, form and substance in the irises he bred. Never secretive with his breeding program, always planning ahead, he delighted in experiment, and passionately wanted everyone to join with him in the iris breeding journey. He contributed much to the iris world, leaving behind a substantial and rich legacy of 188 registered varieties including some yet to be introduced and more potential registrations to be selected from the many recent seedlings.

His late home and garden located at Irwell Village in Canterbury had a kindly climate coupled with great soil that allowed the irises he loved so much to grow under ideal conditions.

Ron left this world as a hybridiser should - at the beginning of spring, just as nature prepares the garden for new bloom. So each year when Spring awakens the earth he loved so much, his colourful and vibrant flowers will once again burst into bloom, and somehow I don't think he will be too far away.

I will miss our chats.
Rest peacefully Ron.

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Tall Bearded Iris FLORAL ACT

Hard to believe really that this good looking Australian bred tall bearded iris will be classified as historic in 2 years time. A strong grower that has good bud count and medium size blooms that arrive mid-season. According to its registration description its supposed to be a blue and white amoena but it's more of a near amoena with the standards washed ever so slightly with the lavender blue colour of the falls and this stylish iris is topped off by its tangerine beard. It is somewhat bemusing to read the registered checklist description where it states 'red beards' yet in 1992 Graeme Grosvenor goes on to describe 'Floral Act' in his book 'Irises' 2nd edition, as having white standards, pale blue falls and tangerine beards. (slight step change? You think?) Once again another iris with 'Sunset Snows' in the parentage. All and all a great garden iris the can on occasions produce a winning show stalk.

AIS Checklist 1989
FLORAL ACT Graeme Grosvenor, Reg. 1984 Sdlg. H2-2. TB, 36" (91 cm), E-L. S. white; F. blue; red beard. Rellie X Actress. Rainbow Ridge 1984/85.

Still commercially grown in New Zealand and occasionally sold on Trade Me

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version. Reproduction in whole or in part of this post, its opinions or its images without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited. Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

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New Zealand Tall Bearded Iris IRWELL GAMBLER

It's very rare to find a twenty first century New Zealand bred Iris growing in America yet here we have one. Photo taken of 'Irwell Gambler' growing in the garden of Betty Jacobs, Bakersfield, California. Betty writes "After the plant arrived in the States it took three years to bloom finally doing so in the Spring of 2011 -- and WOW!  How I loved it!"
I have seen 'Irwell Gambler' growing in several New Zealand gardens and been impressed with it's strong growth, good branching, good bud count, and it's ability in the right growing conditions to quickly form a good clump. A brilliant and very flashy variegata with its bright lightly ruffled lemon standards with bold rich plum falls that are enhanced by the softer plum toned ruffled edge. The ring of white striations surrounding the lemon beards contributes to the very masculine look.

Waimate Iris Garden, Final Catalogue 2007
New Introductions
Irwell Gambler, Busch 2007 (NZ), Heather Pryor's choice. Lemon standards. Plum red falls with paler edge and white veining around the beards.

New Zealand Hybridisers Checklist 2011
IRWELL GAMBLER  Ron Busch Reg., 2007. Sdgl.8888/1 TB, 38″, (97cm), M. S. and style arms lemon; F. plum red, ¼″ paler edge; 1″ area of white veining around  lemon beard. Snow Spoon X Extravagant. Rossmore Gardens 2007. Waimate Iris Garden 2007.

Snow Spoon is the pod parent so there could be good breeding lines for space age irises if someone is interested in giving it a go.

Commercially grown in New Zealand by several growers and occasionally sold on Trade Me
Clicking the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.

Huge Hat tip to Betty Jacobs for the use of her photo and candid comments
Photo credit Betty Jacobs
Copyright Iris Hunter

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BLISS IRISES A New Web Site is Born

"Mr Bliss has given us marked improvements on then existing forms over a wide range of colours. This improvement is not so often a matter of size and height as it is of branching, poise, and a freedom of flowering, factors of utmost importance in the development of varieties for the garden. We have a strong tendency to over emphasise qualities that are of importance on the exhibition table, and to forget that the Iris is fundamentally a flower for the hardy garden. In that Mr Bliss has rarely made this mistake his varieties will tend to live and to receive more, rather than less, appreciation."
AN AMERICAN VIEW OF IRISES, R. S. Sturtevant, Bulletin No. 2, The Iris Society, 1925.

About 20 years ago, Anne Milner was offered two irises bred by her great uncle 'Arthur Bliss' when researching her family history with a distant cousin.  Her cousin explained that her mother, Phyllis, used to help Uncle Arthur as a child and that Phyllis had these two irises directly from him.  These two irises were supposed to be Dominion and Cardinal. Dominion was a famous iris as it was the fore-runner of many modern irises.
From the gift of these two irises the National Collection of Arthur Bliss Irises was born.
Anne is also interested in finding other Bliss Irises, and would love to hear from anyone who has any information about where any might be growing and the web site has a list of all his irises and the dates of introduction..
Please visit the web site by clicking on the avatar below to go directly to the site.
Heritage Irises takes this opportunity to wish Anne all the very best with her new web site and a continued growth with her collection.

Clicking the above top image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.
Photo credit and copyright Iris Hunter

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Tall Bearded Iris FESTIVE SKIRT

This vigorous Pink and White amoena can sometimes rebloom for me at home. 'Festive Skirt' is taller than its pollen parent 'Sunset Snows', with larger blooms that have extremely clean snow white standards with flaring falls of a good cocoa salmon pink that gradually lightens to a pale whitish pink towards the edge, subtle orange beards complete the package.... All and all a better 'Sunset Snows'. Frank Hutchings was renowned by some breeders for his work with Pink Amoena's which was equaled to Jean Stevens pink amoena breeding programme but sadly a lot of Franks work was and still is mind you, virtually unheralded. This Iris is still widely available in New Zealand and it's worth noting 'The Iris Boutique' (formerly Dublin Bay Irises) Catalogue has it listed this year for the very reasonable price of $9.00

Tell's Iris Gardens, Orem, Utah.
Tell's Iris Gardens Proudly Presents New for 1974.
FESTIVE SKIRT (Hutchings). M. 36 inches. (Complicated pedigree. See '73 Registrations) A personable advance in the Plic-amoena class. #71-28A. . $25.00

Melrose Gardens, Stockton, California. The Connoisseurs Catalog, 1981.
FESTIVE SKIRT (Hutchings '74.) Still the best rose and white "pink" amoena.

IRISES A Gardener's Encyclopedia, Claire Austin
Iris FESTIVE SKIRT (F. Hutchings 1973.)
This amoena has white standards that are flushed salmon-pink and salmon-pink falls that are paler in colour around the edges. The beards are orange. The petals are slightly ruffled. Height 89 cm. (35½ in.) Bloom mid-season.Parentage includes La Parisienne, Barbara Luddy, Just Annie, Golden Eagle, Pinnacle, China Gate, Numero Uno, and Sunset Snows.

AIS Checklist 1979
FESTIVE SKIRT F. Hutchings, Reg. 1973 Sdlg. 71-28A. TB, 35" (89 cm), M. S. white; F. salmon with pink overlay; orange beard; slight ruffling. 68-61: (inv. La Parisienne, Barbara Luddy, Just Annie, Golden Eagle, Pinnacle, China Gate, Numero Uno) X Sunset Snows. Tell 1974.

'Festive Skirt' is in the parentage of another of my favourite irises I grow at home 'Oriental Alabaster'.

As always clicking on the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version. Reproduction in whole or in part of this post, its opinions or its images without the expressed written permission of Terry Johnson is strictly prohibited. Photo credit and copyright Terry Johnson and Heritage Irises ©.

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Richard Cayeux demonstrates how to hybridise Irises

View the BBC TWO video where Richard Cayeux demonstrates how to hybridise Irises.
A garden inspired by the arts and crafts movement wouldn’t be complete without irises. 
Often captured in the artwork of that period, it’s a flower that captured the heart of one French family over 120 years ago. Today Cayeux Irises regularly captivate visitors to Chelsea’s Great Pavilion, but it’s out in their 55 acre nursery that the family’s true love affair with the flower becomes apparent.
Big Hat tip to BBC TWO

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New Zealand Tall Bearded Iris IRWELL DESERT SANDS

It's not everyday you see a Lemon plicata so Ron Busch's 'Irwell Desert Sands' is a welcome addition to the colour-tone. With bright golden lemon standards and similarly coloured falls that are sprinkled with cinnamon plicata markings that fade half way down the falls, this gives the bloom a burst of cinnamon colour highlighting the bright orange beards. Falls are also enhanced with a lighter tone of lemon striations for their full length. Blooms are wide and flared, with just the right amount of ruffling and appear in the mid season on 95cm tall well branched show quality spikes with eight buds. This is an excellent garden iris with robust growth, health and vigour. Increase is good and performs well on the Show Bench.(Queen of the Show, Rangitikei Iris Group Flower Show 2008)

New Zealand Hybridisers Checklist 2011
IRWELL DESERT SANDS Ron Busch Reg., 2007. Sdlg. 316-9559 TB. 38″, (97 cm), M. S. and style arms lemon; F. lemon ground, light cinnamon plicata markings over all, cinnamon shoulders; beards cinnamon orange.
Involved parentage which includes Latin Lover, Lula Marguerite, Velvet Robes, Laurie, Earthling, Rococo, Taholah, June Meredith,Youthful Charm, Gaylord, Pinnacle, Commentary, Bang, Emma Cook, Melodrama X Youthful Charm, Commentary, Jungle Fire, Latin Lover, Velvet Robes, Laurie, Melodrama, Emma Cook, Pipes of Pan, Wild Apache, Gaylord, Pinnacle, Rich Melody, Tea Apron, Siva Siva. Rossmore Iris Gardens 2008

I would like to give a large hat tip to Carol Rogerson, the owner of “Kiwi Iris Delights” for growing and promoting New Zealand Bred Irises and for supplying the above fantastic photo, and also a Big Hat tip to Ron Busch,a most discriminating hybridiser.

As always clicking on any of the above image will take you to the larger, higher resolution version.

Photo copyright Carol Rogerson.

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IRIS SHOWS 2012

ACCENT ON IRIS FLOWER SHOW
20th October, 2012
Saturday 10 am to 3 pm
Burrell Creek Hall, The Bucketts Way
Burrell Creek, New South Wales
17 km’s from the Taree Service Centre or 17 km’s north of Krambach.
Quality Iris on Display and For Sale, also Daylilies and Fresh Flowers
Light Refreshments available
Do consider entering the flower show.You may win a prize for your effort,
or, just add to the days Spring display!
The Show Schedule is on the website, or contact Lyz to receive one.
Entry Cost: $3.00
KINSPIRIT IRIS & DAYLILY FARM
Phone 6559 1275
www.kinspirit.com.au

THE IRIS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES REGION
2012 IRIS SHOW
School of Art Hall
Great Western Highway, Wentworth Falls (near railway station)
October 27th - 28th, 2012
Saturday 11.30am.to 4.00 pm.
Sunday 9.00 am. to 3 pm.
Potted Iris, Rhizomes, Seeds, Craft Items, Cottage Plants for Sale,
Cultural Information, Lunch and Teas available
Admission $5 (Concessions) Children under 16 free
Wheelchair access
Information: 02 47842727
Email: dicoxiris@bigpond.com

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN IRIS SOCIETY ANNUAL SHOW
October 27th - 28th, 2012
Goodwood Community Centre, 32 - 34 Rosa St Goodwood.
Bearded, Japanese, Spuria, Louisiana and Pacific Coast Iris for sale.
Talks and demonstrations. Admission $3

MORRINSVILLE HORTICULTURE SOCIETY ROSE & IRIS SHOW
Campbell Hall, Knox Presbyterian Church Hall, Canada St, Morrinsville
Friday, November 2nd 2012
Entries at the hall on the day
Open to Public: 12 noon to 4:00 p.m.
Inquiries: Jan Kerkin
Ph: (07) 889 3607
Email: jan@kerkin.co.nz

HOBART HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY INC. ROSE, IRIS & FLORAL ART SHOW
2nd and 3rd November, 2012
Friday 1.00 - 6.00 pm. Saturday 10.00 am - 4.30 pm.
Please come along on Thursday night or Friday morning to enter some exhibits in the novice section. 
There is no cost to entering any of these shows.  New exhibitors desperately needed.  
Tubes and vases can be provided or you can use clean green bottles if you have them. 
Other iris members are present on Thursday night to help show you how to display your irises.
Hobart Town Hall – 50 Macquarie Street, Hobart   (opposite the GPO)
Admission is free

MASTERTON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 2012 IRIS SHOW
Young Citizens Hall, Chapel Street, Kuripuni, Masterton
Display of Irises, Plant Sales, and Christmas Raffle
1pm-4pm, Saturday, 3rd November 2012 Admission $2.00
We encourage everyone to enter their blooms. You do not have to be a member to exhibit

HUTT VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY EARLY SUMMER SHOW
10th, & 11th November, 2012
Saturday 1.30 - 4.30 pm. Sunday 9.30 am - 4pm.
All entries must be received by 9.30 am on Saturday morning of the show
Judging commences at 10.30 am sharp
Horticultural Hall, Laings Rd, Lower Hutt
Entry fee is $2.50 adults, children free.
For further details contact the Secretary (04) 479 5548

MARTINBOROUGH ROSE & IRIS SHOW
Saturday 10th November 2012
12.00 noon until 4.00pm
Martinborough Town Hall,
Admission Gold coin Donation
For a Show Schedule and All Inquiries
Contact Maree Roy (06) 3069319 or Yvonne Harvey (06) 3069553

POVERTY BAY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ROSE & IRIS SHOW
10th & 11th November 2012
Showgrounds Park and Events Centre, Gisborne
Saturday 1.30 - 4.00 pm. Sunday 9.30 am - 3.30pm.
Entry fee is $4 adults, children free.
For further details contact the Show Secretary, Anne Pole, 06 868 5245

O'DEA HONDA EGMONT A & P ASSOCIATION SUMMER SHOW
Featuring the Topp Twins,
Showgrounds, Burnside Avenue, Hawera
16th & 17th November 2012
Home Industries including Iris and Flower Show, Cattle, Equestrian, Dog Trial, Tractor Pull, Kidzone.
www.egmontshowgrounds.org.nz

TIMARU HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY EARLY SUMMER SHOW
17th & 18th November, 2012
Saturday 2.00 - 5.00 pm. Sunday 1.00 - 4.30pm.
Caroline Bay Hall, TIMARU
Irises, Roses, cut flowers, container plants, orchids, alpine and rock garden plants, bonsai, floral art, fruit and vegetables.
Braggers Corner for large or unusual vegetables and plants
Entry fee is $3.00 adults, or a membership ticket, children free
For further details contact the Secretary, Ted Falvey (03) 684 3760

NELSON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY ROSE AND IRIS SHOW 2012
The Nelson Horticultural Society Inc. are holding their Rose and Iris Show
in conjunction with the NELSON GROWABLES GARDEN FAIR
Sunday 18th November 2012 at the at the Granary, Founders Park, Nelson
From 10.00 am -5 pm. Entry $5 adults, children free.
For further details contact the Show Secretary, Carol Hughes, (03) 547 9563

The above is a list of Australian and New Zealand 2012 Iris Shows to date. If you require a show schedule or times to stage your blooms please do not hesitate to contact the Show Secretary's listed above. This post will be updated when I am notified of more shows. If you have a show you would like to add to the list leave details as a comment.

Variety of the Iris used in the feature shot is Ron Busch amazing Tall Bearded Iris 'Southern Autumn'

Photo credit and copyright Iris Hunter

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Jean Stevens and Keith Keppel on BREEDING BEARDED IRISES

BREEDING BEARDED IRISES

By Jean Stevens
Bastia Hill, Wanganui, New Zealand.

One of the prime urges of the gardener is the instinct to create, when his garden is gay with flowers he will show you around with an air that says 'look at what I have achieved by my on labour, and my own planing!" This instinct to create reaches its highest fulfilment in the raising of new flowers. Then may he justly claim, "Look at what I have created!!"

I should like to make an appeal to every iris grower to raise a few seedlings of his or her own every year. Our chosen flower is one of the simplest and most-rewarding to raise from seed. The Tall Bearded Iris in particular lends itself to the amateur hybridist, be he novice or experienced gardener. We who raise new Bearded Irises have almost everything in our favour. We do not need to cover our flowers after pollinating to prevent pollen carrying insects from upsetting our planned crosses. We have large blooms which do not require expert fingers and fine handling to do the pollinating. We can, and in fact should, raise our seedlings in the open ground. If we use modern varieties we are certain of good results. And lastly we do not need much space to raise and flower a nice batch of seedlings, which, under ordinary garden culture, will flower in 15 months from date of germination. And here is a lure! The finest irises raised in the world have been bred by amateurs. Are you interested? Let me go back and enlarge on the statements above.

First, as to my claim that pollinated blooms do not require covering from bees and insects. In the evolution of the flower through the work of past hybridists the tunnel like entrance between the style arm of the flower and it's fall petals has become almost closed to bees, which if they do persist in trying to extract the honey, almost invariably push in sideways at the base of the flower, thereby they do not go near the pollen or the stigma at all. Insect's smaller than bees do not carry the large pollen grains, and even if they did so have no cause to visit the unusually placed stigma. A glance at the tracing will show the uninitiated where these vital parts of the flower are placed, and convey my meaning clearly. Occasionally by chance and Iris flower may become fertilised but this is the exception and does not worry the hybridist, who in any case chooses a freshly opened flower upon which to make his cross.

The flower of the Bearded Iris is large in all its parts, and personally I use neither camel hair brush nor tweezers when pollinating my blooms. Certainly a brush is superfluous. The job may be done more easily, more certainly, and without any risk of damaging the stigma, by extracting an anther from the pollen parent, and holding it by the tip, brush the pollen grains directly on the stigma. If any difficulty is experienced in grasping the anther to remove it, tweezers may be used, but very little practice will make it easier to use fingers than tweezers.

Irises do not like the confined air of the glasshouse, though some breeders do raise their Iris seed successfully in a house, transplanting to the open ground shortly after germinating takes place. Others find raising the seed in pots or seed boxes outside makes for easy weeding. When I first raised Iris seed I used this method, but have long since discarded it for sowing in the open ground. Top dressing the position with sand to the depth of half an inch where the seed has been sown overcomes the weeding problem, and open ground seed sowing has the important advantage of making it easy to keep the seedbed evenly moist during that five or six months that the seed has to germinate. To get good germination it is necessary to sow the seed as soon as it is ripe, that is about February or March, but except for an odd seedling, germination does not take place until the following spring. Needless to say, it is necessary to keep the seedbed free from weeds. If weeds are allowed to grow over the seabed they will bring up the seed when pulled out. If allowed to grow amongst the germinating seed in the spring they will draw up the young seedlings which will then suffer badly on transplanting. Sow the seed quite thickly, about ¾ of an inch in depth, in a well-prepared soil. We are the soil is at all heavy it is advisable to place sand both below and above the seed when sowing. This allows good soil aeration which is necessary to germination. Only a proportion of the seed will germinate the first spring, and if the cross is a good one the seed bed should be sanded over again and kept weeded for a second germination the following spring. When the seedlings are about two or three inches in height, which is about the second week in October with me here in New Zealand, they should be carefully lifted and immediately planted out in rows. About seven or eight inches is sufficient space to give them between seedlings, with the space between the rows just great enough to allow cultivation and weeding. In dry climates, or very light or sandy soils, the young seedlings should be well watered following their shift to the open ground. Thereafter the hose should be kept going to ensure quick growth. The growth made before Christmas will determine whether or not the plants will flower the following spring. Here I should like to give a warning. If the young plants are not transplanted before the end of November they are very unlikely to flower the first spring, and would then need to be grown another 12 months before they do flower.

Good garden varieties are sure to be found amongst any batch of seedlings if only the good modern Iris is used as parents, particularly if the parents are chosen with some discrimination. By good modern Irises, I do not mean the most expensive, for there are many varieties amongst the two and six penny class, which will give excellent seedlings. Naturally if we have set our hearts on raising the new pinks with tangerine beards, or some of the brilliant new tan and copper shades we must work with these expensive parents. But the would-be hybridist, making his first crosses, should not attempt to run before he can walk, and content himself was doing some less ambitious crosses which will be certain to give an appreciable modicum of success. Never put through indiscriminate crosses. It cost neither time nor effort to decide what colours you want your seedlings to be, in fact this is part of the pleasure of raising seedlings. Do you want to raise a real blue Iris? The perfect blue Iris is yet to be raised, and you choose your Iris parents carefully you may become the raiser of this long desired and worked for flower. Do you fancy a tall rich red without haft markings, or a rich golden yellow? Or perhaps an exquisitely formed and frilled tan blends.

For blues one has to choose either two blue parents, or one blue and one white parent, if one is to be certain of producing blue seedlings. Reds can be produced in several ways, by crossing two red varieties, or a red and a yellow, a wine and a yellow, or a copper and a yellow. Whites may come from white, blue, or cream parents. Tans are raised from copper and yellow, pale blue and bronzes, or gold and wine crosses.

Since this article is written primarily for the novice breeder, perhaps I should describe the actual mechanics of crossing, or pollinating. The vital parts of most flowers are obvious to the casual glance. We learnt at school where to look for the pistil which carries the stigma at its extremity and for the pollen bearing anthers. We know the stigma receives the pollen and carries the new germinating cells to the female organ where the seed is developed. But the vital parts of an Iris flower are not so obvious. The flower is divided into three distinct parts, each carrying a separate stigma and pollen anther. Take an Iris flower preferably one which is past its fresh beauty, and carefully and separately pull off the standards or upright petals. Now as carefully detached the fall or hanging petals. You will find that you will hold a stiff three pronged flower centre. At the outer of each prong will be seen two small upright points which are called crests. Directly below these crests is a little lip, and this lip-the upper surface-is the stigma. Now look under the prong, which is called the style arm, and you will see the anther closely hugging the under curve. This anther carries the powdery pollen which is easily brushed off. To make a cross it is not necessary to pull the flower to pieces. The pollen bearing anther can easily be pulled out from under the style arm of the flower chosen as pollen parent, and carried to the flower which is to be the seed parent. Lift the crest on the style arm, and very lightly brush the pollen grains on to the upper surface of each of the three stigmas. A tag should be tied to the stem noting both the seed and the pollen parents. Not all pollinated flowers will set seed, and to ensure you have some seed to sow, several flowers should be pollinated on each stem, and several crosses made. To get the greatest interest from your crosses every cross should be separately labelled when sowing the seed. When the seedlings come to flowering you will have a thrilling experience watching them open from day to day, and great will be your joy in your own creations. But, and this is a very important "but", keep only a very few, perhaps only one or two of the best, and ruthlessly discarded the lesser lights. If you do not discard the greater part you will find you will soon have no room for next season's crosses, which will probably be much better than your first efforts.

First published New Gardener 1946

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TIPS FOR PLANING YOUR HYBRIDISING
Keith Keppel
Salem, Oregon

First of all, one thing in Jeans article I would stress is...that if planting direct in the ground, you can have delayed germination for years, so to keep from contaminating your later crosses you need to move to a different area or fumigate the seed bed to kill any un-germinated iris seed. That is why I always plant the seed in pots filled with fresh soil.

Program 1) Set a goal, something "different", and try to work out a plan of action to get there, then make the beginning crosses as per plan.

Program 2) Also cross a few pretties...same color group.
When the seedlings from program one bloom and are god-awful, the pretty things blooming from the conventional crosses will help keep your interest going.

From the program one seedlings, let THEM tell you what way to go. Tangents are often far more fun than the original project.

Only do as many as you can handle without undue stress, do not expect fame or fortune, but enjoy each and every new seedling in its own way, as each will be....somehow....different from all others, and you are the first one to see them.

~~~~~~

The above photo is of a Keith Keppel seedling that he has described as "a good example of something unique......like combining a plicata with one of Jean Stevens yellow amoenas!"

Huge hat tip of course to Keith Keppel and the Late Jean Stevens.

Photo copyright Keith Keppel; Copyright Iris Hunter

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