... growing and hybridizing all kinds of plants in zone 6b Maryland since the 1980's.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Irises - purple foliage traits

Here are current pictures of three interesting bearded iris seedlings that show interesting purple foliage traits. The first two are diploids, both from Iris purpureobractea X "PBF/RM". "PBF/RM" is a seedling derived from Iris pallida 'Kupari', 'Rosemary's Dream'(MTB), and Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata that has good PBF (purple based foliage) and also has nicely pigmented leaf margins. The first seedling pictured shows great PBF extending up onto the leaves. The second shows less PBF but has decent margin color. Note the penciled looking edges of the leaves.
The last picture is a tetraploid seedling from 'Honky Tonk Blues' (TB) X Iris junonia. The color isn't very intense and it fades as the season warms up, but I like that it covers a good percentage of the foliage at this time of year. Maybe crosses with a more intensely pigmented PBF iris would give a seedling with the intensity and coverage combined.



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