Rainy day thoughts

I get so discouraged sometimes by the weeds and by the overgrown and poorly placed plants. There’s so much stuff that needs to be done. And even though I took the day off work (my real job) to get a little of that done, here I sit inside, listening to the sound of steady rain as I write this. But I think we all need times like this. Even though I feel somewhat disappointed, imagining clean-up and wedding and digging and planting that I should be doing, it’s good to take a minute and get some perspective. Sure there’s lots that doesn’t get done, right? But take a minute and just think of all of the exciting stuff that’s been unfolding all around me lately. The ‘Black Emmer’ wheat has really impressed me once again. It has wintered over with gusto and is now a dark green stripe across the little “garden” close to the house. Even more exciting though, are the two F1 hybrid wheat crosses that might just bring the free-threshing trait together with the ‘Black Emmer’ zeal for life. On the iris front, there’s a new vigorous Iris purpureobractea seedling with a flowerstalk almost ready to open already and it isn’t even halfway through April yet! There are other new seedlings from last year that are starting to take off too. And I found a few pieces of some cool older stuff (that I thought had been lost / smothered by weeds) that I need to move to a safer location. Along those lines I also noticed yesterday that two old rose seedlings are still alive back in the “jungle area”. They’ve both been cropped nearly to the ground by deer but the fact that they’re even still alive is nothing short of amazing. I have planted and lost probably 40 – 50 named roses ( mostly ones supposed to be tough) in that same area. One of these days I’ll have to post more on the survivors of this unintentional trial. And speaking of roses (and exciting happenings), the Rosa glutinosa X Rosa palustris seedling is almost exploding into growth. It’s definitely hybrid (by foliage appearance) and could be a progenitor for some really cool lines of roses with scented foliage. Also, the nine or ten Rosa palustris X ‘Home Run’ seedlings are looking happy now that they’re finally in the ground. This cross has great potential for disease resistance as well as tolerance of environmental challenges. Rosa palustris (known as the Swamp Rose) will grow happily in waterlogged swampy sites but doesn’t mind dry sites either. Behind the house, with no swamps in sight, Rosa palustris easily makes a dense upright bush (to 6 feet or more). And no spots or mildews! As I write this, the newest palustris crosses are already germinating. These seedlings are from crosses with ‘Mutabilis’, ‘Alba Meidiland’ and ‘Dart’s Dash’. The very dark purple cotyledons of some of the ‘Mutabilis’ hybrids is a welcome sign that these will actually be hybrids – just like the ‘Home Run’ offspring from last year (some of which strongly express the purple foliage traits of ‘Home Run’). It still amazes me how receptive Rosa palustris is proving to be. With this easy crossability, it shouldn’t be to tough to generate enough hybrids to find some especially good ones. Who knows what will come from a mass blending of genes from palustris with genes from the repeat-flowering China roses and their modern derivatives. Well, I could go on and on. I haven’t even mentioned daylilies or peppers or violets or…but the point is that even amidst the weeds and debris, cool things are happening. So when I have a moment like this when the house is completely quiet and I’m not thinking of financial concerns and other demands of life, it’s good to see past all the “to-do” lists in my head and just appreciate how privileged I am to be able to be a part of this great show.

Small Grains Update

Looks like the 'Kamut' wheat and 'Hulless Barley' have both been winterkilled, but 'Black Emmer', Rye and "Smooth Awnless Club" have done fine once again. The new F1 wheat crosses all are doing well too.

Iris purpureobractea seedling with red leaf margins

Here's a better close up of that seedling with the red-margin trait (posted earlier in March).

Below is its papa who carries the red-margin trait (sorry about the messy picture), practically obscured by purple pigmented foliage bases. This one is 1/4 Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata, which is the original source of the red-margin trait.

Iris purpureobractea seedlings

It's just about time for Spring and it's a good time to see foliage pigmentation in bearded iris seedlings. Here are two purpureobractea seedlings that are showing some red/purple leaf margin color. Actually this red-margin trait is derived from the pollen parent which is 1/4 Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata. - a tiny dwarf species known for that pattern of leaf pigmentation.

Below is a sibling with less dramatic leaf margins but considerable basal pigmentation - known as "PBF" (purple based foliage) among iris enthusiasts. The PBF is also primarily coming from the pollen parent. This particular seedling is looking like it has considerable hybrid vigor, evidenced by the broad (at least 1 inch already) foliage on this very young plant. These are presumably diploids (with 24 chromosomes); foliage this broad is more typical of tetraploid Tall Beardeds.

Glossy Kale-ards

Sad looking right now, but I think they'll rebound when Spring comes. The encouraging parts are that they're showing quite a bit of variability and at least that one purplish one (at the bottom) is about as happy as the weedy mustard (bottom right). These are glossy leaf selections descended from a mixture of Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale, Green Glaze Collard Greens, and an ornamental purple/red cabbage/kale. In 2010, I interbred this population with Tuscan kale. Now with all this variability to work with, I need to do a large planting and really start to put some heavy selective pressures on them (for winter-hardiness, insect resistance, etc.) The latest insect plague has been Harlequin bugs. Seeing the damge that they've done, it sure would be nice to select for more resistance to those.

Winter Small Grains

Just a little comparison of the damage suffered after being frozen for extended periods of time without any snow cover. Keep in mind that the rye was planted very thinly and the 'Black Emmer' more thickly than the rest but even so here's how I would rank these five (best to worst cold tolerance)... rye was best as expected; Smooth Awnless Club and Black Emmer both did remarkably well; Hull-Less Barley and Kamut suffered quite a bit, as expected (since these seem to be more often grown as Spring sown crops).

Rooting rose cuttings

I've always had difficulty getting cuttings to root but look at these nicely calloused cuttings. One's already sending out roots. I followed the damp newspaper method described at the Rose Hybridizer's Forum. Thanks for sharing that tip George!
See link below for details.

http://www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=31884#31884