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

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Iris variegata X suaveolens var. rubromarginata

Another fine hybrid that wouldn't have happened without a freezer... the pod parent Iris variegata 'Beardsley clone' blooms several months after the pollen parent Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata. So I froze pollen to use later in the season. I've got four seedlings from the cross and two of them even as small clumps are currently sending up multiple repeat bloomstalks. They started the season off back on March 24 (see link:  http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/mar12/msg00060.html), and kept up an incredibly long bloom season - last bloom opened about a week or two ago on that first wave of stalks. Now the two biggest clumps (still pretty small if you see the two clump shots below) have three and two new bloomstalks respectively. I've drawn red arrows to show the new stalks. These seedlings also tend to send up very late Fall bloomstalks that usually get frost damaged.
I have to admit, they're not the prettiest looking flowers, but the breeding potential (especially for rebloom) sure is exciting! They've got a few pods almost matured from pollen of another hybrid [Iris pallida 'Kupari' x  Iris suaveolens var. rubromarginata] and I'm trying pollen from a nice yellow MTB 'Yellow Flirt' on these new stalks.



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