Iris Experiment Disappointment

Several more crossed iris bloomed throughout the past two weeks. The results were a little disappointing. Of the seven or so flower stalks that were produced from the various plant combinations, all but two seemed like spitting images of one of their parents -- either Fantasyland or Frank Adams (from the previous post). There seemed to be no sharing of color combination of the cultivars I was mixing.

This was one of the crosses that appeared a little differently. I see traits of the iris 'Quaker Lady' in the falls of the flower -- they are more horizontal than falling or pointing down. The color is also similar to Quaker Lady. The falls are a lighter purple than the Fantasyland, and the top petals are more lavender than white or the bland color of Quaker Lady.

A conclusion I can draw from this year's results is that crossing the different cultivars I did produced only slight shifts in the bloom colors if at all. And, two of the cultivars either dominated the genetic traits, or the resulting offspring from the other cultivars produced sterile seed that never germinated from the batch that was planted.

For the next experiment, this year I crossed pollen from the black iris with 'Clarence'. Both have ruffled petals, but the pollinator has dark almost black coloration, and the recipient has white tops and light blue falls. I see two seed pods that have developed. Check back in a few years.

Black Iris		Clarence		Quaker Lady

Great Bearded Iris Experiment

It's a good time to step into the blog posts again after a year off from blogging, as opposed to stepping into the gifts left by dog walkers passing my hell strip garden. As the webmaster and a contributing author of our Master Gardeners public web site, I have had the pleasure(?) of running the monthly time-consuming updates. This year, I hope to return to blogging about my wonderful plants and gaffes as others abandon blogging and turn to Instagram (blogging without narrative).

This is the third year of the Great Bearded Iris Experiment, and the results are beginning to bloom. I crossed several of the six different bearded iris in my gardens with their various sizes, petal form, and colors. I wanted to see what might come of this and just to see if I could do it. I did not record or track which plants were crossed and eventually produced seedlings.

For the past two years, the seven or eight seedlings that actually developed continued to grow and mature. Today, one of those plants is blooming and a few others are sending up stalks with buds. How exciting. From looking at the results of this one, I can deduce it came from Fantasyland and Frank Adams. The petal falls are rounded and flat, similar to the burgundy color of Frank Adams, but with a distinct purple tint of Fantasyland around the edge of the petal. The top petals are non-ruffled beige like Frank Adams but with a little pink -- what one would expect when crossing a beige top and a mostly light colored top.

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Fantasyland		Frank Adams

I can't say the first result will end up as an expensive new introduction in garden catalogs, but I am proud that I accomplished this task successfully. The combination of burgundy with violet is not to my liking, but I will keep an eye on the others that should bloom in the coming weeks.

Next year, I might be sharing results of the Daylily Experiment started last year.