![[SIGNA LOGO]](masthead.gif)
Since joining SIGNA in 1983, I’ve ordered seed from the Seed Exchange every year, except for 1985, 1990 and 1992. Checking my old order forms, I find that I have ordered 206 packets of seed over the years. Many plants have been grown out to blooming size from these seeds, and it seemed time to pull together at least some of my experiences with them and write a brief report. Also, I’ve never seen such a report in any form in thirty-two issues of SIGNA, and hope that this one will spur others on to tell how they have fared with the Seed Exchange!
My garden is a relatively small one, with little space for experimentation. I have two long beds, each about four feet wide and thirty feet long that are devoted to species iris seedlings. Material regularly rotates in and out of these beds. Initially carved from hard red clay, the soil in these beds has been repeatedly amended over the years with compost and leaf mold, and is now a rich, blackish brown with a good, crumbly texture, about ten inches deep. The beds were first used to experiment with arilbreds, and so the soil was heavily limed. After surrounding trees created too much shade for the arilbreds to thrive, and a series of wet summers had rotted most of them out, the beds were re-dug with plenty of oak leaf mold and superphosphate. No attempt was made to readjust the pH for the mostly beardless species that were planned to go there. As the years have gone by, more leaf mold an compost have been added, the former often as a mulch. The beds have grown progressively shadier, and to some extent, bloom has been reduced. It may be time to try to find a sunnier spot for the iris seedlings, but other family members insist on keeping a vegetable garden in just the desired spot. Therefore I have to be quite ruthless in what is discarded, so space will be available for more seedlings.
I've found that seedlings of most beardless iris species can be planted quite closely and left until blooming size is reached. Siberian and Japanese iris seedlings, for example, can be set out only six to eight inches apart. When they bloom (usually in their third year), most are pulled out and thrown away, and the remaining selected few can use their space to grow on into large clumps. No supplementary fertilizer is used, but watering has proved necessary over the last three dry summers.
I start the seedlings in four-inch plastic pots in a standard potting mix. Regardless of seed numbers, all the seeds from one packet are planted in a single pot. Planting takes place as soon as the seeds arrive in the mail, usually November, but sometimes as early as October. After a thorough watering, the potted seeds go into a physiology laboratory cold room, at 40 degrees, for stratification. Because the room is also quite dry, the pots are kept in zip-lock plastic bags to conserve moisture. They are taken out in March or April and transferred to a greenhouse to germinate; the plastic bags are left on until I see sprouting. In May the seedlings are moved to cell-packs or community pots, though in recent years 1've skipped this step and planted them out directly from the seeding pots, primarily because of a lack of time to do the extra transplanting. The seedlings that were first transplanted into cell-packs and allowed to establish there transplanted with less
setback than those taken directly from the seed pot. The cell-pack seedlings did not have their foliage trimmed on the theory that since they were not losing any roots, they did not need it. Seedlings from seed pots must be more carefully watered after planting out and needed their foliage trimmed back by at least half. Planting out in the garden beds takes place in October, or sometimes as late as November, to catch the fall rains.
Following are some specific accounts of how particular seed lots turned out.
83A021: Mixed hybrid pumila from Elaine Hulbert. These are the oldest surviving SIGNA plants in my garden. I have kept three varieties, a purple, yellow, and light blue. None have the typical pumila spot much in evidence. Several additional generations of seeds have been produced by intercrossing these plants, but nothing better ever turned up. They were moved to the rock garden in 1985 and have been undisturbed since; this year diminished bloom was noticed for the first time, but it may have been due to the unusually warm winter.
83B050: MTB seedling yellow w. red on falls, from Dot Hujsak. Only one seedling resulted, and I have kept it to this day, under the garden name "Little Yellow" (very imaginative). In size and form it appears to be a pure light yellow form of I. variegata. The narrow flowers, definitely not of modern form, are only about an inch and a half high, held on foot-tall stalks that are quite well-branched. This plant is now scattered among my tall bearded collection. Having finally obtained some true (or apparently true) variegata, I plan to make some crosses in spring, 2000.
83S256: (Tectorum "Taiwan" x tectorum alba) x self, from Elaine Hulbert. A series of what appeared to be pure tectorum alba, still in my garden, although probably none of the original plants have persisted. Iris tectorum self seeds freely for me, but this is the only introduction of white-flowered forms into my garden.
83S263: Tectorum, white, tetraploid, from Sam Norris (however, the seed packet with this number was labeled in pencil, 'clone Tai branched 7 fl', which I translate as `Taiwan clone, branched, with 7 flowers'). This is the foundation of all the blue tectorum in my garden. The plants are the best of that species l have ever seen, with three branches and a terminal (indeed, 7 flowers) and with very robust growth. However, pollen measurements did not confirm tetraploidy for these plants. Self seeded offspring are as good as the parents. This is vastly superior to the routine "Jimmy Stewart's Form" now showing up in local garden centers.
83T264: Foetidissima from Eberhard Schuster. In addition to the drab bronze-blue forms usually grown from seed, this also produced a clear creamy yellow, subsequently lost to a borer attack. Iris foetidissima is a borer magnet, perhaps because it grows in partial shade, which borers also prefer.
84J056: Delavayi, Witt form, from Roy Davidson. A typical plant for this species (I kept only one), which persisted until 1998. The 40-chromosome Siberians usually do not do well for me, so that was something of a record. However, it only bloomed twice and never made much of a clump. One of the flowers is pictured in The Gardener's Iris Book.
84M113: graminea from Jean Witt. Stil1 around in the form of three big clumps, each from a different seedling. This is one of my favorite species, which never fails to bloom profusely and can take a bit of shade as well. Unfortunately, none of the three clones has any scent, for which this species is famous. These clones, however, bloom when the foliage is still rather short, so it does not obscure the flowers.
84N147: Mixed ensata cultivars from Elaine Hulbert. I raised and kept for several years nearly thirty of these seedlings and for much of that time they were the only Japanese irises in my garden. While not quite the equal of named varieties, they were close enough. Finally I had to chuck them to use the space another way, but from time to time I see them in the gardens of friends.
86J117: Mixed color tetraploid Siberians from Currier McEwen. I’ve kept two rather nice ones from this large batch. Both are similar, blue-violet with very stiff stems and a nice silver edge.
86J118, also from McEwen, was labeled as a reblooming tetraploid white, but it appeared to be neither. Nonetheless I kept the best one, which has highly feathered style arms. It has never rebloomed.
86N198: Mixed color tetraploid Japanese, from Currier McEwen. Yielded only one seedling, a rather inferior single-flowered reddish violet.
86L436: rossii, from Kim Un Cho. These all turned out to be Iris sanquinea, and a garden form of the species at that.
87B013: aphylla mix from Lee Nydegger. Both purple and yellow forms came from this planting. The yellow form was successfully crossed with a violet pumila. which produced an intermediate-looking seedling with a sort of dirty greenish flower. I kept it around as a curiosity for a while.
87N150: Spuria mix from Charles Jenkins. These seeds produced a wide variety of spurias, from which I kept a nice brown, a fairly good purple, and a splendid yellow. All have now expanded into clumps four feet across, and make a grand show every spring. However, after seeing some recent named spurias, I’m ready to use their space for other things.
88J038: Chrysographes black from Nancy Axelrod. All were true to name, and true to their nature, short-lived here. Some had a definite wine undertone when lit from behind, others showed through rather on the blue side. Iris chrysographes is worth growing from seed every few years; there is nothing else like it.
89S295: tectorum (tetraploid?), large leaves, flowers and seeds, from James Harper. Not distinct from other tectorum, and by pollen measurements, not tetraploid either.
91N134: ((versicolor x ensata) x versicolor, DOM-F2-01, from W. H. Perron (Tony Huber?). These all appeared as pure versicolor, though somewhat weaker, and with unusual pale flowers. After their second year blooming, I moved them out to the pond at school, where they persist, but have not seeded around like the native versicolor there. Undoubtedly the cross was true, but I suspect the versicolor chromosomes overwhelmed the ensata ones.
It would be worth following with some general observations. Species I have repeatedly, ordered, and been unsuccessful with, include variegata, ruthenica. gracilipes, and any and all Arils. I have tried many packets of Sino- Siberians, usually getting many seedlings, but very few have survived to bloom; I think our hot summers are not to their liking. Similarly, Pacific Coast Native Irises germinate well, but rapidly decline and die here. I have grown many, many seedlings of versicolor but have found them all to a greater or lesser degree disappointing in their color or form. Despite having grown out material from packets labeled "20 (or even 100) different varieties," nearly all the resulting plants are the usual blue-violet. Most of them have been planted out around various ponds and lakes in the region, where they give some pleasure to fishermen and hikers. Iris virginica is a more attractive plant and flower, and SIGNA seed has produced some very nice white forms for me. Iris lactea is another persistent star in my garden, never seeming to need attention and unfailingly producing a great deal of bloom. I'm also very happy with Iris milesii as a garden plant in a mixed border.
In summation, I would strongly recommend to all SIGNA members that they try some seeds from the Exchange. It's been a real adventure, and great fun over the years.
Bill Shear is professor of biological sciences at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. He has written for many gardening journals and lately has produced "The Gardener's Iris Book" published by The Taunton Press,1998. Cost $25.00 US $35.00 Canada. Check with your local AIS chapter for discounts.
Reprinted by permission from SIGNA Newsletter #63.
| Home | Introduction | Member Info | Reading Room | Seed Exchange | Links | Photos | Mail |