Congrats on the seed production. I only have a few NOID and they never seem to bloom at the same time. Hope they produce you beautiful blooms.

Congratulations! What are you going to name it? :0)

Karyn

Congrats! I'm enjoying your photos --- wish I knew historics to help identify. The white is incredible. Neat beard.

I'm glad you've come to the iris forum. Welcome.

Nice work! Too advanced for me. How much sun do your iris get? Some of them look like they are rather shaded same as I've seen in photos of bearded iris in other gardens, and I'm perplexed about where to put the few I want to grow. I'm told 6 hours of full sun, and I don't have that except in areas I'd rather not tear up right now.

Thank you all for your compliments. I'm glad you enjoy seeing these photo's and that I can share them.

Eaton Purple I purchased at a nearby, very tiny, iris farm in 2002 or 2003. This is the first time it has bloomed for me because they gave me such a tiny start and the place I had it did not get enough water. Moved it last fall and this is what it rewarded me with. I lost the name.

The white is one given to me last fall by a friend's mother, Bonnie. She purchased several via mailorder in 2005 but did not keep the names. I have never seen an iris bloom as much as this one does. Every stick of it that I put in the ground has produced a huge show.

Karyn, LOL, if I should only get something worthy of a name! If they avoid the name "compost" it will be pretty spectacular I'm told. But, I'll tell you a story. When I was in my 20s my grandmother gave me an unnamed iris seedling she had hybridized. I was too ignorant to understand what she had given me and let it go when I later sold the property I lived on. I soooo regret that now. She is now 102 1/2 yo, and still full of vinegar. She was taken to the hospital last month for a mild case of pneumonia but decided everyone there is trying to kill her off because she is so old so she tried to get out of bed and escape in the middle of the night. She is too feable to walk and fell, cracking a vertabae in her neck. So, now she is in a nursing home permanently.

IF (and that is a big IF) I should ever actually have a plant worth naming it will be in honor of her. Her first name is Violet so it might be "Violet's ...something or other" instead of just her name.

aliska12000, some of the iris I moved last fall needed a bed to go in quickly but my sunnier spots were not ready. These did surprisingly well. They get early morning sun until about 10am, then partial shade for a couple hours, then full sun again until early evening. A few things in favor for them in this bed: 1) it is very protected so probably up a zone due to microclimate. As a result they have almost no winter die back 2)it gets more water than were they were previously (we live in perpetual drought here) and 3) the soil is better conditioned in this spot. Nearly every one I planted in this bed has bloomed its head off this spring. Those that didn't bloom got a LOT healthier growth so I'm sure will bloom next year.

Thanks, berrytea. Where I want to put my new ones is about like that, some spots more sunny than others (long strip). I don't know how much water it will get. My neighbor loaned me his soaker hose, and the way I have things inter-planted, it isn't going to work unless I put it around the edges. It's very long and narrow, plan to expand it out a foot or two in time.

But the bed isn't protected and I didn't condition the soil but add peat, will put some compost on it in the fall.

They can't do any worse than the only two groups I have going so far. I planted them at the top of a fairly steep terrace. The yellow one has an enormous fan (& smaller ones) and something that looks like a bud coming but no blooms, doesn't look right there, may give it away. The other one is unusual, Chasing Rainbows, rosy lavender & beige/apricot on top, got one gorgeous bloom, my daughter was dazzled by that, then the wind & rain toppled it right over. The next one w/2 fat buds did the same darn thing. I stuck it in a vase and hope it will open. But I noticed around town that people with the larger bearded iris (like yours), the top heavy ones have fallen over as well. Some of the older ones like that Honoribile on the other thread behave better.

I would like to grow them in clumps of one type per clump. I think they ought to do better on my level strip even though it isn't protected. Iris do pretty well here, at least for OTHER people.

In addition to what I mentioned, I've got Immortality (2 or 4) and Mariposa Skies (6?) ordered for fall shipment, plus one freebie, cream w/white falls. Also 2 dinky Princess Caroline out of 4 that aren't happy, may try to move them, I love that one and wanted a bunch, but maybe they don't grow well. My neighbor is going to give me some of her purple ones and that will be about it unless I get addicted.

Thanks much. I don't think I'll try crossing any, for some time at least, but may try doing that with daylilies.

What is NOID?

Aliska12000,
NOID= no ID :) it thru me the first time I saw it too.

Funny you should mention daylilies. I started out all winter learning about crossing daylilies and growing purchased seeds indoors. I don't expect much bloom this year on DL as they are all new to me this spring. So I got impatient and decided to play with my iris.

Where are you located? Your climate may have plenty of natural water so that you don't have to water iris much to keep them happy. Here in CO we have so little rainfall and native soil so poor (infertile clay) that watering and ammending is a must. In fact I plant them in the same area as plants that need even more water (hosta & daylily) w/o fear of them drowning. In other climates you would not want to do that.

More pods developing today. I see "Eaton Purple" & "Bonnie's White" crossed well both ways. I also used my "Rootbeer" pollen on several of these and it seems to be taking, along with some "Honey Glazed" crosses (no pod set on HG yet but its pollen seemed to take). Another NOID orange, garden named "Peach" looks like its pollen has set pod on the "Eaton Purple", "Bonnie's White", and "Tall Fence Yellow" too. A neighbor allowed me to pluck pollen from a NOID bi-color and it set pod on the peach. The bicolor looks like a common vintage iris. Yellow selfs with red falls. I'll try to get a picture & ID it for them.

I have one IB blue, garden name "Bonnie's Blue" that has been tough to cross. I've yet to get viable pollen on any of its flowers and it has likewise not set pod with others crossed to it. Wondering if it may be different ploidy but will keep trying just in case it is finicky about fertility.

I'm in central eastern Iowa, and iris do very well here in general. Mine are alive but the storms blew my prettiest one over, one blooming and one with fat buds ready to go. If it doesn't rain for 2 weeks, I water them but don't soak, otherwise leave them alone. I'm sure some people never water their established beds here, but we do have drought in the summer where watering is my biggest chore for other things I've got going.

I'm fascinated with your crosses and results. They are so pretty.

If I weren't feeling so overwhelmed from all the work facing me, I'd be gung ho to try it, was excited earlier on about which rose cuttings to try in my new light setup and too much else to worry about and I don't have to work.

It's too soon to tell if I'm going to have any luck with even growing dayliles (the common ones grow well here with no maintenance whatsoever except in the super dry soil spots) but was over on the daylily forum and blown away by a post that started with FFO (first flower open lol, had to ask about that, too). The person showed which two fancy daylilies she chose to cross and posted photos of some of the nicer ones from her results. Every single one was totally different but all pretty, a couple stunners. You know how it is, different people pick different ones as their favs.

Do you have a link for how to control pollination for crossing iris if I ever get around to trying it? When I propagate plants, it would kill me to discard any, but I would have to do that at some point because of space limitations, and growing in pots is only for very few plants I can't grow and overwinter otherwise or as a temporary measure. It's too much extra work to have many pots going, and I have to cover them all with chicken wire or put stones in them because of squirrels and chipmunks. I stopped some of it, but not all, by not giving them peanuts in the growing season.

aliska12000,
I found some websites that give directions for iris hybridizing but none had really good pictures and it took me a bit to figure out the anatomy. As a result I'm putting together a slide deck using some of my closeup photography to help other newbies. I'm writing up some of my learnings from hybridizing these iris along with germinating & growing daylily seedlings over the winter. Much of the seedling handling & care will be similar. I'll let you know when it is ready to post. You can be one of my first proof readers :)

I'm sorry I haven't had time to respond to many posts around here lately, so I didn't read all the posts in this tiopic, but I saw you wanted to know more about hybridizing.

I posted this link long ago, but I'll post it again. This link will take you to a short video showing how to make a cross.

http://www.hgtv.com/cr/cda/playerex/1,1979,HGTV_38806,00.html

It's not a detailed explaination, but it should help. You don't have to remove the petals as they did, but it does help to prevent bees from contaminating a cross and on the ruffled varieties it can be difficult to reach the inside otherwise. You can also view the video on dividing and other info by visiting here.

I stumbled upon that years ago and I'm surprised it's still available. Hope it helps.

Brock

P.S. Iris hyrbridization is a topic that can, has been, and will continue to be discussed for many years and it could never be summed up within these pages. Or maybe I might try: if you're going to delve into this world and assume the responsibilities of a hybridizer, make sure you still have fun.

berrytea, I'd be glad to help proof, and would love to have the knowledge you can impart of what you put together, but you may need a second opinion because my skills are not as sharp as they once were, if ever lol.

Maybe it would be better to email me at aglessREMOVETHIS@earthlink.net when you have it ready as sometimes I either can't find or forget the threads in which I am participating. Plus I'm a newbie to this forum, mainly hang out on the OGR and winter sowing forums.

Brock, that is a good video for an overview of how the process works, so thanks for that. If push comes to shove, I might be able to do it from that, but I'm eager to see what berrytea puts together. Like someone mentioned, you don't want bees or something unanticipated foiling the purity of your cross, if possible.

Brock, what a fun video. It was very fast! Interesting that they removed the petals. I did not find that when I searched.

aliska12000, yes, will e:mail it to you when it is ready. A newbie to hybridizing is exactly the right person to proof it. That way you can tell me if it makes sense or ask more questions that will help me clarify it.

berrytea, just wanted you to know I saw your post and will look forward to seeing what you come up with. Sure wish I'd taken more interest in this aspect of science when I was younger, but not too late to try a little. I would prefer doing it this natural way, too.

Congratulations on your first seed pod! Be warned, though, that hybridizing your irises can become absolutely addictive! I made my first crosses in 2004 with absolutely no understanding of iris genetics, but I have been so tickled with the results. For me it's so very exciting to see a brand new iris bloom for the very first time. Now planning and making iris crosses is such a big part of my iris season. I use those little zip plastic bead bags to keep pollen in the frig if the "mother" bloom I want to use isn't ready at the same time as the "dad".
Shae

Pods are continuing to "ripen". Several are just huge. I can't imagine that they will actually go until Aug w/o bursting open. One or two are beginning to change color to a lighter green/yellow and look like the pod is getting thin/drier.

A picture of ripe pods is the last thing I am waiting for to finish my "how too" presentation.

By far the yellow pictured above was my "super mom" setting pod from almost everything I set on it.

The white was my "super dad" setting even the most difficult mom's.

I used quite a few others that are not pictured here. Basically I crossed anything that had decent pollen with whatever else was blooming that day. Had a few that were difficult parents either way though they eventually set 1 or 2 pods when fertilized with the white 'super dad'.

I froze pollen in medicine containers similar to process for daylilies to use next year on earlier varieties.