Iris and some Irids 2011

[Tom Waters]

Hello Lesley,

Wow! Very nice to know these little ones are still being grown (in NZ at least!)...they are a nice little bit of iris history.

[Regelian]

Lesley,

me heart just skipped a beat.  Wow, they are still alive and well and living in New Zealand.  Now, I just need to get a few into my hot little hands.  Do you know an exporting nursery?  Do you have any pictures you can post?  Have you ever had pods on any of them?  This is exciting!

   your best buddy in Europe (schmooz, schmooz),

j.

[PeterT]

Jamie, hope Lesley can help you.
A quick google search found this- http://wiki.irises.org/bin/view/Main/SpecHumilis
I'm sure some of the names will still be in commerce if you look look long enough

[Regelian]

Peter,

I've been doing this.  I may have found a collector in Germany with Arenaphylla, but I have yet to locate any of the others.  Doing searches hasn't been as straight foreward as expected.  Did you know we have thousands of entries for iris cup and suacer, all made of porcelain! 

[PeterT]

Been there, its a pain, try putting in another word (eg rhizome) and you can specify all words in the advanced search. I can find the hybredisers and perhaps some of their old addresses from the registration books if you want.
Do you know that Graham Nicholls stocks I humilis in the UK?
sorry not got any to spare my self at the moment. 

[Lesley Cox]

Firstly, I don't think any of the local iris nurseries export or would want the hassles but I'll put a couple of addresses in case anyone wants to contact them.

Secondly, no I've not had seed on any of them but then I've not been trying for it,

Thirdly if I were to hand pollinate, what would I use. I don't have either humilis or bloudovii at present.

Fourthly, the only one I have a picture of at present, is 'Mist o' Pink' and I'll put it here. Mine are all small plants but I have occasionally sent rhizomes from the SH to the NH so when they're a little bigger.....

[Lesley Cox]

Like on the snowdrop thread, the server has gone out for coffee. I'll try the pic again.

[Lesley Cox]

This is what I was given as 'Tiny Treasure' but someone had better confirm please. If it's not, then I don't have that one. Whatever this is, it is a honey, just 6cms high in flower. Unfortunately I've almost lost it now (this was about 5 years ago) and I've been able to rescue just a single tiny rhizome, now in a trough.

[Regelian]

Lesley,

thanks for posting the foto.  'Mist o' Pink' is a lovely thing, isn't it.  The second foto has the file name 'April Accent', not 'Tiny Treasure', is this a mix up?  Cute, in any case.  Sorry to hear it's not doing too well at the moment.

I've still not found anyone offering any of these cultivars in Europe or the US. 

If I were trying a cross with them, I would probably try an aril-bred or TB and hope.  They are certainly unbalanced diploids with an 8-11 chromosome set or similar.  They may need to be converted to the tetraploid level to get progeny.  Probably why they wern't followed up in hybridising.

ciao,

Jamie

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Indeed, that Mist-o-pink is a real little treasure !
Very delicate colours !

[PeterT]

Ron McBeath of Lamberton nurseries is also listing Iris humilis.

 "Green Spot" - a parent of at least one of these Psamiris hybreds is notoriously unstable - randomly throwing up monsterous flowers missing style arms or with extra falls, yet it is an old cultivar with  a proven ability to survive.
Perhaps it's instability provides the qualities nesescary for improbable intersectional crosses??  

[Tom Waters]

Thanks for the fascinating pictures, Lesley! I'm somewhat skeptical of 'Tiny Treasure' since it looks very much like an I. pumila cultivar, and doesn't show the I. humilis flower form which 'Mist o' Pink' displays so nicely. Also, the registration data says 'Tiny Treasure' is 25 cm in height. Even allowing for variable growing traditions, that seems a very large difference.

Interestingly, 'Tiny Treasure' is a rare second-generation seedling from I. humilis with a chamaeris dwarf. It's pod parent is 'Ylo' (I. humilis x chamaeiris) and it's pollen parent is reportedly I. humilis. A chromosome count was done, and it has 31 chromosomes, presumably 8+12+11, the same as one would expect of 'Ylo'. The implication is that 'Ylo' managed to produce a chamaeiris-like 8+12 gamete!

[Tom Waters]

Jamie,

Most of these are not diploids, but unbalanced triploids with one set each of 8 and 12 chromosomes from the chamaeiris-type parent and one set of 11 from the psammiris.

[Tom Waters]

The photo does match the description of 'April Accent', which is an MDB from 'Brassie' x an I.pumila seedling.

[Lesley Cox]

Thanks for the note Jamie. At one time I thought it might be 'April Accent' but was told by the donor (30 years ago!)that it was 'Tiny Treasure,' so the mistake is mine. However, having said that, if anyone recognises it as NOT TT, please let me know. I hate having my plants wrongly named.

I've just read your latest post Tom, so perhaps I'd better re-name again or at least remove the TT label.

We have 'Green Spot' here too and I have never found it other than a jolly good iris, vigorous and flowering well, the flowers always well-shaped. I've not seen anything of the oddities you mention Peter.

It would be correct to say that nowadays we in NZ import almost no very dwarf bearded irises at all so that anything from overseas is almost certainly an old or older variety. Even talls are becoming fewer yearly, our import restrictions are so impossible to deal with. We are getting a lot of new dwarfs each year from 4 or 5 local breeders and in general they're very good, being bred to local conditions. Most though, are bred for North Island conditions, damper winters, hotter, more humid summers and so taller species and cultivars are used. My particular love is for very tiny vars which need smaller species to start with. But while I. humilis is in NZ, I'd be very surprised if anyone is using it for breeding. If I were 30 years younger.....