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Hybridizing Journal |
On this page, you'll see a record of my hybridizing activities and
plans for future work.
Hybridizing Journal
April/May 2012
My second-year clumps of Iris pumila are blooming abundantly now, and I have been collecting pollen and intercrossing them. It is difficult work on such small blooms, but I'm hopeful that I will get enough seeds to plant and to share with seed exchanges. I got a few pods on the pumilas, and now am happy to be working with larger blooms! Crosses so far this year:
P010 I. pumila aequiloba X I. pumila "clausii" 2 pollinations P011 I. pumila "clausii" X I. pumila aequiloba 25 pollinations P012 I. pumila WG X I. pumila aequiloba 1 pollination P013 I. pumila yellow/brown X I. pumila aequiloba 6 pollinations P014 I. pumila "clausii" X self 4 pollinations Q002 I. stolonifera PC X I. pumila WG 2 pollinations S004 Rain Dance X Hildebrant 05B11 2 pollinations B001 I. aphylla AA X I. stolonifera PC 2 pollinations TS002 I. aphylla AA X Hildebrant 05B11 2 pollinations S005 Sea Monster X Zwanenburg 6 pollinations S006 I. aphylla AA X I. pumila "clausii" 3 pollinations T019 I. schachtii X I. aphylla AA 1 pollination Q003 Werckmeister's Beauty X I. pumila taurica WA 2 pollinations Q004 Zwanenburg X Aladdin's Gem 2 pollinations T020 I. aphylla small form X I. aphylla 9 pollinations BS001 Honey Not Tonight X Sea Monster BS002 Loud and Rowdy X Rain Dance BQ001 Noble Warrior X Aladdin's Gem Q005 Dunshanbe X I. pumila aequiloba SB001 Bluebeard's Ghost X Noble Warrior Q006 Bronze Beauty Van Tubergen X I. pumila "clausii" B002 Saucy Werckmeister's Beauty B003 Say Red Dunshanbe Q007 Vera-Marina Aladdin's Gem
September 2011
Now that most of this year's acquisitions have arrived and are safely planted in the garden, I've been thinking about possible crosses next year and how to prioritize them. Of course, last year's plans were derailed by the arils and I. aphylla not blooming, and I know next year will also have its own unexpected complications and obstacles. Still, here is what I'm thinking of doing.
Iris pumila will likely bloom first, and I have a range of different ones to work with now. First priority would be to pollinate them with tetraploid aril pollen, should any of the pumilas bloom late enough (or any of the arils early enough), to make this possible. Otherwise, the pumilas will be intercrossed, with excess seed going to seed exchanges.
The first priority with the oncocyclus species is to cross clones of the same species, if I should have more than one bloom. The goal is to perpetuate the species in my garden, and perhaps also have some excess seed for the seed exchanges. For oncocyclus that I have only one clone of bloom, and for diploid RCs, I hope to pollinate them with tetraploid arils or with I. pumila, in about equal numbers if possible. 'Aladdin's Gem' (for AAP triploids) is also a possibility here.
I have acquired many clones of Iris stolonifera and Iris hoogiana. I would like to cross different clones of the same species to perpetuate them. On an equal priority with this are tetraploid aril x tetraploid aril and tetraploid aril x pumila crosses. If I'm unsuccessful in diploid aril x tetraploid aril crosses, I will also want to try the reverse cross at least a few times.
I hope to have Iris schachtii and several clones of Iris aphylla bloom. I will cross the aphylla clones as a first priority, try schachtii x aphylla, and use the pollen from both species on BBs and other tetraploid medians. I also want to try aphylla x tetraploid aril and schachtii x tetraploid aril (and perhaps the reverse crosses, if timing and quantity of aril bloom permits).
I have Iris reichenbachii from several sources, and will intercross them and try them on tetraploid medians to test for tetraploidy. (I suspect they are all diploid.)
I'd like to try any surplus pumila pollen on smaller tetraploid medians, to see if I can get diminutive plants of the PPTT type, fertile with SDBs.
I also want to try pollinating the tetraploid medians with pollen from tetraploid arils, particularly regelias.
I have some smaller AATT arilbreds ('Anacrusis', 'Wadi Safra Moonlight'), which I may cross with each other or taller ABs for arilbred medians in the AATT family.
That's the basic part of the plan, contributing directly to my work with the tetraploid fertile families.
There are also some crosses I would like to try in order to learn something, or for fun. These are a lower priority.
TT diploids: I seem to have ended up with a large number of different I. suaveolens plants. I will intercross them, and use their pollen on other diploids (MTBs, 'Mme. Chereau' and 'Swerti', 'Buddha Song' and I. pallida variegata). I also have I. timofejewii, which will be used similarly if it blooms. I'm picturing miniature little irises with variegated foliage...
If Iris attica blooms (I hope to have two different clones), I will intercross them and also pollinate some with I. pumila.
I want to try 'Zwanenburg' pollen on SDBs, to test if it is really APTT rather than AAPT as is usually supposed.
Finally, I want to try some crosses not expected to produce fertile offspring, just for the experience of doing them. These will include using 'Aladdin's Gem' on SDBs and ABs, SDB x AB crosses, and TB x AB crosses. I may also put diploid aril pollen on my diploid dwarf species for diploid arilbred dwarfs.
That sounds like a lot, but I know it is better to have too many things in mind than too few, the way plans tend to go awry. Making this table was an excellent exercise in sorting out all the many ideas in my head and pulling them into something resembling a plan. Here's a summary, grouped by pod parent, as this is a scarcer resource than pollen. Organized this way, when something blooms in the garden, I can immediately see what my options are and make the highest priority cross I'm able to.
pod pollen priority goal I.
pumila tetraploid aril high arilpums I. pumila mid species perpetuation, seed
exchange oncocyclus
other clones of same
species high species perpetuation, seed
exchange oncocyclus and
diploid RCs tetraploid arils mid triploids to work into tetraploid
lines, or a chance tetraploid I. pumila mid triploid arilpums to work into
amphidiploid lines, or a chance amphidiploid Aladdin's Gem low triploid arilpums to work into
amphidiploid lines I. stolonifera
and I. hoogiana other clones of same
species high species perpetuation, seed
exchange tetraploid
regelias and RCs I. pumila high arilpums tetraploid regelias and
RCs high tetraploid arils oncocyclus and diploid
RCs mid triploid arils to work into
tetraploid lines, or a chance tetraploid I.
aphylla other clones of same
species high species perpetuation, seed
exchange tetraploid arils mid arilbred medians I.
schachtii tetraploid medians mid tetraploid medians I. aphylla mid tetraploid medians tetraploid arils mid arilbred medians I.
reichenbachii other clones of same
species high species perpetuation, seed exchange,
test ploidy tetraploid
medians I. reichenbachii high test ploidy, tetraploid
medians I. aphylla, I.
schachtii mid tetraploid medians I. pumila mid amphidiploid dwarfs tetraploid arils mid arilbred medians I.
attica other clones of same
species mid species perpetuation, seed
exchange I. pumila low PPP triploids to work into
pumila lines, or a chance tetraploid diploid arils low diploid arilbred dwarfs I.
suaveolens other clones of same
species mid species perpetuation, seed
exchange diploid arils low diploid arilbred dwarfs diploid
medians I.
suaveolens low diploid medians SDBs Zwanenburg low test chromosome configuration of
'Zwanenburg' Aladdin's Gem low arilbred dwarfs ABs low arilbred medians ABs ABs (small) mid amphidiploid arilbred
medians Aladdin's Gem low arilbred medians SDBs low arilbred medians TBs ABs low quarterbreds SDBs low IBs tetraploid arils low amphidiploid ABs I. pumila low PPTT medians
May 29, 2011
The hybridizing season came to a close yesterday when I pollinated the final bloom of 'Enchanted Mesa'.
May 17, 2011
Wrapping up the season with a few crosses not in my original plan: Iris reichenbachii pollen on 'Enchanted Mesa' to test whether this clone may be tetraploid, 'Baby Blessed' on 'Catchy Name' just because both are rebloomers, and a different Iris pumila clone on the second stalk of 'Azure Whir'. I'm not optimistic about any of these, as the TBs are severely frost damaged and the flowers are all malformed.
May 10, 2011
The first TB opened today, 'Azure Whir'. The bloom showed some damage from the frost at the beginning of May, but I pollinated it with Iris pumila. Since the arils are not blooming this year, I thought using the pumila pollen on TBs might be interesting, so that I could learn about this classic cross for SDBs first-hand.
May 5, 2011
Iris reichenbachii bloomed today. I do not know if this particular plant is diploid or tetraploid, and no other TTTT type has bloomed yet. I polinated it with I. pumila pollen, since it looks like my tetraploid arils will not bloom this year, and so there is now no special need to conserve pumila pollen. If the I. reichenbachii is indeed tetraploid, the cross should produce amphidiploid dwarfs compatible with the SDBs. The cross was difficult to make, the bloom being so small.
April 11, 2011
Instead of intercrossing my Iris pumila plants, I have decided to hold their pollen for use on the tetraploid arils. It looks like there may not be a lot of bloom on the pumilas, and I already have many pumila seeds planted and plants on order, so I no longer see a great need to produce more pumila seedlings.
I also plan to make some crosses outside my main breeding program for learning and for donating to seed exchanges.
September 2010
This coming spring, I expect bloom of several different clones of I. pumila, the two regelia species and two tetraploid aril hybrids, and perhaps I. aphylla and I. reichenbachii. The pumilas will likely bloom first, so they will be intercrossed. I. pumila pollen will be used on the tetraploid arils in hopes of starting a line of arilpums. If I run out of I. pumila pollen before running out of aril blooms, I will likely intercross the arils or perhaps pollinate them with aphylla pollen. If aphylla and reichenbachii bloom, they will be crossed to test whether the reichenbachii plant is a tetraploid. I may also try some aphylla x pumila crosses if there is more aphylla available than reichenbachii.
Summary:
cross type goal I. pumila x I.
pumila expand range of I. pumila
clones available for breeding tetraploid aril x I.
pumila fertile arilpums
(AAPP) I. aphylla x I.
reichenbachii test I. reichenbachii clone
for tetraploidy, possibly produce tetraploid dwarf hybrids
(TTTT) (aril x aril) expand range of tetraploid arils
available for breeding (aril x I.
aphylla) fertile arilbred medians
(AATT) (I. aphylla x I.
pumila) fertile miniature dwarfs
(PPTT)
September 2010
Updated May 2012
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Unless otherwise noted, all text and illustrations copyright Tom Waters and all photographs copyright Tom or Karen Waters. Please do not reproduce without permission.