I. pseudacorus hybrids and beyond
James Waddick (Tue, 25 May 2010 14:58:41 PDT)

Dear Friends,
Some of these hybrids involving I. pseudacorus are planned
and some not. 'Holden Clough' was from a I chrysographes pod, but
pollen is unknown. Many suggestions have been made. I do not think
any one pollen parent has been proven. It grows more like the pod
parent, a 40 chromosome siberian, which mostly means it is vigorous
in the Pacific NW (Jane) ,struggles in the midwest (me) and probably
does 'OK' in the SE (Tony).

There are three major players in these wide crosses involving
I., pseudacorus, and other Laevigate hybrids including Japanese
irises.

Hiroshi Shimizu after much searching discovered a clone of I
pseudacorus that was more receptive to I ensata pollen ( the cv
'Gubijin') to produce a range of so called pseudatas or Eye Lash
hybrids. These come in a range of colors and forms:

http://ensata.com/HTML/PlantPages/…

This has been a difficult cross mostly due to the widely
disparate chromosome numbers of the two parents.

Tony Huber, a Canadian hybridizer has produced a wide range
of intricate crosses and back crosses in the entire Laevigate series.
You can see just a few at http://www.iriscitygardens.com/frame2.html

Jill Copeland has produce hybrids mostly involving pseudatas,
too and others. Some of these include 'Krill' and "Sea Krill',
'Pixie Won' and more on the pages above.

Some of these involve crosses of I. versicolor x ensata (x
versata) or back crosses again to versicolor (x biversata), x robusta
(versicolor x virginica), tetraversata (tetraploid versata) and more.
Many of these come fairly true from seed (see the SIGNA seed list 315
- 346 (http://www.signa.org/index.pl?Seed2009) while others are
sterile or nearly so.

Most of these are fairly easy to cultivate over a wide part
of the US. Some are unique such as 'Enfant Prodige' with up to 80
flowers over 6 or 7 weeks of bloom!

If you have a fear of I pseudacorus, do investigate these
further and give them a try. best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +