Chasing Reds

red peony

 Everyone has an idea what red looks like. Most men see far fewer shades of red than the average woman. But at the end of the day, most people (who aren't color blind) can distinguish red from orange and red from purple. Somewhere in the middle is true red.

 

red poppy

Red poppies are glorious when they open up in early summer. I used to go to great lengths to plant seeds early, expecting that my transplants would bloom successfully. I learned pretty quickly that annual poppies like being sown into the snow in late winter. It seems frivolous to plant them so callously onto melting snow... but if the last few years have taught me much, it's to watch what the plant does on its own. Poppy seedpods shatter but there are always a few stuck in the pod. That pod doesn't really soak up enough water until it has frozen and thawed a few times. Then those seeds germinate beautifully. In my experience, the most successful poppies have happened about two feet (or the height of the fallen stem) from where the original plant grew. So now I sprinkle poppy seeds on the snow in February or early March at the same time I sow cilantro and red kale seeds. By the time the snow has melted, their tiny roots have taken hold.

 

Copper red on white stoneware clay, fired in Miami at Barry College

I've been chasing reds since I first came across Brother Thomas' copper red glazed pots in a book while in college. I was very lucky to get to see quite a few of them in person at an exhibition in Northfield Mount Hermon School. At the time, I was drinking from the copper red firehose at Tom White's studio which was just up the road from the Northfield Mount Hermon School. Seeing the forms from Brother Thomas, in person, close enough to touch, was transcendent. 

Brother Thomas Bezanson, from Pucker Gallery  https://www.puckergallery.com/brother-thomas-bezanson

Thanks to the help of Amherst potters Mike Cohen and Angela Fina, I was able to produce a smattering of copper red pots and to write my undergraduate thesis on the chemistry and physics of these copper red glazes. Angela was kind enough to take me under her wing to learn the basics of stoichiometry and unity molecular formula. Mike was generous with room in one of his firings... which unfortunately resulted in one of the bowls dripping enough glaze to stick to the shelf. If you look at the right side of the image of the bowl below, you can see the glaze drip, ground down. Needless to say, repairing glaze drips on kiln shelves was a big part of the learning curve.

 

Copper red over high copper glaze, fired in Miami at Barry College

And just like that college was over and it was off to a year at Alfred, and then onto grad school in Utah. Reds took a backseat to woodfiring and salt firing. Every now and then I would throw one of my red glazes into the woodfiring or the class glaze firings... and they would turn out amazing. Other issues in my life took priority: family life with a new kiddo, grad school work (Glaze Tectonics) and eventually the start of my divorce.

 

Copper red footed bowl, made at UMASS Amherst, fired in Michael Cohen's kiln

Fast forward over two decades and I am still chasing those reds!  Most gardeners would say that there are no red irises. What they mean to say is that there are no red bearded irises. Oregon State University is working on a red bearded iris : "Tony H.H. Chen, a professor at Oregon State who is heading the project for Ernst, is working to introduce genes from two different lilies - the coral lily (Lilium pumilum) and the tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium, formerly Lilium tigrinum) - and an ordinary red pepper to put more red in the flower." - https://www.ocala.com/story/news/2006/07/01/in-search-of-a-floral-holy-grail-a-true-red-iris/31163551007/

Louisiana iris, 'Marie Laveau', (Joseph Musacchia, R. 2013) Seedling 08-14-02. LA, 36-40 (9246 cm), Early to midseason bloom. Wine-red self. 'Red Velvet Elvis' X 'Grace Duhon'.

Last summer, I was invited to MJ Urist's garden of Louisiana irises in Tully, NY. On our second visit, on one of the hottest days in June, LA iris 'Marie Laveau' was starting to bloom. It was definitely a rich red! One of it's parents is 'Red Velvet Elvis' from Kevin Vaughn. Joe Musacchia has created some absolutely incredible red Louisiana irises including my favorite which he named for MJ: 'Mary Jo', who shares the same parentage as 'Marie Laveau' (image above), but has an even deeper shade of red.

We were even given a few iris fulva which are one of the original species irises from Louisiana. I am excited to see how these red LA irises grow in our garden this summer. It will be interesting to see how they thrive in our wet heavy clay. Part of me wonders if crossing them back to I. fulva and maybe I.brevicaulis will allow for even greater hardiness in this climate. So much to learn while chasing these reds!