Turning Point

Ever since I started growing Siberian irises, I have been captivated by the range and intensity of colors possible within the group. There are so many wild, rich, saturated colors available right now. (Ironically, there are fewer and fewer places to buy or even see, Siberian irises, but that is a topic for another post). 

Seedling from seed donated by Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks.

But it wasn't always this way. In fact, this is a very recent occurrence.  So how did we get here?

All the way up into the early 1090's, Siberian irises came in various shades of white, purple, lilac, blue-ish, and (after 'Butter and Sugar' was introduced in 1976) even yellows. Everything changed rapidly after the introduction of a few key irises. 

It can't be overstated how one iris introduction (every few decades) can cause dramatic changes for the possibilities of color and form. In 1957 'White Swirl' was introduced by Cassebeer. Now, virtually every Siberian iris in commerce today has some bit of  'White Swirl in its genetic makeup. It's hard to explain what one single seemingly random white iris could do for the future of all Siberian irises. It would impact not only the color but also the form... changing from pendulous falls and upright standards to a much more flat form, courtesy of the iris sanguinea genes. 


In 1962 'White Swirl' won the Morgan Award... and subsequently changed everything.


If we look through the subsequent Morgan (and late the Morgan-Wood) Award winners, we can see the progression of color from purple, wine, white and yellow into a prismatic rainbow of colors and textures. 

The first tetraploid Siberian iris introduced by Currier McEwen was 'Orville Fay' which won the Morgan Medal in 1976. 


Note the significant increase in colors and hues that occurred in the 80's and 90's.

In 1993 Bob Hollingworth's 'Jewelled Crown' won the Morgan-Wood Award. 'Jewelled Crown' changed the color possibilities for future tetraploid Siberian irises.

Part of the compelling attribute of tetraploid irises is that the flower color has a tendency to be richer and more saturated. The downside is that because of the doubling of chromosomes, trying to breed for recessive traits becomes much harder. 'Jewelled Crown' was so unique that its genetic material went on to at least eighteen other 'child' plants, including: 'Am I Amethyst', 'Band of Angels', 'Coronation Anthem' and others... many of them also Morgan-Wood Award winners in their own right! And this was just one incredible iris!

In 1996 Schafer/Sacks introduced 'Careless Sally' which was presented with the Morgan-Wood Award in 2003. If you take a look at the change in patterns and the subltle differences in color in 'Careless Sally', it foreshadows the changes ahead for many of the future Siberian introductions.  


On a lark, I wanted to try to figure out how many subsequent diploid 28 chromosome Siberian irises could trace their lineage back to 'Careless Sally'. At last count it was over eighty! Many of those are introductions that Marty Schafer and Jan Sacks have hybridized, but some are also from other hybridizers in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, New Zealand and the UK. It is amazing to me that a single introduction can have such an impact.

The photo of the seedling that I shared at the top of this post is a product of Schafer/Sacks incredible breeding program. Many of the US hybridizers share their surplus seeds through either the Siberian Iris Society seed exchange or through SIGNA seed exchange. You'd think that keeping your prize genetic stock under lock and key would be the way of things...but the reality couldn't be further from the truth. There is so much time involved in developing a breeding line, that by the time you're able to introduce your first amazing iris, a decade might have passed. Since most hybridizers dont start doing this in the early years, there is an obvious race against the clock. 

The more I explore the heredity of Siberian irises, the more I see family traits shared across many generations, and through many different hybridizers. 'Pink Haze' from McGarvey (1969), is another one of those irises that went on to win the Morgan-Wood Award, and to be used to create nearly forty 'child' plants... many of whom were also award-winning introductions. As each year passes, those genes get spread further and further out... but periodically, something will pop up in a new introduction that yells: HEY! And I love tracing that color, texture, pattern and form back to the original parent who passed along that information. 

Iris hybridizers will talk about what they are looking for, hoping to see, dreaming of.... and right now that includes better reds (with less purple), oranges, browns (that aren't muddy), and always more patterning, lines and veining that create new patterns, and multi-colors. There are so many options available to work with... all thanks to a few remarkable hybridizers and their incredible introductions.


All screen captures are from: https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoMedalMorganWood - copyright retained by the original photographers

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