We decided (did we not) that we could talk about this during our 'off' season.

When crosses are described the pod parent is listed first
followed by X & the pollen parent. Cutie X Not so Cute. The large X is between the plant. When a seedling is used the is a small x. Cute X (Not so Cute x Hope it's Cute). So the pollen parent is a seeding. The question was put forth why not just give the seedling a name? Over 10 thousand irises have been named & registered. If you want to call an iris 'Sweetie' in your garden, there is already one with that name, plus many other people think that their iris is a 'sweetie' also.

OK, Lucy....I have a question. I had a "bee" pod form on SDB "Speckled Sprite" (Molly Price , 1963 / '64), I harvested and planted the seeds, and they are starting to sprout. So, if I chose to register one of the seedlings, the "family tree" would read : Speckled Sprite X Unknown....since I have no idea where the bee visited first, correct ? Now, if I "knew" that Speckled Sprite was "selfed", it would read; Speckled Sprite X Speckled Sprite, correct ?
I'm asking because I'm sure one of those seedlings will someday win the Dykes !!
Another question, in a "species cross", is it still pod first, and pollen second ?.....i.e. I .germanica X I. ensanta, where the pollen from the JI was used on the bearded ( I'm not planning on trying, just curious )

yes to question 2, unless you know the particular species clone. Some species have registered names. I have a species (of John's which has a number) so it was I. aphylla 87J X a bearded seedling. Any old species seed out of the wild would just say I. aphylla.

yes to question one as well. John's MTB Billie the Brownie X bee. We have a suspecion of the pollen parent so it is Blue Twinkle X unknown (possibly Spanish Coins.) The latter was in the same bed & the only yellow MTB we grew at that time. 'Billie' won the Williamson-White Medal.

Loving this info. More more!

I learned something, Lucy. The size of the x's matters! Thank you!

ok Everyone has their own numbering system. We can ask Tom for his if he sees this thread.

John had been doing his work for awhile & I asked him about doing a particular cross & he said 'nope'. So you all know about the little red hen. So the little blond hen (at that time) did it herself. He kept track of his crosses by the year they were made, so I did the same thing. I started the same way but put a L in front of the numeral. John thought he might do J, but it didn't seem necessary so he went back to numeral first.

I then put the letter indicating the cross, then a number when the plant bloomed. I originally left it at that. Then I saw a friend who indicated the type of plant, for example 79S7C. We still grow that SDB seedling of his. Since I started just working with SDBs, but then added other classes. The SDBs were left as I started, but I added D (for dwarf), I for intermediate,) M (for MTB ) ( B (for border). I do not do Tall bearded as many people do Those & I like the medians best. John sort of frowns on my BBs but if I ask him to judge a BB seedling, he will do so.

As I said I usually give the plant a number, but with my most mature MTB cross I had only kept 4 plants so indicated them by color (red, rust, purple & violet.) I will see if I can get the photos to come up next.

There we go in order : follow the bouncing ball (imaginary) & decode the seedling number.
L03-MY-red, L03-MY-purple, L03-MY-violet, L03-MY-rust (now Ginger Treat). I really didn't mean to spell anything, it just worked out that way. I will be more careful. I had had a YM cross so reversed it this time. I will show a seedling of John's just to show the difference on the next 'square'.

This plant is from the same year & a bee pod, Arlyn.
03C6 Simpler than my system. Same year, from a bee pod on a pumila.

ok Tom, how do you mark your seedlings?

Thank-you Lucy! You cleared up a couple questions I had..

I have a simple way to do it, as I'm only a hobbyist at this. I use two numbers and a letter. The first number is the year the cross was made, the second number is the number assigned to the cross and then A, B, C etc. for those of that cross that I keep. I make a master list of the crosses made and the number that I assign to the crosses for that year. I record the number of seeds planted, number of seedlings that I plant and mark them in the garden when I plant them. When I assign a number I take a picture of it and print it out and catalog it with it's number and location in the garden. So far I don't have that many that have gotten a number. Just the ones that I want to use to make crosses. I think we all have to design the system that works for us. It's fun, and necessary to come up with something that allows you to keep track of them.

John & I are hobbyists as well. to make any money one has to have a large operation.

Very interesting!

With luck Kent will tell us how he marks his crosses. New people with seed pods, even bee pods have you decided what to do?

Since I , so far, only have one, it's not an issue, but my plans are ;
17 (year of the cross)--A (or whatever letter applies, for the "cross")---04 (or whatever Number applies, for the individual seedlings that sprout). So, right now, with only one "potfull", they will be tagged: 16--A--01, (and 02, 03, and 04, when they are 'set out"). The "letter", A, will be logged into a notebook, as "Speckled Sprite X Unknown".

That looks like a simple, useful i.d. plan, Arlyn!

And, if I REALLY get hooked on doing crosses, and end up with more than 26 for the year....there's always "AA" (you can take THAT any way you want to ) "BB", etc. I do have some "median" crosses planned ....if I find the time and ambition to do them ......but doubt I'll ever get into it "big time". I have enough trouble growing what I have .