I have seedlings from dropped peony seeds come up every now and then if I am not careful to deadhead all the later spent blooms. One of them is white but is dusted pink as if someone very lightly sprayed the blooms with pink paint. Another blooms exactly like its presumed parent, Vivid Rose. In fact I have had blooms from both put in the same vase and I cannot tell the difference between them.

The funny thing is that the latter seed came up in a garden that has no other peonies in it at all, and it's all the way cati-corner across the back yard from its presumed parent. Obviously a bird must have carried the seed.

It happened so suddenly - 4 of my pods split. Full of nice looking seeds!

Haunted Heart x Clotho's Web (2)
Reckless Abandon x Clothos's Web
Haunted Heart x Aristocracy

There are still a couple unsplit but I guess that will happen really quick.

Hand fertilization does seem to provide more control and possibly better success rates. Do you have plans to hand fertilize this year, DaisyDo? I'd love to hear more about your process

privlil5 said: Hand fertilization does seem to provide more control and possibly better success rates. Do you have plans to hand fertilize this year, DaisyDo? I'd love to hear more about your process

to the iris forum!

PrivLil, no, I did not do hand fertilization this year. I had intended to, but didn't.

I was hoping to fertilize some irises with each other, but didn't have time or luck. It was a very strange year for me...but 2024 should be better!

I harvested one pod that started to open, but the pod on Strawberry Shake that I was so excited about ended up as an empty pod. Only have two more to harvest. Not a good year here for seeds.

Is it better to dry seeds in an open dish or in something where they're not in the light, such as a paper bag? Any opinions?

I put mine on a paper plate to dry, I write the cross on the plate, and stack them to dry. They seem to do fine that way.

x


succeeded.
28 seeds!

Congratulations, Lyn.
That's a good haul of seeds.
Hope you have some nice seedlings from them.

That should be some interesting seedlings!

I look forward to seeing those seedlings in bloom one day.

The last one of my pods
Mood Ring x Clotho's Web

Can't even imagine what might come of that

Guess we'll see in a couple years.

Interesting update on the seeds I planted in 22 - from my first cross. I used the Lucy method (planting outside in Fall in small pots buried in dirt because I don't have the facilities to nurse tiny seedlings inside during the winter)

So last spring, 4 of the 32 seeds sprouted. The are all now very large, have been planted and have increases. I left the pots that hadn't sprouted where they were. Much to my surprise, one of them has sprouted and sent up a tiny shoot - in November!!!

Has this every happened to any of you. I'm in the northeast and never get reblooms even on iris that are known to rebloom elsewhere. No idea if my little sprout will survive the winter. Anything I should do?

Sorry that I have no advice for you, Lyn. But congrats on getting any seeds to sprout! The past couple of years that I've planted seeds, I've gotten NOTHING.

I'm considering putting just a few, very few, seeds into a 4" pot on top of my patio table this weekend. (I have to do it NOW because of the upcoming surgery.) Just leave it there, have DH or my garden helper lightly water it occasionally, and then see how that works out.

I've been able to sprout seeds before, obviously, so I don't know why the failures the past couple of years.

(I still have seedlings that I haven't seen bloom, because they've gotten too crowded, get a lot of shade, and have been neglected due to the various problems here. Maybe I can do something about them next spring. Most of them will be whites, though...)

@Polymerous Thanks for the encouragement, Marilyn. Best of luck with your surgery and may you have a speedy recovery.

Thanks, Lyn.

I left some new seedlings out to long and just the frost of the fall killed them. I'd take it inside for the winter.