Jan -- seedlings are baby plants grown from seed. Pollen was taken from one Iris and applied to another in order to produce a seed pod. Each seed in the pod will be unique -- a different color/shape/etc. Iris. Tom has no idea what he has created -- he will find out when they bloom. Probably in two years time. It IS exciting!!

Tom -- your seedlings look wonderful. Boy -- your garden looks like the famous hybridizers' gardens!!

Linnea - boy I hope that is true! I am younger already than a year ago.

Can't wait to see the first pics of the babies. And take shots of the beds while they develop. Would love to see the whole process Tom.

I had 10 seed pods in 2013. Of those 8 germinated anywhere from 1 to 61 seeds. One of those that had only one germinate, one died of rot, so what I have left is the result of 7 crosses. The crosses I made this year are going to be more focused on a goal for a nice pink that I can name after my Grandmother. I want something that's not just a pink self, but I want something going on with the colors. I also am trying to get an unusual orange. I'm only going to keep about 5 or 6 crosses if I get viable seeds.

How exciting Tom. Growing your own creations. You will be, through trial and error, able to get the color of irises you want and maybe a fantastic iris that surprises you.

It is like Christmas in spring when seedlings bloom.

I can imagine!!

Bravo on the seedlings Tom.. I don't think I've seen a broken colored orange... Maybe you could be the first. Or orange with a blue beard..

I don't have soil in the bathtub (yet), but I am raising chickens in the shower...

Thanks for the explanation, Mary Ann. I'm even more impressed with Tom's abilities now!!

I've got one beepod to experiment with. Looking forward to seeing what I can get next season.

There are some good u-tube videos that will show you how to make crosses. I spent two years doing it wrong before I watched one and found out what I needed to do. Even when you do it right, you still don't get a pod every time. But I'm sure it will be fun to see them in bloom. I don't think I'll get many next year, but the year after they should for sure. This year, I'm going to start them a bit earlier. Last night when I went out to water them, I found two that a darn rabbit had pulled up and dropped. Good thing they were both from the same cross so I knew where they belonged. I think I'm going to sprinkle some cat litter around the edge of the bed. I hear that will deter them some.

So will blood meal -- and it's good for the garden and for the Irises!

I use a product called snake-away as a deterrent to snakes. It will not repel them entirely but if there is another path for them to take they will do so. I have found that this is a deterrent to all critters. It has a strong aroma of moth balls and is a bit of a deterrent to humans as well. lol I only put it around perimeters and don't know if it is good or bad for the soil but it does keep everything away from that area.

I read someplace ( can't remember where !) that one 'grower" used chicken wire, or hardware cloth, to make 'row covers ' for his seedlings....bent long strips into an inverted "U" shape, and set them over his seedlings......kept the birds and critters from them, and yet let water, and light in, and for weeding, they were easily set aside. I tried some commercial
animal repellant" a few years ago....with very limited success....on some of Rita's perennials , and I have heard that the blood meal will keep out the rabbits. Only thing I wonder about, besides the high nitrogen content of blood meal, is if it would attract OTHER critters ...............Arlyn

One more of the seedlings was missing this morning, completely gone, I couldn't fine it. Dirty little buggers, I'm going to have to have an all out war I guess.

I use wire laid flat down on the newly planted beds. It allows growth up and light and rain down. This will not keep them from being pulled up but will keep out diggers. voles are another problem altogether. That is why I continue to feed the feral cats. They eat voles. Tom, you need one of those scarecrows that turns the water on when something comes hopping into your new seedling beds..... just don't forget that it is ready and waiting when you run out early of a morning to check on the seedlings.

If you can get a hose to your garden definitely try the scarecrow. Amazon carries it. I've had zero critter damage with it, of course it won't deter underground critters, which you may have.


The grandkids love it too..

Just a side note -- the blood meal deters all critters, that I'm aware of. I used to to keep stray dogs out of my gardens -- and to keep my own barn kitties from using the beds as a litter box. Might attract vampires................

Davy the cat has decided to use the lily section to poop in. I won't have any critters going after the bulbs and rhizomes.

You need to be careful if you plan to work the soil where cats have littered. Their deposits carry far more dangers than even where a dog has been......

Either the cats in this neighborhood aren't "scarry" enough, or the squirrels are just naturally mean, but the cats use one of my beds for a litter box (you have to be careful that the rhizome you pick up IS a rhizome ! ), and the squirrels are right in there next burying walnuts !Between walnuts and ct turds, there isn't hardly room for iris ! ..............Arlyn

Blood meal keeps dogs away? Definitely need some of that! I have been using crushed up toilet bowl bleach cakes to keep them out of a liriape bed that they like to mark, but really don't want that in the garden soil.