Every October for years I have looked forward to seeing a Tempo Two Catalog online and
over Barry Blyth's new Intro's, I always study the pedigrees and read his Hybridizing notes in the back of the catalog he was always so good at sharing what was a good parent and if a plant was fertile, one could really save time in the spring by studying one of his catalogs they were fountain of info and this year we didn't get one
I was sad when I heard Tempo Two had closed but after the past couple seasons here I could understand completely how hard it can be to do this on a large scale and I had a fraction of what they were growing and working on every year. I'm happy that he could retire and hopefully relax in the summer and while I didn't get to see him this spring in Salem
I will get to walk Iris rows with him again.
One of his last catalogs had some very good information in the back about his breeding program and what he looked for when evaluating seedlings and his thoughts were if the plant was being saved or reselected it should at least be as good as anything commercially available and preferably better he preferred them to have something better in the color, form, and growth characteristics. I have tried to use this advice when I'm looking at my own seedlings and before I flag it to keep the question pops up.. Why am I keeping this and what makes it unique and different, then something else on the market already if I planted it in the garden would it need a name tag to recognize the flower. This is what made Barry's plants special and unique and I'm glad he thought outside the box he has left us a treasure trove of plants to work with and enjoy in our gardens moving into the future
One of the other factor's he said he used to choose 2 iris to cross together was Twitchy Fingers if I look at a iris and I like it, my mind automatically goes too do I want to cross it ? and if my fingers are twitching with some tweezers then it goes on my list to be crossed
Barry said some of the best results from the past 3-4 years from Twitchy Fingers was using
(Magical) as soon as I saw it, it was alive and has proven to be an exceptional parent.
I was thrilled when I read that I had a good feeling it would be a wonderful parent and Barry confirmed it
so it's pollen went on everything and it will continue to be used here into the future.
Barry has introduced 3 or 4 of the Magical kids he talked about over the past couple years and while I was in Oregon I stumbled upon another one that is my personal favorite so far.. at the time it just had a seedling number so didn't know where it came from but loved it there so when I read the pedigree I smiled and thought Twitchy Fingers
It is now called Absolute Truth and is being cataloged by Mid America Gardens for Barry. The majority of Barry's plants flower early as he was breeding for that in Australia they had the opposite problem we have and the late season varieties get burned up in the heat so most years when I get to oregon his are finishing blooming so I miss out on the earliest ones but I caught this one at peak..The rest of his new intro's I did not get pictures of but excited about a lot of them from the pictures shown on the Mid America website.
Absolute Truth
Below is a glimpse of some of Barry's seedlings blooming at Mid America that may be available in the coming years if there is any that you guys Love please comment and I'll share the group's thoughts with Thomas in the spring
and maybe we will get lucky and Barry will be there this spring with tweezers in hand and Twitchy Fingers.
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