Hi friends!
I have been taking pictures of some of the new seedlings from the '10 seed crop. the ones from the '11 seed crop are too small to tell much at this point although the cobwebs are showing cobwebs already. They are so cute. I remember the first time Pat Drown's 'Denise's Cobweb' germinated and we were shocked to see the cobwebs occurring so early in development. We both figured it would take a while to appear. Not so. As Lynn and Cynda can tell you there are several interesting things coming along and i'l make decisions next spring when I have had a chance to see them for a couple seasons.
and yes I grew up in a small town called Athol, MA. It is right on the edge of Quabbin Reservoir and close to Amherst MA. Horticulturally it was a great time and place to be in MA as Frances Williams, the hosta guru, gave me my start in that genus too. Have a number of these on the market. And yes it was very cool to have so many sempaholics in such a close area. Pat Drown now lives in the Seattle area and is an aerospace engineer. Am hoping to visit with her this summer and get her started again.
I sent most of my last selections onto Helen Payne although there were seedlings left behind that were lost when the artesian well died in the winter one year. The rock garden was right over the well and I lost those last seedlings. That happened after I had moved to MS. Luckily many of my hybrids are still on the market and I've bee able to get a majority of them back.
As Lynn can tell you, there are lots of seedlings coming along in my patch and I have plans for a much more extensive planting. The previous owner of this property had a yard service business and created a graveled area for his trucks. That should be an ideal semp planting site when raised beds are constructed above it.
I am still looking for 'Greenwich Time', 'Michael', 'Prairie Sunset', 'Devil's Advocate', 'Dusky', 'Sharon's Pencil', 'Royal Flush', 'Pistachio', 'Risque', and Polly's 'Pink Lemonade' and Pat's 'Spring Mist'. think that would recapture most of my old ones.
I have discovered there are two plants named 'Minaret' in circulation. one is red-flushed, the other is not. i think the red-flushed one is actually a sib to 'Mulberry Wine'. Skrocki #51 was the parent of 'Mulberry Wine' and was grown right next to 'Minaret'. I gathered seed of both of them and some of the seedlings had characteristics of the other parent. The red-flushed version of 'Minaret' is probably the sib to 'Mulberry Wine'. when I sent the plant to Helen, i noted on the label " Skrocki #51 X Minaret?" and i'm sure the 'Minaret' portion must have been transferred to this seedling when Helen sold her plants.
It is such fun getting back into the semps. I was in MS for 30 years working for the USDA and they were not happy in that climate (nor was I!). I did breed a lot of LA irises and daylilies though.
Kevin
