I didn't get to see many seedling bloom last summer due to the hail storm that took out a lot of stalks. I did get to see some, however, and I'm going to share the good, the bad and the ugly. I will preface this by saying I don't think any of these will ever be anything to register, however some of them have some good qualities that I have used to cross to better known varieties with hopes of getting something better. Guess we'll see in years to come.

I'm just going to show you a couple a day so you can give them a healthy critique. Some of course are already compost, but I won't tell you which ones until you give your feedback.

I planted a few seeds from a bee pod that I got on Pulsator. Two seeds grew, one bloomed. The other one will maybe bloom this summer.


The other pod was a bee pod on Blue Beard's Ghost, two seeds grew, one bloomed, the other didn't yet.





This was the first and only little ones I've tried. They both are in the MTB range for height.

That is one blue bearded iris!

The first seedling is perhaps not terribly exciting, but I do like the bloom on the pleasingly soft yellow one with the blue beard!

Me too.
I'm not fond of the first one, but there is a lot of green in the falls that might be worth taking another look at.
If the second one was on the market it would be in my "cart".

Yep, I agree. Can't tell much about the first one but the yellow with blue beard is lovely.

I love the little bee pod off of Blue Beard's Ghost!

The yellow one has a more violet beard, it's a nice color, but not blue. I've seen others with this color pattern, and better form.

The white/green one got beat up in a rain, but it's not to interesting.

Tom ~ I like the yellow one, too. Very pretty. Bee pods can be interesting. Did you do any deliberate crosses last year?

I had 2 seedlings bloom last year. Hoping for more this year.
This one is a puzzle. It doesn't look like the cross I thought I made.
However, I did do some hybridizing with Whisper Her Name. My seedling resembles that iris.





I'd call mine a step backwards!

Tom, that second one is so freakin' cute!

Jan, nice color and form.

evelyninthegarden said:Tom ~ I like the yellow one, too. Very pretty. Bee pods can be interesting. Did you do any deliberate crosses last year?

I made 55 crosses last year, and I think I got 16 or so to take.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the only attempt I've made with the little ones. I have one of each cross that hasn't bloomed yet, so we'll see what happens this summer with the other two. I had some of the TB seedlings bloom too. This one I showed you in the past. I kept it because it has some traits I like, good bud count, branching, and shows some resistance to rot, at least here, so I'm going to try to use it on some crosses. It has a very long bloom season, starting Mid season and going to Very Late here. It could use some ruffles and a more unique color pattern. It's a Brazilian Art X Glamour Pants cross.





You can see how shredded the leaves are from the hale storm. This one is from my first successful attempts to make crosses. Some of my more modern crosses haven't bloomed yet.

Judging from the overwhelming numbers of comments on the last one that it would never grace your gardens.

I crossed it with Roaring 20's pollen and I have 4 seedlings growing. I was late getting my seeds started last year, so won't be seeing any blooms from them this year.

Brazilian Art X Cold Fusion

I like intense colors. Good start. TBs take a while.

Like the big beards on that last one, Tom.

Thanks, it does have a nice beard. Not as nice as either parent though, so doesn't have a future.

Here's another one of my seedlings bloomed for the first time, last year in 2017. Great bud count, branching, and I love the form, and pie crust ruffling, the chalice shaped standards and the excellent standard to falls proportion -- but -- but ---- but ........... its BLUE!!!!!. Why introduce it, and add to an already done to death color group in TB irises? - lol.
The form and tight ruffles are of value, and will be used in further hybridization work.

Rippling River X Fancy Stuff

It's really nicely formed should be a good parent.