Unclaimed Treasure

UNCLAIMED TREASURE (McAllister, 1990)

Intense, iridescent violet standards. Falls are bright copper on the inner half, blending to a violet base on the outer half that has a brownish overlay. Maroon-black veining in the signal area. The entire flower has a metallic sheen. 

A fully fertile halfbred from Welcome Reward X Esther, the Queen. Sets pods with exceptional ease. I've used it in breeding for deep colorfast colors, and consider it to be promising as carrier for pink. It has produced some striking quarterbreds. 

Because our seedlings were moved back and forth between our gardens so much, sometimes Gus and I had a hard time keeping track of whose they were. This name came from a brainstorming session for one of those questionable ones. It was clearly a treasure, but we knew it would take a detailed check of the records to know which of us should claim it. For show aficionados, its ASI code is OGB.

Visitor's Choice

Very pale pinkish ivory standards have a yellow midrib and faint yellow veining. Soft yellow style arms match the soft yellow ground of the falls, but the falls are so heavily washed with solid rust that the ground shows only at the edge and around the beard where the pigment separates into brown-on-yellow stippling. Small brown signal at tip of mustard brown beard. A fully fertile ½-bred from Red Earth X Whirlwind Romance, but I've given away too many of its seeds to properly assess its overall worth as a parent. One of the most popular with garden visitors for the past few years, prompting a lot of name suggestions – none of which quite "fit".

Vivacious Vi

White standards have a pinkish flush along the midrib. Reddish-violet falls have rust-on-white veins flanking a yellow-gold beard. Sostenique X Tribe of Judah. A classic quarterbred that has produced seedlings with Joint Venture. An iris named for Vi (short for Violet) would obviously have to have violet tones. It's form is flaring – think "V for Vivacious".

Vivid Imagination

Wannabee

WANNABEE (McAllister, 1996) Photo OGB-

What do you wannabee ("want to be") when you grow up? This one wanted to be pastel – and almost made it with its pale blue standards and pale buff-green falls. It also wanted to have a large signal – and its stippling almost coaleses to form a solid signal. It wanted to be veined, too – and has fine veins flanking the beard, but they don't extend down the blade of the fall. In other words, it looks like it couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be – but it's so different that it certainly succeeds in getting the attention of garden visitors. Mohric Art X Heavenly Sunlight.

War Drums

Think of a moonless night on the prairie, smoky campfires, and the foreboding sound of war drums beating in the distance. Standards are a smoky-grey with a faint touch of violet and a few faint yellow veins. Style arms are an intense flame-yellow, brushed with reddish-violet along the midribs and the stylecrests have reddish-violet "eyelashes". In contrast, the falls are deep reddish-black with a dense near-black beard. A fully fertile ½-bred from Deborah's Song X Turkish Tangent, which I'm using for sun-fast reds and reddish-blacks. 

Warrior Chief

This pansy-purple self with black signal and bushy yellow-orange beard closely resembles its aril parent but has a larger flower and is much easier to grow.  It's an unbalanced tetraploid from Persian Pansy X Heart Stealer.  Offspring of Persian Pansy are typically shades of purple, but rarely this good. 

No evidence of fertility in limited tests with halfbreds. It has produced a few viable seeds when crossed with the tetraploid arils, which I cultured, but none of the resultant seedlings survived to bloom size. 

This one really wanted to be called "Black Hawk", but that name was already taken. After pondering a lot of potential variations – including his Sauk name, Makataimeshekiakiak – and "War Chief", which was also taken, I came up with this variation.

For show aficionados, its ASI code is OGB+.

Whirling Thunder

Violet standards, purple falls and deep ruby-red signal spot are all overlaid with dark grey. Gethsemane X Ora J. Seale. A fully fertile ½-bred whose offspring are quite diverse in color and pattern. Some have very striking signals. Reminiscent of storm clouds, yes, even whirling ones like tornados, but it was actually named for a Sauk warrior. Whirling Thunder was the son the the war chief, Black Hawk. A case of wanting an iris that matched the name – but this is not an offspring of the iris I named in honor of Black Hawk.

White Chocolate

Creamy white self, much like white chocolate candy, with fine dots of dark chocolate brown surrounding a dark chocolate beard. 'Nuff said to explain the name. Promises to Keep X (Esther the Queen x Tuesday Song). Fully fertile ½-bred that I'm using in further work for pastels with dark beards and signals.

Whirlwind Romance

WHIRLWIND ROMANCE  (McAllister, 1990)

Pewter standards are touched with brass along the midrib. Brass falls have a heavy wash of orange rust, a burnt-orange-to-black signal, and bushy orange beard. Strong enough substance to support its globular form.

From Persian Pansy X Arab Dusk, it's a somewhat reluctant pod parent, but a very enthusiastic pollen parent  and one of the best breeders I've produced.  Pictures of just a few of its most impressive offspring have been posted in the Photo Gallery.

Crossed with half-breds, it transmits its beautiful globular form to its offspring. Some of them, in turn, have proven to be fully fertile when crossed back to halfbreds. The mixed-up-genes seem to combine favorably with a variety of partners – I have offspring in almost every color variation. I've also used it with TBs to produce what are presumed to be quarterbreds, but none of those seedlings have been as impressive as the ones it has produced when paired with halfbreds. Not yet tried with the tetraploid arils – I've been having too much fun using it with ¼-breds and ½-breds.Originally one of Gus' Seligmann's garden names, which he gave a peach ½-bred that both of us had quickly fallen in love with. Although it was registered, the stock was inadvertently destroyed before it could be introduced. I like the name so much, though, that I transferred it to a very different, but even more special, seedling that Gus had dubbed "The Golden Bull". 

For show aficionados, its ASI code is OGB+.

Whirlwind Tour

WHIRLWIND TOUR  (McAllister, 1993)

White standards have some gold veining. Metallic gold falls have some rust veining on inner half and large, dark rust signal spot.

A fully functional halfbred from My Joy X Whirlwind Romance, with offspring already introduced and more in the pipeline.

A strong grower, which tends to stay green over the summer like the ¼-breds. An enthusiastically fertile, functional halfbred, from half-bred X near-aril breeding that has already proven to be an excellent parent. Used with half-breds, it transmits its large, globular form. Crossed back to tetraploid arils, it has produced some striking patterns in lighter-than-usual tones. One of its offspring with Werckmeister's Beauty even has an emerald-green beard! Offspring of Whirlwind Romance that was in search of a name when I made a quick trip to Oklahoma that someone quipped was a "Whirlwind Tour". The phrase struck home and an iris was named.

For show aficionados, its ASI code is OGB.

World Wide Web

WORLD WIDE WEB  (McAllister, 1996)

White ground of the standards has mulberry-purple dotting and veining concentrated intensely around the edges. Soft yellow style arms have purple midrib and crests. The ground color of the falls, which shades from white in the throat to soft yellow on the blade, is covered with a network of mulberry-purple dots and veins. The purple-tipped-mustard beard is surrounded by intense bright purple dotting, and a linear bright purple signal. 

A classic ¼-bred from Rose Colored Glasses X Hindu Magic. No evidence of fertility, so far, but not tried with tetraploid arils. 

Its form is not globular, but rounded enough to show its aril heritage. The appearance of the flower itself suggested the name. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still available. Its intricate pattern of aril-like dotting and veining has made garden visitors question that it's "really" just a ¼-bred, but - yes- it's from a carefully controlled cross, selected as the sib with the most aril characteristics. It seems to grow almost as fast as its namesake.

For show aficionados, its ASI code is OGB-.