Dr. Darren AbbeyI ended up with eleven seedlings from the iris cross i made last year, between "Thornbird" and "Hello Darkness".
The cross i tried to make this year didn't seem to take. I think the variety I used as a pollen donor may have been pollen-sterile.
Ed Morris 🇨🇦🌿🗺🎻@thebiologistisn This is quite a tangent, but we have a Great Lakes Region endemic Iris (Iris lacustris) and I’ve *never* seen it produce fruit in the wild. It only grows about 6 inches tall, and that includes flowers. I wonder if today’s colonies are capable of sexual reproduction.
@Edrmorris You might need to transplant different locality genotypes into a common garden to get seeds.
@Edrmorris I've got two clones of Alaska Iris (Iris setosa) from my last trip to central Alaska.
One bloomed very early and very shortly this spring. Even in Alaska, the bloom season for a patch is compressed to within a week or so.
@thebiologistisn In my trips to Ontario’s subarctic I recall that bloom periods seem entirely different. Species that only bloom in June here (46°N) are still blooming in September on the Hudson Bay coast. Overall, floral competition for pollinators must be rather intense when seasons are so short.
@thebiologistisn I was wondering if introducing pollen from plants 100 km away would lead to viable seed production. My interest is less about gardening, but whether such things should be studied in the context of species conservation.
@Edrmorris I know there are differences between populations of Arisaema triphyllum with regards to how much seed they produce, that appears to be related to the genetic diversity within each population.
It seems like the logic would also apply to similar long-lived herbaceous plants like irises.
@Edrmorris If you were trying to build a new population, it might be a good idea to include genetics from several localities, rather than just the nearest one.
@thebiologistisn A this point, no plans for new populations. I do wonder if current populations seemingly sustained only by vegetative reproduction will be quite vulnerable to climate change or some novel pathogen though. Knowing if they will still reproduce sexually if provided pollen from a different population would be useful.