‘Cranapple’ (Terry Aitken 1997, BB) ‘Jeweler's Art’ (Carol Lankow 1993, SDB)
In Continued Search
of the Red Iris
In the formative years of learning about iris breeding,
I was very fortunate to have mentors like Gus Schreiner,
Bennett Jones, and George Shoop. They were most
cordial to this novice and eager to show me how plant
breeding worked. (I was an architect—not a botanist.)
The good humor and rampant curiosity of this group was
quite infectious and there began a lifetime adventure of
breeding plants for “the next generation.”
In the mid to late 1970s, I acquired the best irises on
the market in reds and oranges. Schreiner’s ‘Post Time’
BY TERRY AITKEN, WASHINGTON
(1971 TB) was a stunning copper-red and its image is firmly
etched on my brain to this day. Bennett Jones was doing
“oranges,” and I happily joined him in that quest. Years
later, I observed the variety ‘Gold Fish’ (John Wareham
1934), probably where oranges began. George Shoop was
committed to the concept of crossing the best oranges
with the best pink. Each spring his garden was ablaze
with brilliant pinks and oranges. If the red pigment was
there, surely it would express itself sooner or later.
Bennett continued with line-bred oranges while I took a
30 AIS Bulletin Spring 2018