‘Chianti Classic’ (Terry Aitken 2010, TB) ‘Red Triumph’ (Terry Aitken 2017, TB)
Terry Aitken TB Seedling A#05T13A
Red’ (Aitken 2003) AM 2007 as reasonable progress but
still not the “fire engine” red that we were searching for.
Next, we diversified by adding patterns and rebloom
to the mix. We intermingled rebloom pedigrees that
include ‘Autumn Sunburst’ (Aitken 2010) (Pure As
Gold x Tennessee Vol). This has resulted in plants like
#06T18, #08T19, #14T22-BB) and ‘Hearts Afire’ (Aitken
2017) ((Autumn Sunburst x Next Millenium) X (New Day
Aitken TB Seedling A#10T8
Dawning x Autumn Sunburst)) . These are wonderful
plants in their own right. Why just red irises if we could
go after reblooming red irises? Next came ‘Chianti
Classic’ (Aitken 2010) HM 2013 (Fashionably Late x Code
Red) as a diversion with purple standards over red falls.
Our most recent introduction was named after my son’s
car – the ‘Red Triumph’! The pedigree represents the
mingling of the excellent Ghio red line with the Aitken
32 AIS Bulletin Spring 2018