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Awarded the British Iris Society's Foster Memorial Plaque (2010) and their Hybridisers Award (2016)
Awarded the American Iris Society's Hybridiser Award (2019)
Jan 10, 2018 - Welcome
I will be at the British Iris Society's Early Spring Show on Sunday Feb 11, 2018 from 11 AM to 3:30PM at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, London (i.e. just below Kew). A number of my hybrids will be on display.
Talk: Feb 13 at 3PM (Tuesday), RHS Early Spring Plant Fair, Lindley Hall London, England
(Unfortunately Jacques Amand won't have a stand at this year's show. The past few years quite a few of my hybrids have been on display, including future introductions.)
I will be in Dunblane, Scotland Saturday Feb 17 for the Scotish Rock Garden's Bulb Day. I expect there will be a number of my hybrids on display courtesy of Jacques Amand.
Sep 1, 2017
2017 was an amazing year. There were so many interesting and amazing new hybrids in bloom for the first time (as you can see below). In fact, there were so many during peak bloom that I couldn't keep up -- I wasn't able to take pictures of all of the new varieties, and some even went unhybridized. For example, I have a note saying 09-BF-1 was a "nice dark red" (i.e. purple), but I don't have a photo of it. I don't have any recollection of exactly what it looked like. Very few of the hybrids were measured. I was surprised to find I didn't measure 09-HT-1, which was my favourite of this year's blooms. A second favourite was 12-IO-1, followed by 11-HM-1. The only question with 11-HM-1 is, how many people will say "it's just a blue, so its price needs to be in line with cheap blues." 11-JO-1 may be blue, but it is quite striking. I also quite like the "mysterous" 11-JB-11. I never would have thought anything like this was possible. Being dark I'm not sure it will sell well, but it is quite unusual. 11-JY-2 is also one that catches your eye for being quite different. I'm looking forward to seeing 11-GE-2 next year. It reminds me of course of the first Eye Catcher sport that I saw last year. One of the two Eye Catcher sports I found last year had reverted. I'm hoping it was the second clone; which is something I would expect. It's a bulblet from the narrow sported area that I'm hoping would come true (Eye Catcher itself is truly beautiful; it would just be interesting to see how the sports compare; assuming they become stable. I did manage to find two more this year. At the very least it is simply fascinating to see different yellows being turned on at a point in the flower formation ...just as it is to see the occasional flower petal that is 1/2 fall and 1/2 standard.
One that I'm sure you are going to rave about is 10-AJ-2. One of its parents is 05-GQ-1, which is a sibling of Wow (05-GQ-3). It would be interesting to see 10-AJ-2 and Wow side-by-side. This was the first year that a tetraploid version of Wow was going to bloom in the field in Holland (unfortunately doing so after I left)
I have so many nice whites with blue accents. The smile is, now I have even more. I especially like 11-FB-3. 11-KD-1 is truely georgeous, but unfortunately it doesn't initally seem to be a good doer. There are a number of others and I expect it's a matter of personal choice which you like better. These include 11-EV-2, 11-FR-1, 11-HE-1, 11-HE-2, and 11-JY-2 (though it is a bit small). 10-CK-5, and 8 are also quite lovely. Have a look at 10-DF-1s 5 blooms this year. This is where it's one thing comparing individual flowers to choose your favourite, and quite another to seeing clumps of a variety. I'm not quite there yet. We are still building up stocks after the problems I had with my original grower. Unfortunately out of the 5 blooms there will only be __ blooms next year.
I have my favourites; which are yours?
To see this year's new hybrids, explore all of the 2017 pages. These days I like to simply browse the "By Year" pages.
In doing so see if you can spot the improved variations I'm getting. On the surface you see more whites, more yellows and more blues, but if you look deeper you'll see what I mean. Some are obvious, like Tequila Sunrise. Others are much more subtle like 10-BF-2. Of course you never know where the next "most amazing" hybrid is going to come from -- who would have thought 03-AJ-2 would be a good parent for orange?
For the first time I was able to hybridize some of my tetraploids and they did produce some seeds. In some cases a significant number of seeds were incomplete, which leads me to wonder if the plants were not quite 100% converted to tetraploid.
I had been hoping tetraploid and a potentially octoploid Lilac Beauty (03-AN-3) would bloom, but neither did. The clone with the coarse tunic, now has a tunic that looks similar to the tetraploid, and both leaves were similar, so I suspect both are tetraploids (photo below)
Note: slightly larger photos are now shown, along with more photos per page. On pages for individual clones, parentage now includes great grandparents - when the information is available. Information on commercial clones and species has been improved. I can appreciate the web site can be confusing. I do for example need a better photo index, but for now that's an impossible dream.
Talk: Oct 7 (Saturday), Southwestern Michigan Iris Society and Iris Connoisseurs of Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Talk: Oct 21 (Saturday), Ottawa Valley Rock Garden and Horticultural Society (OVRGHS) in Ottawa, Ontario
Lost ?
- Click the link By Year, etc. here or at the lower left to see my hybrids ordered by the year they were hybridized
- Another good place to start is The Big Picture
- Try exploring the links. See the parents, and grandparents of a variety. In a number of cases you can even see a hybrid's children. For example Storm (98-NP-2)
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Some Of 2017's Wonderful New Hybrids
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Where to Buy (2018 & 2019)
Large-scale sales of a few of my hybrids are under way. It takes over 12 years to multiply 1 bulb to 30,000. It would be nice if some of the amazing 2016 and 2017 hybrids were available now, but you have to be patient -- there was only 1 flower of each variety in the whole world in those years. In the meantime there are many amazing hybrids available now, such as Eye Catcher, Sea Breeze, White Caucasus, etc., with many more to come. In coming years you can look forward to: Holland Glory / Holland's Glorie, Lilac Beauty, Wow, It's Magic, Pièce de Résistance, and more.
New for 2018 is On Cloud Nine
Reticulatas are a welcome pick-me-up to the end of Winter / start of Spring, blooming right as the snow disappears. Even better yet, you can enjoy a small pot indoors while snow swirls around outside, reminding you of all the wonderful things that will soon be blooming outdoors.
I look forward to bring you more of my unique creations, as together, we show Dutch bulb growers as well retailers around the world, that there is a strong demand for them.
Available in modest quantity:
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Limited availability in 2018
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Dutch Bulb Grower:
Europe:
And fine retail nuseries: Broadleigh, Pottertons, and Rare Plants
North America:
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(Click photos to enlarge them)
Original 11-JO-1 F4-63/31/6/0
01-IV-3 x 05-CP-1
Original11-GE-2 F4-50/25/25/0
05-EJ-1 x {self + 03-FQ-1 + 03-JE-2}
Original10-AJ-2 F4-69/12/19/0
03-HW-1 x 05-GQ-1
Original11-EK-3 F3-50/38/12/0
94-HW-1 x 03-AJ-2
Original10-AI-1 F4-69/12/19/0
03-BS-4 x 98-EO-2
Original10-DF-1
02-ID-1 x 03-AJ-2
OriginalPale Yellow Eye Catcher Sport 4 F2-50/25/25/0
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