Iris that have performed well in the dry Spring in South Australia

by Mel Schiller

This past Spring at Smokin Heights was one of the driest that we've ever had. It has been a shock to our systems. We started watering the iris in September using treated water from the Murray River, which we pay to use per kilolitre. This water lacks the quality of rainwater from the sky, and I cannot possibly drink it. For me, it doesn't taste the best when compared to the rainwater I've been drinking since I was a child. 

Irises that impressed us last season, given the hot and dry spring, are as follows.

'Believe' (Johnson, 2021) 

The first time standard dwarf bearded (SDB) 'Believe' bloomed for us it did not disappoint. Ten stems on a two-year clump; you can only see half the clump in the photo. A common problem in Australia is that SDBs often bloom in the foliage because it doesn't get cold enough. This one doesn't have that problem; beautifully formed blooms open well above the foliage. 

 'Orange Peel' (Keppel, 2022)

The little SDB 'Orange Peel' only came out of quarantine at the beginning of the year and blessed us with blooms this past Spring. Probably the brightest orange iris we have grown to date, it is absolutely luminous!

 'Sky and Meadow' (Black, 2019)

Another little one, 'Sky and Meadow,' has proven to be a very good performer in our climate. In general, SDBs that we import can be unreliable when it comes to blooming each Spring. This one has bloomed every Spring without fail since it came to Australia. 

'Yoda' (Blyth, 2012)

An Australian-bred SDB that performs fantastically in our climate. It is also a fantastic parent!

'Ben David' (Fankhauser, 1989)

This arilbred (OGB) has proven to be a fantastic parent for us. It has given many seedlings in shades of dusty pink. We will be using this variety a lot more in the future to see if a true pink arilbred with a black signal can be created.

'Firefly Frenzy' (Tasco, 2017)

Probably our favourite arilbred (OGB) that we've imported to date. Stems in our garden can have up to 5 buds on a stem. Unfortunately, we think that it is infertile as we've tried making crosses with it every year but with no success.

'Oyez' (White, 1938)

The oldest iris in our collection is the arilbred OGB diploid 'Oynz.' It is a bit temperamental growth-wise and blooms every other year, but when it does decide to bloom, we don't complain. There's really nothing else quite like this iris on the market. Despite its shortcomings, we still like to grow it for its uniqueness.

'Atomic Sunset' (B. Schiller, 2020)

One of Bailey's tall bearded (TB) introductions from 2020, a super bright orange near amoena. An early bloomer that we always look forward to seeing. It is a difficult parent, but we should be seeing results from it next Spring.

'Black Friday' (Schreiner, 2020)

This TB variety decided to open on one of the few rainy days that we had this last Spring. This is a fortunate event as the Australian heat tends to burn the buds in these dark colours before they even open. It made such an impact that Mel decided to add it to her 'black' breeding line.

'Creative Confusion' (M. Sutton, 2020)

Another TB that bloomed on one of the only rainy days throughout Spring. We have been waiting for this one to bloom since we imported it and boy, it did not disappoint! We tried doing as many crosses with it as possible, hopefully we get some good results.

'Spiral Galaxy' (Ghio, 2012)

This TB is one of those varieties that will always have a home in our garden. An intensely bright yellow; it is like a beacon, drawing you in from afar. 

'Zofonic Dancer' (M. Schiller, 2022)

One of Mel's introductions from last year bloomed from the end of July until the end of October. We couldn't believe how many stems it kept sending up. It had rebloomed once before, but not to this extent. It looked amazing in full bloom!

As this blog post has been written we have thankfully experienced a very wet weekend 36 mm (102 points) so far over the past two days. The air is fresh the lawns and iris are green and refreshed. A good rain fixes our hearts and minds. It shows a new lease on life. The Kookaburra's laugh from the tree tops is contagious! 

We wish you all a blessed and safe Christmas with your family and friends. Enjoy the time together and make memories to cherish forever.....as we know all too well, life is too short. <3  

Happy gardening and for our friends experiencing winter.....keep warm and enjoy our photo's from Down Under. XX

A Growing Iris Resource on YouTube: Part VI

 by Heather Haley

In this post, I'll continue sharing an update for a growing iris resource on YouTube. The American Iris Society (AIS) uses its YouTube Channel to help organize and disseminate knowledge of the genus Iris, while fostering its preservation, enjoyment, and continued development. Many of the videos available are from the AIS Webinar Series, and their upload was planned for the benefit of all persons interested in irises.

In "A Growing Iris Resource On YouTube: Part I," I shared the origin of the AIS Webinar Series in 2020 as well as descriptions of recorded presentations that brought iris enthusiasts together during the pandemic. As the Webinar Series continued, I shared in Parts II, III, and IV. The following describes the remaining webinars that AIS volunteers prepared, delivered, recorded, and posted to our YouTube Channel during 2023.

Webinar #31  - “ Judging Bearded Irises as Garden Plants” with Stephanie Markham

Stephanie Markham is an AIS Master Judge and serves as the judges training chairperson for the region she lives in (AIS Region 1).  In this webinar, you can learn about holistic methods that judges use to evaluate bearded irises in the garden for AIS awards.

Webinar #32  - “All About Reticulata Iris & Creating Amazing New Colors and Patterns” with Alan McMurtrie

Alan McMurtrie is a hybridizer of bulbous irises, notably Iris reticulata hybrids. His groundbreaking work has earned him several awards, including the AIS Hybridizer Award in 2019. In this webinar learn about the amazing world of reticulatas; the first iris to bloom after snow disappears.

Webinar #33 - “Historic Iris of Japan” with Chad Harris

Chad Harris has been growing and hybridizing Japanese irises for 40 years, and has introduced more than 30  Japanese irises and 10 species cultivars or species hybrid cultivars. He is an AIS Master Judge, winner of the AIS Hybridizer Award in 2022, and the co-chair of the AIS National Convention in June 2024.  In this webinar, learn about Chad's nine-year effort to research and preserve a collection of historic Japanese irises.

Webinar #34  - “Knowing and Growing Siberian Irises” with Bob Hollingworth

Bob Hollingworth has been growing and hybridizing Siberian irises for more than 40 years. He received the AIS Hybridizer's Award in 1997, and his work includes 11 winners of the Morgan-Wood Medal and creation of the only Siberian iris to win the American Dykes Medal, 'Swans in Flight.' In this webinar, Bob expands on a previous judges training and discusses what it takes to grow Siberian irises and recent hybridizing activities that help us catch a glimpse into the future.

Webinar #35  - “The Exciting Irises of the Middle East” with Dr. Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir

Dr. Ori Fragman-Sapir has been the scientific editor of the “Flora of Israel and adjacent areas” website and is the scientific director of the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. He is an expert on the Mediterranean and West Asian floras, as well as on geophytes, plant conservation, and sustainable horticulture. In this webinar, learn about the native irises of Israel and the Middle East, with inclusions from Jordan and Syria.

Webinar #36  - “A Romp Through the Iris Family” with Bob Pries

Bob Pries, in his own words, is a “frustrated botanist who gave up academia to make a living.” Beyond that, however, Bob has used his botanical knowledge and his interest in the Iridaceae to create one of the greatest resources available in the horticultural world, the AIS Iris Encyclopedia (a.k.a. the "iris wiki"), which includes the Ben R. Hager-Sidney P. DuBose Memorial Online Iris Library. In this webinar, learn about cultivation, evolution, and biodiversity within the iris family: Iridaceae.

Smokin Heights Season That Was........

by Mel Schiller

Whoever would have thought that our spring would be so incredibly wet!

We had an unbelievable amount of rain. Getting good photos was a challenge in between rain, wind, and soggy-looking bloom. Living on one of the driest continents on earth, which has a fluctuation in temperature and rainfall, we are certainly not complaining! 

Every year we are faced with challenges – challenges in growing conditions, challenges in weather, challenges in pests. Challenges are a part of life. How we overcome them is how we grow on a personal and business level.

The season that was .... Braiden's death anniversary is forever in our hearts as the beginning of our iris season. My mind in particular is consumed with the loss of my child; it is a heavy burden. Each year it is something I need to allow and grow from in my heart and mind. 

The iris were late coming into bloom as the season was so cold and damp. Sunshine was hard to come by. Then WHAM!, the bloom started all at once. 

We had a hard time keeping up with photographs, hybridizing, and evaluating. Our iris field is spread out over five acres. We also had some of our last hybridizing efforts from the USA blooming in a different section of the garden.

We were able to evaluate seedlings on wet days and sunny days. This led to a lot of decisions about what to keep going for future evaluation and what to dispose of as not up to standard: poor bloom and stems, and diseased foliage, just to name a couple problems. 

The last year of evaluation for the USA seedlings

This past spring was also the year that South Australia hosted the National Iris Convention. We had a one-day show in which we benched over 150 stems, florets, and seedlings among all the different classes.

We wrapped our buds in toilet paper to protect them from the long travel to Adelaide where the iris show was held. Then we placed our entries in a big tub with dampened floral foam in the bottom and inserted the stems in the foam to hold them safe (hopefully). On the day of the show, we awoke to a foggy morning!

We were incredibly proud of ourselves for being able to supply bloom for all classes in the show. For the first time ever, we were able to provide standard dwarf, intermediate, and aril entries! We received 2nd and 3rd in the show with two of our very own hybrids: 'Dreaming Easy' and 'Zofonic Dancer.' 'Victoria Falls' grown by Jennifer, took home Champion of the Show. 

The very next day Smokin Heights hosted the National Iris Convention attendees. We awoke from our sleep throughout the night to on- and off- again torrential rain. At 7 a.m. the phones were ringing hot. Major flooding was occurring in all the areas that the tour group was supposed to visit. The group eventually made it to Smokin Heights just after a late lunch. With rain patches still occurring, the group managed a tour of Smokin Heights and the soggy field. Bailey was able to lead a tour of our seedling patch in between rain showers. 

National Iris Convention for Australia attendees!

The very next day was lovely and bright, full of hope and promise with an amazing sunrise!

The Intermediate and Dwarf Bearded irises bloomed exceptionally well this past season

Performing hybridizing was a task in itself this past season. Wet pollen and soggy stigmatic lips were a popular problem! We have managed to collect around 400 pods of hybridized iris from our field stock  – not bad considering the wet season!

Iris seeds from our hybridizing efforts

More hybridizing seeds

New,  imported irises from off the delivery truck and onto our lawn area

We looked forward to receiving our imported iris from the USA. In February, they were finally released from quarantine. Australia has incredibly strict rules for importing bearded irises into our country. Importing is not for the faint-hearted; it is a costly, time-consuming, and stressful job! But this effort is worth it for irises we would like to use genetically in our hybridizing program. 

 A small portion of the field photographed this past week

The field will not be dug and replanted this year. There is enough room for increase and growth to postpone a replant. Instead, plants will remain in place while we apply fertilizer (for nutrients) and pre-emergent herbicide (for weed control) over the next couple of months.

The following is a small selection of new varieties hybridized by Bailey and me:

Tall bearded iris 'Brave The Storm' 

(Inner Darkness X Black Lipstick)

Tall bearded iris 'Flash Warning'

(Secret Status X Raise Your Glass sibling)

Tall bearded iris 'Disruptor' 

(complex ancestry)

Tall bearded iris 'Lady Of Luxury' 

(complex ancestry)

Tall bearded iris 'See You In Heaven' 

(Seasons In The Sun X Carnival Capers) 

Standard dwarf bearded iris 'Rather Snazzy'

(Troublemaker X Stop And Stare)

The small selection of iris we registered this season withstood our unusually wet conditions superbly. Now that we have finalized business orders we can plan for our next season. We also celebrate ten years of Smokin Heights. Bailey and I are so very grateful and appreciative of our accomplishments. Every day is a blessing and we have our garden to enjoy and nurture. 

It is now time to weed the garden beds as they have been unattended for the last few months. Weeds are plentiful! Time for us to enjoy solace in our garden.

Happy Gardening 

Season 2021 at Smokin Heights

By Mel and Bailey Schiller

This spring was long and drawn-out, for which we are very thankful. At the end of September we lost our son and brother to a tragic motorbike accident, and this affected our iris season dramatically. The situation made it difficult for us to focus, but we are doing our best with what we have been dealt. 

The late-blooming varieties are now in bloom, which for us is a month later than normal. It has been incredibly hard to focus on getting photos of the seedlings, let alone the remainder of the iris fields. Some days are easier than others. 

We had a lot of rain this year, probably triple what we normally would experience in October and November. Bailey informed me yesterday that for a couple of my pods that had set, the stem was rotting. This has never happened before. Normally it is dry and incredibly hot in October and November; but this week, in December, we are experiencing hot days, which would have been the norm  a month ago.

Last year Mel and Bailey planted around 8000 maiden bloom seedlings. Most of these came from Barry Blyth. We also have around 1000 2nd year seedlings which we needed to go through, as these were the last crosses we made during our visit to Oregon back in 2019. Add to those the many seedlings we have grown and need to evaluate for introduction.  

Bailey is hybridizing for novelties. Mel is hybridizing arils and working on blacks. These are our main goals -  the beautiful irises that pop up in the meantime are bonuses. 

F106-1: ('Inner Darkness' X 'Black Lipstick'). This has beautiful blocky falls and a spicy fragrance. The color holds up in our heat and it doesn't wilt quickly. The foliage is lovely and clean. 

This gorgeous arilbred seedling ('Soaring Falcon' x 'Onlooker') had four rhizomes and all four, unfortunately, bloomed. I fell in love with this seedling immediately on first sight. I left the rhizomes in the ground hoping and praying for new growth, but it does not look promising. 

H172-1: ('Lancer' x 'Eye On America') AB. Huge blooms on strong stems make this AB a standout. We love it! Heading for intro....

Bailey's novelties have really taken off this season. So many awesome color combinations on plants with variegated foliage. Then the drumroll: the six-falled TB varieties he has been diligently working on. Here is a small sample of what is happening at Smokin Heights:

H27-B: ('Chaos Theory' X 'Full Disclosure'). 'Full Disclosure' has been a very good parent for six-falled TBs, but unfortunately it doesn't give much variety color-wise. Although this seedling isn't the most interesting color, it does have exceptional form.

H17-D: ('Untamed Glory' X 'Full Disclosure'). A little boring color-wise but very consistent with nice branching. It should be good to use further in hybridizing.

H14-A: ('Chaos Theory' X 'Fiasco') This is one of very many seedlings selected from this cross. This one stood out because of the nice pattern and overall good plant habits. We really like the look of the "belly" stripe down the falls. 

F58-ZZ: (X150-A: 'Painted Caravans' sib X 'Bold Pattern').The favorite of the bunch just because of the pattern. You can see from the photo that this seedling has nice branching and bud placement. 

The seedlings have finished blooming and we are still labelling photos from this past season. We can now begin the task of digging rhizome orders while the seed pods ripen. Over Christmas time we will begin removing unfavourable seedlings. 

Bailey and I sincerely wish you all a Merry Christmas. May you enjoy your Christmas time with loved ones. Remember it's not the presents under the Christmas tree that count, it is having those who you value most with you. Warm wishes from Down Under. 

Time For Replant

By Mel and Bailey Schiller

We are closely watching all the wonderful blooms from our Facebook friends from the other side of the world, pondering what we are missing out on this season! We are completely opposite in our transition of the seasons. It is Autumn here.

Autumn is where we get busy...real busy! 

In this blog we thought we would discuss the re-plant of our bearded iris field.

We finalize sales for the beginning of March each year, leaving us to concentrate on sorting which iris will stay and which will go from our garden and catalogue. Not all varieties grow as well as we hope.  We aim to have great garden varieties that survive on little care and water. That is probably one of the aims of every hybridizer! Alas, some varieties grown in different conditions get spotty rust covered leaves and are prone to rotting (even though water is limited in our garden). 

Bailey has cleared the field completely! It is the 1st time we have done re-plant this way...I would say we are 1/2 way at the moment! We would normally re-plant section by section going from our catalogue as a guide.

Bailey and myself like our field to be easily accessible and understood by ourselves and our garden visitors.

The past couple iris seasons Bailey has opted to align the field with our print catalogue that he produces, displaying our stock for the current Iris Season. Everything is in alphabetical order and easy to find.

Why do we re-plant?

We re-plant for many reasons.

1. Our catalogue of varieties is huge. This way we stay highly organized and can find the ordered varieties easily as everything is alphabetically listed as per the sections in our catalogue.

2. After we have dug customer orders the clumps are left in disarray as we select the very best plants for our orders. This means plants may be dug from the middle of the clump and other rhizomes are lifted in the process.

3. At the end of the iris season it is a much easier way for us to tidy the plants after bloom as well as the outer leaves of the rhizome which die back. We lift the entire variety, tidy it and it is put back in the ground. The trimming takes time!

We are extremely careful to keep each variety in its own crate so cross contamination doesn't occur, the varieties do not get mixed up.

4. We dig orders every season. By re-planting every year we can access good sized plants for orders singularly.....have you tried digging a 3-4 year old clump just for one or two plants when the rhizomes are entwined and on top of one another? Being re-planted every year this does not happen.

5. We believe the plant re-growth is much better, the rhizomes are encouraged to spread their wings into a mix of fresh soil that has been replenished with legume straw and fertilizer. We mulch our walkways with legume straw which is rotary hoed into the soil next season.

We trim the iris into a fan shape as the iris grow from the middle leaf and also for cosmetic reasons! We also tend to trim the leaves quite short so the wind doesn't blow them out of the ground.

This is Part 1, the plants coming out of the ground..... Part 2 will be the plants going back into the ground!