IB Courtney Rucker
IB Courtney Rucker Lockatell 2014
D. C. Nearpass Award 2014
AIS Honorable Mention Award 2018
TB Silk Brocade (Keppel, 1999) was growing in an iris bed at Mike's South Richmond home. Before leaving for a local iris society meeting in Petersburg, VA during spring bloom in 2001, SDB Chantilly Dancer (B. Blyth, 1994/1995) pollen was placed on one of the tall bearded's flowers. The resulting seedlings were vigorous with interesting patterns. Lockatell IB 20150-1A-1 was kept and eventually planted in a friend's Powhatan, VA garden for evaluation. Results were favorable for introduction. The mauve pink coloring was unique for a plicata pattern, so this seedling was eventually named for a former neighbor and landscape client's deceased sister.
Courtney Rucker is a spring only blooming intermediate bearded iris (18-26.5”) with red beards tipped lavender with a pleasing fragrance. The Central Virginia median won the Charlie Nearpass Award for “Best In Region Variety” at the 2014 American Iris Society Region 4 Spring Meeting in Baltimore County, MD. AIS Judges voted Courtney Rucker a Honorable Mention Award in 2018. Its pastel coloring makes this Lockatell creation a nice addition to the spring suburban garden.
IB Courtney Rucker
TB Under The Sun
Prior to dedicating his hybridizing efforts to rebloom, Mike made a 2001 cross pollination at his Flatrock garden in Powhatan County with each parent having fall flowering roots in their pedigrees. The TB Cordoba (Ghio, 1998) and TB Silent Rain (Bursen, 1997) combination produced seedlings with nice colors and patterns. During a spring visit to my garden in 2003, Dr. Lloyd Zurbrigg was immediately drawn to Lockatell TB Sdlg.#20150-24B-WY. Blooms have primrose-yellow standards. Falls are mustard yellow bleeding to white on the edges with tangerine beards.
Registered as Under the Sun in 2013, the tall bearded spring only bloomer won “Best Seedling in Show” honors at the 2010 AIS Region 4 Spring Flower Show. After receiving the Alice Bouldin Cup given by the Eastern North Carolina Iris Society for “Best In Region Seedling” at the 2014 AIS Region 4 Spring Meeting held in Baltimore County, MD, the decision was made to introduce Under the Sun in 2015.
TB Under The Sun Lockatell 2015
Alice Bouldin Cup 2014
BB Re Double Dare Lockatell 2014
BB Re Double Dare
Mike's first reliable cool season reblooming border bearded iris (18-26.5”) came from tall bearded breeding. After moving his original Powhatan County garden from Flatrock to Cosby Farm, Lockatell BB Re Sdlg.# 20227B-RP or Zurbrigg TB Sdlg.#TT57 X TB Double Vision (Ghio, 1999) quickly stole our hearts. Blooms are a rich red burgundy with a yellow ground color. The intense fancy plicata pattern makes a radiant impression with autumn leaves. Lockatell BB Re Sdlg.#20227B-RP was registered as Double Dare. The Virginia bred rebloomer won AIS Exhibition Certificates for “Best Seedling in Show” at AIS Region 4 Fall Flower Shows in Hendersonville, NC in 2008 and Richmond, VA in 2013.
TB Re Soda Fountain Shuffle
TB Re Soda Fountain Shuffle Lockatell 2015
AIS Exhibition Certificate 2013
An early cross pollination combined two tall bearded Eastern derived cool season rebloom varieties in 2004. TB Re Unchained Melody (Mahan, 1999) X TB Re Fautless (Zurbrigg, R.1995) produced seed planted in late December prior to life saving surgery for late Stage Three skin cancer.
Seed germination was good and thirty plus seedlings were planted at Cosby Farm in 2007. Lockatell TB Re Sdlg.#20414-BLD stood out for flower quality, fragrance and rebloom reliability. Flowers are white with a mimosa yellow overlay and faint violet blaze on the falls. Fall flowering has been consistent over the years from California to Pennyslvania. Lockatell TB Re Sdlg.#20414-BLD became Soda Fountain Shuffle in 2009 and introduced in 2015.
TB Re Soda Fountain Shuffle
TB Re Metro Blue Lockatell 2015
AIS Honorable Mention Award 2017
TB Re Metro Blue
Upon seeing TB Re Daughter of Stars (D. Spoon, 2001) at Winterberry Garden in Cross Junction, VA during an AIS Region 4 Spring Meeting, longtime rebloom breeder, Dr. Lloyd Zurbrigg, saw the immense hybridizing potential in the groundbreaking purple luminata plicata. “We should try crossing DOS to my Clarence (Zurbrigg, 1991) seedlings.” Mike's chance to act on his mentor and friend's suggestion came in the spring following his January 2005 passing.
TB Re Gate of Heaven (Zurbrigg, 2004) or Clarence X St. Petersburg (M.Byers, 1990), was Lloyd's last tall bearded introduction over fifty years of iris breeding. It was the first time the medium blue self was in bloom to try a cross pollination with the Spoon rebloomer. Lockatell TB Re Sdlg.#20517-MB saw maiden flowering in spring 2009 and rebloom materialized in the fall. The fragrant Moorish blue self has seen successful fall flowering in Oregon, California, New Mexico, Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Registered in 2013 and introduced in 2015. Metro Blue became the first Eastern derived tall bearded rebloomer in nearly fifteen years to win an AIS Honorable Mention Award.
TB Re Metro Blue
BB Re Double Dare