Iris Seed Pods?

[vfem]

One of my Iris has a large 'seed pod' growing from the top. Looks like a long green melon of sorts. Is this normal and can more iris be produced from the seeds gathered from the pod? Is this how they breed new color variations of the plant?

I am soooooooooooooooooo very interest in giving this a try and perhaps saving these seeds to see what I get.

However, this is a double blooming iris it is on... so I get blooms spring and fall on this one. I have never seen a pod on any other iris in my garden.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

what type of iris is it coming from? and yes, this is where some of the new varieties/colors come from!

let that pod dry on the plant, and keep an eye open for when they are about to split open. once they split they send most of the seeds out around them but some will stay in the pods. you can collect the seed and start them for next year but it can take up to a month for them to germinate. the seed will need some help getting through the shell so soaking them will help or nicking the shell will work too!

 

[vfem]

Its coming from this iris:

Its a german iris I believe!?

 

[vfem]

Here's the one I have from Gurney's site:

http://gurneys.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_77046

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

ooh! i like that one! i think i have it in my 'collection' somewhere. but i got it last year and i haven't yet seen it bloom this year to be sure i have it! i now have something like 50 different varieties around the yard and i cannot wait to see my newer ones blooming this year! i have 15 that should be blooming over this next week and many more over the next month!

my first one of the season just opened up today! sort of gloomy day weather wise here but that is a pretty ray of sunshine for me!

any idea what color yours could have crossed with? any other that might have been in bloom at the same time?

 

[vfem]

I had several purple, white, yellow and maroon in bloom in the yard. Chances are in pollinated with itself? Its the only 1 in my front bed, all the rest are in the backyard. Of course that doesn't mean it couldn't have cross pollinated with another color. They all bloomed about the same time over a 3 week period, and are now all done. This one will rebloom in fall though.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

depends on how busy your local bee population was! could be a possibility it pollinated itself but you more than likely will end up with seedlings that don't look like their parent plant.