Wednesday, April 28, 2010

More 47607 kids and grandkids


47607 (above) continues to crank out beautiful kids and grandkids (13710, 16210, 18810, 20410, and 20510). Note what's going on in the eye area of the last two.




Desire of Nations and kids

Desire of Nations is one of my favorite flowers and it has been an extraordinary parent for very dark flowers and for chalky lavender eyes.
The following four seedlings(12910, 17210, 17610, 18010) are kids or grandkids of Desire of Nations that I saw for the first time in the past two weeks. Clear, saturated colors and distinctive looks.




The next three seedlings out of Desire of Nations (17309, 26809, and 39409 in order), first seen in 2009, were held over in the greenhouse for further hybridizing. They will all be sent outside in June for testing. Note that 17309 is the pod parent of 18010 above (and 13107 was the pollen parent).


Saturday, April 24, 2010

Interesting patterns

This is seedling 28709 (lots of parents). Tall and more than 7". Note the pattern in the eye.

I crossed it last year with 47607 and got this beauty, seedling 13810. Again, an interesting pattern down in the throat.

Seedling 10510 is what one can expect to get when mixing flowers like Julie Newmar, Intelligent Design, and Entwined in the Vine. It also has neon lavender 17305 in it.

Seedling 42509 is a cross of Handwriting on the Wall and Tet Crystal Blue Persuasion. Although I like the pattern on Tet CBP, most of its kids are small and reportedly not very hardy, so haven't used it much.

I saw seedling 20110 this morning. 6" scape with 3 flowers, which is what sometimes happens on a 7 month old plant that tries to bloom. Lots of interesting parents including Entwined in the Vine, 13107, 47607 and 17305 which is the parent of most of my neon lavenders. Super ugly self color, but I've personally never had a seedling with a pattern even close to this so am excited about using it. Will put it on plants with better colors and branching. Will likely keep this one in the greenhouse next year to see what it does, as I doubt I'll see another pattern like this one any time soon.

Pink eyes and edges

I think pink eyes with matching pink edges are enchanting. Mine all go back to previously pictured 5006 or 36207 (see google search) or the next two pictured 38104 and 17106. Complicated lineage in each.
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Some of the following seedlings(6810, 7509, 8109, 10110, 13310, 27809, 38409, 46709) have two of the parents in them.







Bridge crosses

In the last "comments" section, I was asked the parentage of 13107. After reading the next few sentences, folks will understand why I sometimes omit the detail. The unpleasant reality in hindsight is that 13107 is made up of 39 seedlings (some of which go back 7 generations, and all turned out to be "bridge" crosses rather than intros) that go back to 21 named varieties - including 5 of my own intros (Heartbeat of Heaven, Born to Reign, Eyes on the Prize, Way of Life, Light of the World) and 16 from other folks (Tet LBB, Fortune's Dearest, Doyle Pierce, Wolf Eyes, Uppermost Edge, Only Believe, Lifting Me Higher, Clothed in Glory, Lake Effect, Pirate Lady, Regal Majesty, Reason for Treason, Dixie Rhythm, Blackthorne, Tet Dragon's Eye, and Shimmering Elegance). So 13107, like many of my seedlings, includes a bizarrely diverse group of parents, so anything can happen:-) I never intentionally set out to make a "bridge" cross (which is when you put 2 things together hoping to get a trait you want but knowing that the resulting plant most likely will not be introduction quality but will hopefully get you there the next generation), preferring instead to make crosses so good they'll be intros right away. I suppose if I'd known how long my quest to get "neon" lavender eyes would be, I might never have started, but I guess that's true of a lot of things in life - better that we not know and just put one foot in front of the other.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"Neon" lavender eyes

"Neon" lavender eyes make my heart race, as they look like they could glow in the dark. Perhaps the most important parent I'm using for them is 13107.

I kept a large number of the 13107 offspring from 2009 to use as "mama" plants for spring 2010 hybridizing. Some of them (below) include 9009 (oh, my, what an eye), 13109, 13909, 35309.




Some of the kids and grandkids out of 13107 that I've seen so far in 2010 are the 3 pictured below (14510, 10310, and 11010) as well as the previously shown 2310 and 3910 (to find them, go to near the top of the blog on the right for the "search" box).


Saturday, April 17, 2010

Predictable parents with dominant genes

Sometimes you find a parent which passes on color and
form with cookie cutter precision. 5006 (first picture) has
been one of those parents for me. It is made up of Man of
Sorrows (second picture) and 4705 (third picture). 4705 is
a combination of Way of Life, Filled to Overflowing, Regal
Majesty, Clothed in Glory, Heartbeat of Heaven, and Rock
of Salvation.

Below are seedlings 12210, 15610, 37509 and 3510. I know
when a seedling out of 5006 blooms it will almost always
have a pink watermark, and at least half the time a matching
pink edge. I've used 5006 heavily to expand my hot rose
and hot pink programs.



Thursday, April 15, 2010

Today's seedlings from 47607 breeding

During the spring of 2009, I did lots of experimenting with
47607. I chose this red seedling 9608 as the pod parent - the
color and watermark goes back to Man of Sorrows. 47607
was the pollen parent. Both are in the 6+'" range. I don't normally
mix these colors (red with lavender), but had indications
from 2009 blooms from 47607 that it would make nice pinks.

I ended up with this tall 8" behemoth:-) - seedling 14210.
I more typically stay in the same color family with my crosses.
So would use "neon" lavenders with 47607, like seedling 35309 below.

The results are more in the color range one would expect.
Seedlings 14510 and 11010 below - both 7". Gorgeous saturated
color on 14510, but had to pry it open because of the lower
left ruffle. Am hoping it calms down and opens on its own.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

More 47607 kids and grandkids - in all colors:-)

Kids and grandkids of 47607 (my most used parent in 2009)
continue to bloom in all colors. Pictured below are: 13810 (love
the eye and ruffles), 1610 (hot pink!), 2210, 10110, 8910, 6010
and 19809 from last year.