Magical cross

This is seedling 15303 - out of Heartbeat of Heaven x [(Chance Encounter x Shaka Zulu) x sib of Heartbeat]. Gorgeous color, 6+", hardy, sharky, good budcount and one of the favorites of spring fling visitors - but outside it's only 18-20" tall. So the challenge was to recreate this look on a taller flower.

This is seedling 12708 - out of 25107 x 34507, where 34507 is out of hardy 38104 (ruffly) and 29504 (sharky). Will see 12708 bloom outside this summer for the first time, but it is large and very tall in the greenhouse.

I planted about 15 seeds using 12708 as the pod parent - a really long cross for me as I usually just do 3-5 - but I really believed this could be a winner and and am grateful for the results. So far, 5 of the 15 have bloomed and all are large and well-branched and tall and have great color. In order, they are 10710, 33910, 35410, 5510, 37310. I also made the reverse cross, with 15303 as the pod parent, but haven't seen any of them bloom yet. It will be interesting to see if the height comes from 12708 either way, or if the pod parent is dominant (lots of folks say that, but I've never seen it in my short crosses).