Christmas in April

Woke up to find the ground covered with snow - again! Sure am glad I told everyone not to expect plants from me until the end of May - many are not even out of the ground yet - those are the smart ones:-)

Although this has been a long, cold, cloudy, snowy, dreary winter, dreaming about the crosses I made has made the winter go faster. 6410 was one of the very special ones I saw last year. It goes back to Desire of Nations, Kingdom Without End, Gnashing of Teeth, Entwined in the Vine, 40807 and 29504. These are all wonderful parents, so I'm hoping 6410 will be as well.

I'm planning to plant more than 100 seeds from it - and wishing I had made more. The longest crosses I'll be planting with are out of 22305, 13107, 47607, 12708, 6109, 9009, 15209, 17809, and 21709. I chose some of them because of their "echo" eyes and others because of related genetics.

Going for size

I first saw this beauty (seedling #14210) exactly one year ago - see blog post of April 15, 2010 which describes it and its parents in more detail (out of 9608 x 47607). Very fancy, very tall and 8"! (keep scrolling below for rest of the post - big space that I can't figure out how to get rid of)

I'm planning to plant about 170 seeds from it, primarily with fancy parents with similar color and flowers in the 6-1/2 to 7" range - in the hopes that I can get more 8" flowers into my program. As usual, I'll be doing a lot of line-breeding. I'll be planting the most seeds from it with these pod parents: 22305, 16809##, 19309#, 34709##, 34909#, 38409#, 43509#, 11810* and 13310*###. Those with a * are out of 47607 and those with a # go back to A285 or 5006, which are the parents of 9608. 13310 goes back to both, and has several doses of those genetics as marked by multiple symbols.

Not sure I can wait a year to see the results

Pictured above are two pics of 13810. It makes my heart race, with it's beautiful ruffles, echoing lavender eye and edge, green throat and a hint of twinkles. It will be my 4th most planted pollen parent, with 250 seeds. It's out of 28709 (below) and 47607.

The longer crosses I'll plant from it are with 1809, 9009, 17809, 21709, 2310, 3910, 10310, 14210, 14510 (14510 is the longest with 20 seeds) - all shown elsewhere on the blog, and mostly related genetics out of 47607. I will also plant a number with Reach for the Sky, as well as 28909 pictured below. I want to see if the white swords from 28709 will combine with the white swords on 28909.

All of this is way too much info for most folks reading this, but I'm hoping the blog will be a useful tool for me over the years as I make visual notes on what I'm thinking.

Second thoughts

Until yesterday, 8110 was going to be my 3rd most planted pollen parent with 250 seeds. (I did an anatomy of 8110 on my blog on April 9, 2010 - it includes lots of parents, including Kingdom Without End, Gnashing of Teeth, Desire of Nations, Heartbeat of Heaven, and sharky 29504.) They were some of the first seeds I sorted - many days ago when I was still thinking about cutting back on the number of seeds I was going to plant this year. I chose only the best and most obvious crosses - the ones that are genetically related, those with twinkle midribs, feathery or echo eyes, and patterns - and all in the clearest colors. As I was thinking about what to write about 8110 and the seeds I had chosen, I thought again about the fact that I've never seen anything like this before. In addition, the color is good and the parents are hardy and making nice kids, so why not try to figure out as soon as I can if there is any chance of the pattern being passed on. So I increased the number of seeds by 50% to 375 - with 90 different pod parents. Will know in a year if swinging for the fences worked:-)

Most of the crosses I wish I had made with 8110 bloomed late in the season after I had stopped hybridizing. But hopefully the 90 different parents will give me an idea of how recessive the pattern is and if 8110 has any juice as a parent. I used it a lot with related genetics - anything with Gnashing of Teeth (like 11808, 22305, 13207) or Desire of Nations (like 6410, 34209) or Kingdom Without End (like 43509) or 29504 (like 1208, 34507). Plus 47607 and lots of its kids (17809, 27609, 11810). And some of the neon lavender eyes out of 17305 breeding (like 13109, 3910, 21610). Most of these seedlings have more than one of the above parents in their background. (The seedling mentioned can be seen elsewhere on the blog or on my website)