The quest for tall plants with great branching

Sometimes you get lucky. This is seedling 15012 - about 4 feet tall with 5-way branching. Complex parentage which goes back to Entwined in the Vine, Skin of My Teeth, Chariot of Clouds, 5605, 17305, 40807 (which includes Gnashing of Teeth), etc. Which means it will go a lot of directions. One of the biggest challenges I've faced is finding well-branched tall parents with some style. I used this a bunch today.

Although not the perfect flower, 12512 is also super tall and more than 8" out of 52708, 47607 and Storm Shelter. Will use it to add height and size to my seedlings.

Although not tall, some other pretty pictures taken in the past couple of days (the 5 above) include 15612 (way back to 47607, Chariot of Clouds, etc), 15412 (2708x52708), 14612 (goes back to Inscribed on My Heart,17305 etc), 14412 (47607 breeding), and 14112 (out of Vertical Horizon and Cosmic Odyssey)

Echo eyes

I love the echo eyes on these. 4112, 8512 and 7712 are all out of Reach for the Sky with 47607 kids. RFTS was recommended by a good friend who thought it would work well with the 47607 offspring, and it has been a very nice surprise. Hope these translate outdoors.

Big sassy flowers

I love big sassy flowers:-) 10012 is a gorgeous velevety 6" and the maiden bloom of 10112 was 9", but has now settled down at 7". Love the picture of them together - remember the smaller one is 6"! The fourth picture is 8912, out of my 8" 52708. Unfortunately it has "hung up" on its first 2 blooms, but I have used it on some more understated flowers in the hopes of getting its size and magic without the hang-ups. More to come:-)

Breakthrough in form or just a flaw???

Strange new form in seedling 3512 where the petals curve inward. I have always been taught that this is a flaw if it does it occasionally, but it is doing it every day and I like it. It's really different and you can easily see the pretty pattern on the sepals. Parents are Victorian Gardens Heaven's Applause x a complex seedling that goes back to Inscribed on My Heart, Be Fruitful and Multiply, Intelligent Design, Entwined in the Vine, etc.

"Ghost pagoda" patterns

These four seedlings are all out of 8110. 6212 (above) is on its 3rd day of bloom - note the "pagoda" on the right petal. The seedling below is 10312 - notice the pagoda pattern on the sepals. I am totally amazed that this pattern actually passed on to some of the offspring.

 10412 below has a pattern that I'm not sure how to describe.

No pattern on this one - 6512, but a wonderful chalky eye on a very large flower.

Chalky eyes (some with patterns) out of 8110

I was hoping to get some patterns out of 8110 and am starting to see some glimmers as shown in the first three seedlings below. Not finished flowers or stable patterns, but will give me a place to start. Love the chalky eyes. (More info on 8110 can be found by doing a search on the blog. 8110 includes powerhouse parents Kingdom Without End, Desire of Nations, Skin of My Teeth, Gnashing of Teeth, Heartbeat of Heaven). These are seedlings 7512, 8412, 6212, 3812, 6612, and 7012.

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April 4 seedlings - saturated color and ruffles

This is the first seedling (1312) that I have seen out of 8110, the luscious grape seedling with the white pattern that looked like a fleur-de-lis some days and a sequoia tree other days. Although not patterned, it is a 7 inch beauty with 4 way branching.

Pictured below is 0412. Very tall with 5 way branching. An advantage of planting 3 months earlier than normal for this year's seedling crop has been the ability of many of them to develop better scapes than I normally see on first year seedlings. Of course, this is just in the greenhouse, and outside is the place that counts. The other pictures are 0512, 0912 and 1012. Pretty enough to eat, but not possible because of all of the bug spray that is needed to keep the chompers from completely taken over. Despite the pesticides, the greenhouse is full of small pale green frogs that love to sun themselves on the leaves and in the blossoms.