Sunday, May 10, 2015

New Seedlings in the Greenhouse

The greenhouse named varieties and previous year's seedlings are just about through and the 2015 seedlings are beginning to bloom. How exciting!

I have just about decided that I have more than enough seeds to plant later this summer so will probably not do too much more hybridizing . . . so I say! It is hard to walk in and see all those beautiful blooms just hollering to be come parents. How can you resist!

Bill Waldrop has been trying to convert H. 'Choo Choo Caboose' for me. I was excited to see that it was going to bloom this morning. However, when I examined the bloom and plant, it appears that it is still diploid. I tried some of the pollen so will see what happens. Below is a picture of H. 'Choo Choo Caboose'. It has wonderful, saturated color, great branching and bud count and good plant habit, and wonderful green throat, so you can see why I would like to get it converted.

H. 'Choo Choo Caboose' (Pickles 1995)

H. 'Kacie Boy' (Durio 1983) 
X H. 'Bonbini' (Pickles 1995)






Reds have become my passion. I would estimate that 80% of my crosses this year have been with red flowers, mostly seedlings. The other 20% would be 15% in the purples and 5% in toothy flowers. One toothy named variety new to me that excited me this year was Jeff Salter's H. 'The Incredible Earl Watts'.

Pollen Parent

Seedling 2042 [(Rockets Bursting in Air X (Camelot Red) X Doug's Caress]





Pod Parent

H. 'Barbara Mandrell' 
(Kirchhoff 2009)




Seedling 5006

Seedling 5023
Seedling 2042 ( picture above) X
H. 'Scarlet Angel' (Petit 2010) (no picture available)
Pollen Parent
Waldrop seedling W2-466 
[(Shirley Anne McCord X Marietta Heartbeat) X Gnashing of Teeth]



Pod Parent

H. 'Bluegrass Memories'
(Preuss 2006)




Seedling 5020

I guess that is all for today boys and girls.
Life is very, very good
Lee

3 comments:

  1. Be still my heart...WOW!! I just love the velvety finish on these reds. The texture is just incredible. Your color saturation is awesome too. Don't know how you do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John,
      I just put the pollen from one plant onto the pistil of another. :-)

      Delete
  2. Abba Patio Walk In Greenhouse from Bizarkdeal

    Arrives in a 62 pound box. Super easy to put together. It really needs two people to assemble in about half an hour, though I think one could pull it off with more time. Installing the cover was the most difficult part, getting all the seams lined up correctly. I added some ground anchors to keep the wind from taking it away.

    Pros:
    - Only tool needed to assemble was a #3 phillips screwdriver
    - Can be easily disassembled and stored in the spring
    - Metal support structure could support some hanging plants
    - Cover plastic seems pretty durable
    - Very roomy inside
    - Plenty of venting for hot days
    Cons:
    - Challenging to get the cover correctly positioned, and if it's off the window velcro is difficult to get lined up to seal.

    ReplyDelete