March 24, 2012

Flowers in the greenhouse, March 24, 2012

Left click on image for a larger picture.

There is nothing much more exciting (remember, I am 76) than going into the greenhouse each morning to see what new is blooming. This morning there were 4 blooming, 3 were new.

 The first flower I noticed this morning was a green edged guest seedling from Jeff Salter. The edge is much more green than it shows. I have noticed that this trait is hard to photograph for some reason.

A seedling which bloomed for the first time last year is Seedling No. 1102 (Singular Sensation X Priscilla's Smile). When I saw this bloom in the garden, I knew that I would need to take it into the greenhouse to use in hybridizing. This flower also exhibits light green in it's edge.

One of our 2011 introductions, H. 'Groovin' ' was blooming this morning.
30" M SEv Re 6¼". Three-way branching, 17 buds. One of our long line of sculpted seedlings and probably the heaviest sculpting  of all. The grooves appear to be carved out with a chisel. If you look at most sculpting in this color range, you will think the raised area of the sculpting is a different color. However, upon close scrutiny, it is the same color as the flower but the sculpting creates this optical illusion. The flower is a polychrome of maize and pink overlaying ivory. The flower can be funky-like in the image, or it can be a round, full form. The petal edges are heavily ruffled. The substance is like cardboard and holds up well in the sun. Pod and pollen fertile. Petals are 3", sepals 1¾". Seedling No. 0624 (Doc Branch X Bas Relief).

Life is very, very good.

Lee