I fell off the wagon . . .

Blooms in the greenhouse, May 2, 2012

Left click on image for a larger picture.

I must confess, yesterday, I fell off the wagon. I had promised myself that on May 1 I would stop hybridizing. I did pretty good for 3 days, but then, I fell. When I walked into the greenhouse, I saw all of those pretty blooms and I just could not help myself. I probably made in the neighborhood of 30 crosses. Then this morning, I went all out, and pollinated almost every blossom open.


9-month seedling bloom is slowing down, but I do have a few to show you in this blog.

Seedling No. 2068 [(Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) X Barbara Mandrell] Another in a long line David Kirchhoff's H. 'Barbara Mandrell' kids. Continually she stamps that round, full form with nicely ruffled petals. She really stamps herself on her kids.

Seedling No. 2069 [(Roses and Gold X Some Sweet Day) X (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress)] The Camelot Red X Doug's Caress seedling that I used a lot was a 9-month seedling last year. It was one of my favorite seedlings from the 2011 crop. It is a definite advantage blooming seedlings in 9 months.

This is Seedling No. 1004 (Camelot Red X Doug's Caress) that bloomed for me in 9-months in 2011 and I was able to use it in some of my crosses last year that are blooming this year. 9-month bloom is a definite advantage

Seedling No. 2065 (Desire Of Nations X Bluegrass Memories) The seedlings involving these two parents are probably late bloomers is why it has taken them so long to get started blooming. If you will notice in the larger format, this seedling has a triple edge.

Seedling No. 2074 (Heartbeat of Heaven X Bluegrass Memories) Another of Karol Emmerich's introductions crossed with Ted Preus' fabulous H. Bluegrass Memories'.

And, last but not least, this is Jamie Gossard's outstanding H. 'Outer Limits' (2008), I believe my favorite of all of the narrow petaled toothy cultivars. It's biggest downfall for me is that it is a late bloomer and has just now began blooming in the greenhouse. This is one of the reasons I began hybridizing again.

It is hot, hot, hot here in southeast Tennessee and the forecast doesn't show much relief in either heat or rain. We are now 3.8" below normal. I did some field tilling today, and the ground was so hard that I had to make two passes to just break the surface. Also, it was so dusty that the volunteer fire truck showed up thinking there was a fire!

Life is very, very good.

 

Lee