NOTES ON HYBRIDIZING

 Many daylily seedlings germinated in plant boxes. I decided to grow them a bit further and to move them straight into bed in may. Previously, I used to take them from boxes for growing in individual pots before planting into bed, but now I realized that I did not have so much space for so many pots (although they are just 250 ml volume). And it is anyway too late for that. So, I will have to try doing it in a more straightforward way. Prunus persica ‘Melred’ is blooming in my test field.

A seedling pictured below is Penny Lane x R. helenae, and now it is interesting, because it is the only one of 18 germinations showing the first flower. All others have no signs of flower buds. Could it be that somehow it originated from a self pollination (although I remove all anthers quite early, when the bloom is still closed)? But maybe a little amount of self-pollen still found its way somehow? So, I will watch this one and compare its traits carefully with its seed parent. A few images from my test field:

 I can’t keep up with everything now, as there is a huge amount of things occuring simultaneously. Anyway, here is one of a few seedlings from the cross Penny Lane x Paula Vapelle. I have a dozen of seedlings from that cross, they all look very similar (lots of prickles and no sign of flower buds), but at least this one is growing really huge. I puchased a specimen of Pinus wallichiana, it is a seedling (own root). I am a bit concerned how it can cope with growing in my test field, but for now it is staying in a pot in my rooftop garden for some time. And I am amazed to see a bright new growth in Picea glauca  ‘Rainbow’s End’, really very pretty.

 Since last weeks I have been busy removing old mulch and fabric from the big bed next to the entrance. Some plants were removed or moved as well. A new fabric was layed and I used gravel instead of mulch, for I thought it could make a life very difficult for voles. Some more plants from the garden: One of my first daffodils, they multiply very well Some spring vibes here Lonicera purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’             Sempervivum ‘Golden Nugget’ Juniperus communis ‘Goldschatz’ has orange tips as new growth

 New seedling bloomed: Gartenprinzessin Marie–Jose x Korallenmeer. These are its parents: GPMJ and Korallenmeer (Korallenmeer is my own seedling which I bred earlier) I was thinking about depicting a timeline, how a variety is created and established. So, here is my scheme (click to enlarge): Very important here is that some seedlings can get lost before they get propagated, for whatever reason, but mostly because they can‘t grow well on own roots. Therefore, it is crucial to make a back up as soon as possible. So, budding or grafting in due time would be a good solution. Although, I prefer seedlings which root well, but still… Unfortunately, at this step I lost many good looking seedlings, which is really pity. Here are two examples: 1) 2)