a little alchemy

there is time for a few more crosses.  whether or not there is room for a few more seeds is a much more serious question that will be answered next spring.  back to the cross question.  the seedling is a mostly white flower.  it is parentage involves two generations of purple flowers crossed into a whitish flower where the white overpowers the purple.  will it happen again if these two are combined ?  predicting what the genetics will do is a bit like alchemy.  there is still too much unknown.  the only way to find out is to try.  and in the trying is all the fun.

14-135 11-0727A Blue Lustre ( breath of blue air x mascara snake) x 11-078 Give Me Eight X Smoke Scream

and more

is it okay to bringing in the grand parents ?   or is that going to far ?  i will not tell you how far some growers go back tracking parentage.  heck i might even be guilty, so i will not say it too loud.  this is a cross involving Asterisk x Walking the Pattern ( grand parents ) and left to right.  then Irish Lullaby x the seedling from Asterisk and Walking the Pattern.  again left to right.  and finally two images of the resulting seedling from that cross…  and if you get the chance share something with someone.  something nice…

 

8/14

2 parents and 2 sibs

first is a couple of parent flowers that went into a cross.  and second two of the seedlings from the cross.   the parents are John Karl Seager x  (South Seas x Highland Pinched Fingers) right to left.  and second there are two seedlings from that cross.  the parents are two different colors, lavender and orange.  the seedlings start to go their own ways.  similar, yet different.   three images…

 

should

or shouldn’t.  did you ever do something that makes someone else ask why ?  scratch their head in wonder or dismay ?  well this is one of those crosses.  Nutmeg Elf is a small solid yellow flower.  Blue Lustre is larger purple full form flower.  and Radiation Biohazard is a big open star form.  put them all together in one cross and what do you get ?   Nutmeg Elf x(Blue Lustre x Radiation Biohazard.  something fairly different.  still a smallish flower.  three images…

 

8/28

fair

?  is it  fair to compare two flowers from the same garden on the same day ?   pictures from a summer day mind you.  both yellow.  one is tetraploid – more chromosomes.  and one is diploid – less chromosomes.  one has ruffles.  one has a smooth edge.  one is a bloom twice the size of the other.   one is called Melodye Campbell and one is called Little Rainbow.  so is it fair ?  how would you compare…?  three images

7/13

some one has to do it…

the things that go through a gardener’s mind.   sometimes when you cross one plant with another you look back and wonder if you have got yourself ( and the new plant ) to some place a little different.  has anything changed ?   well the obvious answer is yes – most likely the genetics have been stirred, even if the child plant has not fallen too far from the form and looks of the parent plant.  the other half of the answer is – make that next cross with the child plant and see if the next generation still looks the same !  often that next generation will tell a new story.  maybe just a little different, still it is different enough.  so here is a seedling and the second picture is the parent and the seedling side by side.  first the seedling Coleman Hawkins x Coburg Preview and the second picture Coleman Hawkins alongside the seedling.

7/13

 

and

find the picture…. and …  well after the picture it varies.  once the picture is found there is a flower to share.   the simple part of the ‘and’ is not to get in the way of the flower.  or try not to get in the way.  the flower has more to tell, believe it or not.  so what are tonight’s few words ?  they are about a seedling.  most seedlings are what could be called first steps.  rare is the seedling that exceeds both parent plants.  it is the first step of what might be two or more crosses that just might lead to something that will stop you in your tracks.  so while many crosses are pretty they are not that elusive show stopper.  so before the words do get in the way here is a seedling.  a sibling cross that is looking for that next step…  two images and part of the previous step

 

7/10

learning to look

always keep your learner’s permit handy.  this is a rule for life that can even be used in the garden.  this is a seedling that is on its way to a memory.  it was not flagged for keeping.  it was not tagged when the image was captured.  and now having looked at it again some of those choices are regretted.  then again there is the choice of ripping out the last shred of grass from the yard.  or to say it simply i would need a bigger yard for this geometrically increasing daylily collection.  back to the flower.  i like the flow and pulse of color even if the shape of this flower is mostly round and compact.  two images…

7/8

found in the garden

what is in the garden ?  well if you are doing it right – you are.  it does not have to be your garden.  it just has to be you in a garden.  any garden.  that includes untended and wild gardens.  sometimes you just have to be there.  see it and feel it.  find it.   tonight this is what is to be found in the digital garden.  a seedling  –   Prague Spring x Gift Tie) x Sally Sue.  two images..

7/6

fetch the white umbrella

often referred to as the photographer’s umbrella – or light diffuser.  why?  in the garden and many other times full light is too much.  the glare, the reflection of light from the objects we are trying to capture, to make a revealing picture, is obscured.  what is behind the glint in an eye ?  sometimes there is too much light.  and we see that – just that – too much light instead of the object we are trying to show.  even though this flower was pictured at 8:30 AM there was already too much light.  we do have one of those white umbrellas.  i do not often use it.  most days it is both hands on the camera or a hat or my own shadow making a much darker light.  some days the pictures come out monstrously.  this one did that and it came out Monster.  since that is the flower’s name.  it is a parent of many seedlings.   a large and imposing flower… two images.  and enough words.

7/4