Hybridizers: And so it begins..., 5 by pmmGarak

pmmGarak wrote:
Some Minor Updates:

Foxgloves: in the last weeks I\'ve been busy with my Digitalis parents, as the more obscure species got into flower - as you can see on the images attached. Starting with the slightly shrubby Obscura - I never understood the name on seeing pictures - it\'s really beautiful up close, and I didn\'t know how anyone could call it \"hidden foxglove\" - but actually, the whole plant seems to melt into the background - just the opposite of Lutea, which despite it\'s small flowers seems to draw attention. Strange. Image 2 and 3 come from seeds labeled Laevigata, but the seem a lot like Ferruginea to me, Laevigata should have whiter lips - we\'ll see wether they\'ll be biennials (ferruginea) or perennials (laevigata), but I feel lucky i got an albino from them - I totally adore the fine green net inside the flowers. I hope I can get a stable white selection out of those, especially if they turn out biannual. Selecting anything isn\'t easy with Foxgloves, as the bumblebees are totally in love with them and fly between all the species. Maybe I\'ll have to resort to pots to properly isolate them. Pic 4 is one of my Micranthas - Flowers are lutea size and shape, but the plants are bigger and the flowers are more densely packed. some of them are pale like Lutea, but this one shows some really nice markings - once again there seems to be selection potential. Last one is Parviflora - those little tubes really make Luteas look big, and the look a bit odd when the first few open, but on the tips of the spires and on the side branches, they are actually very nice. Picture shows a side branch. The Lanatas (not shown) show some variation in the shape of the lower white lip, nothing too spectacular.
The time to harvest my seeds is approaching, some of my crosses seem to have set seeds, some don\'t, but lets see what will happen. In a few days my last species will open it\'s first flowers: the Canariensis, which hibernated in my sister\'s winter garden.

Tigridias: I may have been wrong about the \"long term project\" here, as several of my open pollinated Tigridia Pavonias actually will flower this year, second year from seed. Actually, the seedlings seem far more vigorous than my mature plants - I try not to be too excited about those, could be all parent lookalikes again - I\'ll know more in a few weeks. This time, I hope i can do some deliberate crossing, since I now have far more plants, raising the chance to have more flowers to choose from as every flower only lasts a day.

Nigella: I sort of gave up on those - I chose them for quick generations like ZMs zinnias, but they are far to resistant to forced life cycles, and the inter-species borders seem quite strong. I\'ll definitely keep the orientalis in my garden, maybe there will be some interesting mutations after a few generations.

Frozen pollen: My experiment with tree peonies failed because of the weather: the Paeonia lutea flowered during a very ugly period of rain - for about 3 weeks there were no more then 36 hours of dry weather in a row - the lutea flowers literally melted from their stalks, and we all know water is poison to pollination. I seem to have been more lucky with Gladiolus tristis pollen on Gladiolus byzanthinus, at least there are capsules forming...