Open Pollination is when flowers are fertilized by insects, wind or birds. What this means is that the pollen that fertilized the flower may not be necessarily from the same species or cultivar, resulting in a hybrid, a blending of the two parents. This can occur when you have plants of the same genus and even same species but different cultivars growing together. Amazingly, it has been discovered that pollen can travel for miles on the wind, so even if you are only growing the same species and cultivar, it is possible to get contamination.
A good example is what passes for Black Currant Swirl Datura. The picture below shows a number of different varieties grown from seeds labeled Black Currant Swirl. BCS Datura is so genetically blended now, it's almost impossible to get consistent results from each generation even through hand pollination.
This year, a number of plants I grew ended up being hybrids and not what I thought I was getting when making a trade for the seeds. I find this happening more and more each year.
I'd like to hear others thoughts on whether or not it would be a good idea to start indicating whether or not the seeds we offer are "open pollination".
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