Last Blooms of the Year 2014

It is that time of the year again - time to clean out the greenhouse seedling benches.  So far we have potted up the survivors from two of the seedling benches, and two more to go.

Although the seedlings are not their best this time of the year, here are a few photos of the last seedlings that will be potted up.  The first two photos are of a couple of larger roses.  I am working on trying to produce cleaner hybrid tea and floribunda type roses.  They are from a cross of 'Gemini' X [('Marmalade Skies' X 'Baby Love') X 'First Impression'].

The next photo is of one of the better striped Hulthemias.  I am still not completely happy with this group, but we are making some progress.

Then finally to finish, shown below are photos of 2 other Hulthemia seedlings.  They both have 'Blue For You' as the pollen parent.  I am very pleased with the cleanliness and vigor that 'Blue For You' is passing along to it's offspring.  If you breed roses, consider bringing 'Blue For You' into your breeding program.  Thank you Kim Rupert for suggesting this one to me, and thank you Peter James for developing such a healthy wonderful rose.  The first seedling is nearly thornless.

Hulthemia Persica Seedlings (Part 3)

Since I did not baby the Hulthemia persica seedlings, they did not fare that well.  Only 4 have survived so far.  None of them were very vigorous.  If they were rose seedlings they would have all been culled for lack of vigor.  However, I was very pleased to see that one of the Hulthemia persica seedlings was putting out some root suckers.  The suckers seem more vigorous than the rest of the plant.  I suspect that the species in the wild builds up a root system that ultimately puts out new growth from root suckers each year. I have never seen Hulthemia persica in its native home, but would like to in order to better understand its natural growth pattern.

Shown below on the right is one of the original seedlings with the 2 suckers coming up from its roots seen on the left.

After digging them up, it is easy to see how long the suckers can be.  I can imagine that this characteristic is an adaptation for survival in its usual desert environment.

In addition to the Hulthemia persica seeds, other non-rose seeds that I planted this year in the seedling benches included crape myrtle, strawberry, lilac and blueberry seeds.

Below are seedlings of open pollinated Pink Lemonade™ blueberry seeds.

I also planted regular blueberry seeds coming from several of my favorite blueberry varieties.  These had already been potted up as seen below.

Most of the pots contain several blueberry seedlings.  I am hoping that a few of them will produce some blueberries this next summer.  The most vigorous, fruit producing seedlings will be planted in separate pots next year.