Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Hulthemias - First Blooms Outside
The 2011 seedlings are just now blooming for the first time outside of the greenhouse. There are many changes that are evident. In the Hulthemias, color saturation, blotch size (larger) and vigor are more noticeable on the more mature seedlings when exposed to full sunlight conditions. The seedling shown below is one of my favorites so far. Although both photos were taken with my iPhone, they were taken under very different lighting conditions. The first photo was taken under lower light conditions just before sunset, while the second photo was taken in the morning. The color representation in the second photo with the single bloom is more characteristic of the real thing. The blooms are a golden yellow with a burgundy blotch. I will follow this post up in the next few days with another post showing several of the other seedlings from 2011 also blooming for the first time outside.
Hi Jim, these look great! Does the colour saturation of the blotch, in this seedling, change much with exposure to the sun? I remember you writing about the early hybrids being prone to fading, however, in the OP K206 seedlings I have from you I have been amazed at just how colour-fast the blotch has been and how fading seems to be more of an issue in the outer coloured regions. Even when saturation of colour in the outer regions is quite good fading seems to dramatically affect it whilst the blotch seems to be far more stable. I also have an F1 Persica hybrid in 'Euphrates' (maybe I should change that 'have' to a 'had' as it seems die-back has finally claimed it) and I noticed the same pattern of aging in the flowers. It's quite fascinating to watch the transformations. I'd love to get something like 'Masquerade' or 'Mutabilis' in there to see how intential chromatic shifting affects it as well :)
ReplyDeletewow.. typos... intential = intentional *red face*
ReplyDeleteHi Simon,
ReplyDeleteThank you! This one seems to have good heat stability. I have been using it extensively in crosses over the last week. There are only 2 more buds to bloom, so I will have to make the pollen stretch over the next couple of days! There are several seedlings from last year that are changing colors outdoors due to the 'Mutabilis' effect. The fresh and 2-day old blooms don't look like they belong to the same plant.