I used 'Double Knock Out' extensively in 2011. It was crossed with nearly every seed parent that I was using at the time. One cross that I much anticipated was one where I replaced 'Home Run' with 'Double Knock Out' in the cross that gave me 'Thrive!'. So the cross looked like this: ('Marmalade Skies' X 'Baby Love') X 'Double Knock Out'. Usually seedlings look better in the greenhouse than when grown outdoors, however, this one looks even better when grown out in the elements.
When breeding for the Hulthemia blotch, I have found that when a cleaner rose is used in the cross (any of the Knock Out series, 'Carefree Sunshine', 'Thrive!', "G168-2" - the seed parent of 'Thrive!' and some others) that there are very few resulting seedlings that exhibit the blotch. It's as though there is some other dominant factor that is inhibiting the blotch (which in other crosses the Hulthemia blotch seems to usually be expressed as a dominant or co-dominant type trait). You can be sure that I was very pleased to find out how well this 2012 seedling has been doing outside for the first time this spring. It is from a cross of <({'Halo Today' X ['Geisha' X ('Tobo' X 'Singin' in the Rain')]} X 'First Impression') X "Mixed Hulthemia Pollen"> X 'Double Knock Out'. Despite being fully one-half 'Double Knock Out', it does a very good job expressing the blotch (see photo below). Needless to say, I have used this seedling, code name "P85-2" very extensively in crosses this year.
The albino branch that I mentioned in a previous post has continued to grow. It appears that although the leaves are lacking chlorophyl, the branch itself seems to be somewhat green. It will be interesting to see if the blooms open normally and whether they will look anything like the regular Hulthemia bloom of this particular seedling.
There was another Hulthemia that I noticed today that was sporting. As you can see in the photo below, most of the blotch is missing. Somehow without the blotch it looks rather plain. The last photo shows a bloom of that same seedling with it's blotch intact. Many sports are not more desirable than the original.
This is a rose that I really like. It was a seedling from 4 years ago and was from a cross of 'Pearl Sanford' X ('Gemini' X 'First Impression'). Since finding out that it set hips well and that the seeds germinated very well, I decided to use it in the greenhouse for the last couple of years. This year I put it outside the greenhouse to make more room inside for other newer seed parents. I am still using it as a seed parent, but found out that I like it even more outside. And it's fragrant.
Inside the greenhouse.
Outside the greenhouse.
During the last few days, the new seedlings have started to bloom so much that it has been hard for me to keep up. Below are some seedlings of "G168-2", which also happens to be the seed parent of 'Thrive!'.
Over the last couple of days, several of the 'Darlow's Enigma' seedlings (pollen parent was mixed Hulthemia seedlings) have started to bloom. A few of these appear to be resistant to powdery mildew and have the blotch. The first 2 photos show one of them that has many petals. Because of that, the blotch is seen easier by pulling back the petals. The 3rd photo is of a sister seedling that is pink and with fewer petals. Both of these are producing multiple flower buds on the first bloom cycle. This characteristic usually suggests good floriferousness, which is one of the traits that I like so much about 'Darlow's Enigma'.
There are several 'Midnight Blue' seedlings that are also blooming. I did a large cross of it with one of my better mini Hulthemia seedlings code named "N159-5". The majority of them are exhibiting a larger "streaked" form of the blotch. The first photo is a semi-double seedling that is really more of a deep purple/red coloration (digital cameras seem to have trouble picking up that color), while the second is a single pink.
The last 2 photos are of a couple of the 2012 Hulthemia seedlings blooming for the first time outside of the greenhouse. Both appear to have glossier disease resistant foliage. The first came from a cross of 'Pearl Sanford' x "N210-1" ("N210-1" is the seedling featured in the post, The Huthemia in the Striped Pajamas), while the last one is a 'Double Knock Out' seedling. I am hoping that the last one has good black spot resistance and have already started using it in crosses this year.
Every April for the past several years, there has been a convergence of time where the past, the present and the future all come together in my backyard. It is my favorite time of the year, and my busiest.
The roses of the past (2012 and earlier seedlings) are just starting to bloom outdoors. In about 2 weeks, the whole place will be in a full riot of colors and fragrances. Outdoor evaluation of past seedlings is very important because it offers a truer evaluation of how the rose seedlings will perform. It is my first chance to see the 2012 seedlings outdoors and it is a time when I will need to make difficult choices about the older seedlings (which ones will stay for another year, and which ones must go). I have started to walk through all of the outdoor potted roses this past week on a daily basis to monitor diseases, weeds and to generally see what is going on. Only a few are blooming (I will share photos in the upcoming weeks when more are in bloom), but I came across this interesting branch today - an albino branch. I have seen this before and know that it will probably die when it heats up due to sunburn, but I always find this sort of thing fascinating.
The roses of the present are the seedlings that are blooming for the first time in 2013. Each one is unique, being different from any other. Even among the same family of seedlings (see photo below), the variations can be very great. Can you guess which seedling in the photo below survived culling today?
The seedling benches are now brimming with new growth and it is imperative that I daily cull seedlings that are not improvements or are not novel in some way. There were more than 100 that were culled today. The bucket was nearly full after culling just the first bench.
A couple of new seedlings that I saw today are shown below. One was my very first Hulthemia-Crested Moss seedling. Although it is not impressive, it is a step toward progress (several more steps are needed before there will be anything exciting to look at). The second seedling lower down is from a cross of L56-1 X "Basye's Thornless". "L56-1" came from a cross of a very clean single mini X 'Thrive!'. This one is a repeat bloomer and also represents an intermediate step toward something better.
The roses of the future are represented by the crosses that I have started to make (cross pollination of one rose with another - see How to Make a Brand New Rose). The seeds that are produced will be planted next year.
This convergence of time for me is quite exciting.......
The seedling benches are beginning to fill out with much new growth. It is now time to start culling (eliminating) the lesser desirable seedlings.
As noted on "the tour" in the last post, one seedling was about to bloom. The bud was a light pink that quickly faded to white. As promised its photo is posted below and as you can see, it is an unremarkable rose and didn't have the Hulthemia blotch (sorry for the blurry photo).
This seedling, together with eight other new seedlings was culled (see photo below). As can be seen in the top photo, there is not much room for all of the seedlings that have sprouted to grow to full maturity. This necessitates eliminating seedlings that are not improvements or not novel enough for further evaluation. As the seedlings mature, there will only be enough room for about 100 seedlings per seedling bench. As you can see, I have my work cut out for me in the next several weeks as the seedlings start blooming like crazy. It will be fun to find those special few that will deserve much further evaluation over the years to come.
When I first thought about sharing a video tour of our greenhouse on my blog, I thought that I would be doing it when the brand new seedlings were in bloom. I decided though that it might be better to first give an overview of our operation before showing the greenhouse in full bloom.
The seedlings are continuing to grow very quickly due to the nice spring-like temperatures that we are having, so I anticipate first blooms to be a bit earlier, probably sometime later this week.
To take the tour, please click on the YouTube link: 3/17/2013 RBD Greenhouse Tour.
The seedlings have really been responding to the warmer temperatures over the last few days and are putting on a lot of new growth. The first tiny rose buds first appeared about 10 days ago and are growing fast. In my experience, first blooms open about 3 weeks after the first buds start to show. That means in about 10 days we should have some blooms - I can't wait!
I am particularly interested in this new seedling since it is a seedling of "O352-1" (click to open post), which has been highlighted here as having qualities that I wanted to carry forward. Though it seems to produce little or no pollen, it will set hips, and thankfully seems to have fair germination. I hope that the larger blotch is transmitted well to offspring. Stay tuned to see the first bloom!
It's been 1 1/2 years since I have veered off the rose hybridizing path. After visiting the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show today (the 68th one BTW), I thought that this was an event well worthy of mentioning here. All that I can say is WOW!
For a long time now, I have been peripherally interested in orchids, but due to our hotter and drier weather conditions, I have not taken "the plunge". Also, knowing that when breeding orchids it generally takes many years before the first blooms of your hybrids ever present themselves, I have resisted. Well today I bought 5 varieties. I won't report here how much I spent, but I suspect that I will get enough enjoyment out of them to make it worth it. Will I actually try hybridizing orchids? Well time will only tell......
Here are a few photos from the show. Enjoy!
Well today the temperature hit 82º F in Bakersfield. The warmer weather is really helping to push the growth of the new seedlings along. Germination is slowing down, but the tiny seedlings are starting to add leaves and will soon be producing flower buds.
The final count for germination today was 15,049. Although a few more will germinate over the next couple of weeks, as the temperatures warm up germination will come to a complete halt.
Today I finished bringing the 2013 seeds parents into the greenhouse. I will be using at least this many additional seed parents outdoors, however, I like to bring the ones that I will be mainly focusing on into the greenhouse.
The seedlings are continuing to sprout at a very rapid pace. Today there were 13,392. You may be wondering, "did he really count them all?" Well not quite. For the early germinators, I just counted the seedlings that had clearly sprouted since I last counted them. However, for the later germinating groups I did count them all. I will probably only do one more count - and that will only be of seedling lots that still haven't germinated well. So why count them at all? Each year I like to evaluate germination rates especially of seedlings that set hips well that I haven't used for breeding yet. Since germination rates are sometimes 0% even when hundreds of seeds are planted of a particular variety, I do not want to waste time doing crosses on those roses.
The rose forest is beginning to grow.
Although the image hasn't changed much since last week, total germinations have more than doubled. To date there have been 7,408 rose seedlings to sprout this year and more to come.
Today I counted the first sprouts of the year - there are 2,968 so far from the 58,966 seeds that were planted last month. At this stage, it is quite evident that some seed parents produce seedlings that germinate much earlier than others. Some have already germinated too thickly. Seen below are seedlings coming from the variety known as 'Darlow's Enigma'. The seeds in this area should have been planted less densely. This group will have to be culled rather hard to avoid a total jumbled mess. Next year my goal is to plant about half the number of seeds (that is if I can resist doing "just one more cross").
With some of the other seed parents however, there have been no germinations, but I know that will change. Some of the later germinating seed parents have a very high germination rate.
In any case, this place will be all in bloom in about 10 weeks.
The 'Choose Life' rose is being introduced through White Forest Nursery, here in Bakersfield, California. It is a pink blend floribunda rose with exhibition form that blooms in large clusters and is very disease resistant in our climate. There are a limited number of plants (full-size, own root) that are on sale starting today for $17.99. We are donating all of the wholesale income to two local groups that support life. This rose is dedicated to life - adoption rather than abortion; treatment of depression rather than suicide; and comprehensive end-of-life care for the elderly and terminally ill rather than euthanasia. Please join with us in supporting life and share with your friends. Thank you so much.
We planted all of the rose seeds this past weekend. Lucky for me, the entire family participated which made the work much easier. A perlite top-dressing will be added next weekend.
This year, 75% of the crosses included at least one parent that was a Hulthemia. I am hoping for some interesting seedlings this year.
The anticipation begins, once again!
Happy New Year 2013!
Today and yesterday, we have done the bulk of the work to clear out the greenhouse of surviving seedlings. Thousands had already been culled and only 300-400 were remaining. Most had markers with notes on them telling why they had been saved, but many had no markers or notes. During this time of cleaning out the greenhouse, most of the unmarked seedlings get culled instead of being potted up for further evaluation outdoors. There were two of the unmarked seedlings however, that were blooming. It is their late season blooms that saved them.
The first is a pink blend, floribunda sized bloom with good form and cleanliness. The second is a dusty red floribunda that is nicely fragrant. They are the last rose blooms of last year and the first blooms of the new year. And, they will survive for a full outdoor evaluation. I am glad that they were blooming.
