Tropicals & Tender Perennials: An Interesting New Project for 2007, 1 by xeriscape8321

xeriscape8321 wrote:
For a couple of years now i have been watching several brugs whose flowers show lavender hues in their coloration. There are 3 in my collection. Taylor Dawn, Serendipidity, and Miss Caylie ( a new cross by Brenda Delph) all have this characteristic lavender overtone to their blooms. This year I decided to start a project that will probably be several years in the making. I'm crossing these brugs in an attempt to get our first true lavender brugmansia. A project like this will most likely be several years in the making because several generations will probably have to be crossed back to each other in order to isolate a strong lavender gene. Taylor Dawn and Serendipidity are the only two brugs I have at the moment that were large enough to produce blooms. I have been successful with a Serendipidty x Taylor Dawn cross. In fact I have been VERY successful with this cross. There are now 5 pods that have set on Serendipidity. That's a lot of seed. I am hoping to recruit some people from DG to grow out some of these seed when the pods mature in a few months. The idea is that we will select the best seedlings (those showing the most lavender in their flowers) to be crossed back to each other. This is a bit of a commitment because it takes at least a year before a seedling will produce flowers. I figure 2007 is as good a year as any to start this endeavor.
So in few months I will be asking some of our more dedicated and serious growers here on DG to try out some of this seed. We will then all work together in stage two, selecting the best flowers for crossing. Then we begin trading pollen with each other in an attempt to achieve our goal of a more lavender brugmansia. With a commitment like this, you have to be serious about sticking with it...i know we can do this. The more of this seed that we grow out the more of a selection we will have to cross back to. I also know Brenda will be doing some crossing with Miss Caylie. I have sent her some TD and Serendipidity pollen to work with. So we may have some more genetic material to play with later on down the line.
Does this sound interesting to anyone? Please, only the serious people should consider this. This is not a free seed giveaway. We will be growing with a purpose and hopefully with some satisfaction in the end.

This first picture is of Serendipidy. When the bloom first opens she shows lavender even before she turns pink. The pink, that she eventually matures to, has lavender overtones to the pink. From these pictures of early blooms there is no denying that she has lavender in her genes somewhere.



This message was edited Dec 14, 2006 11:44 AM